The Mental Effect of Injuries

Well, Heres my thought today. 2 1/2 years ago (some might remember) I was skiing jackson and it really worked me over, breaking my tib and fib and ending my season. The following summer I left to fullfill some different Aspirations and I havent skied since. This season Im back, Im going to work at the hill, The spats will be polished and ready to go. There is only thing that Im a bit nervous about.... Ocassionally I have dreams of the crash and feel my leg snap all over again. they make me sick to my stomach. So my questions is am I going to have any confidence on skis again? I know many of you have had much more serious injuries or tramatic mountain experiences.... Is the mental state a factor? Is there anything you can do to overcome it? Input would be welcome. also telling me to put this in gimp central would be welcome. Have nice day!

Gimp Central, JONG!! ;)

Just point them and don't think about it. <--worked for me.

You need to dream it was a Bionic Man operation. You know, "Stronger, faster... better than he was before" and all that.

Hope that helps.

edit - Oh. And learn to make those cool synthasizer sounds when you ski.

What can you do overcome the mental question marks?

Be strong.
Attack.
Ski with proper form.

DO NOT DOUBT YOURSELF.

I hurt my knee 2 seasons ago, never thought about it the next season and charged as hard as ever.







Then I injured my spine in a freak accident, became temporarily paralysed and was apparently close to permanent paraplegia. So don't charge too hard :D

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Originally Posted by Duker

Well, Heres my thought today. 2 1/2 years ago (some might remember) I was skiing jackson and it really worked me over, breaking my tib and fib and ending my season. The following summer I left to fullfill some different Aspirations and I havent skied since. This season Im back, Im going to work at the hill, The spats will be polished and ready to go. There is only thing that Im a bit nervous about.... Ocassionally I have dreams of the crash and feel my leg snap all over again. they make me sick to my stomach. So my questions is am I going to have any confidence on skis again? I know many of you have had much more serious injuries or tramatic mountain experiences.... Is the mental state a factor? Is there anything you can do to overcome it? Input would be welcome. also telling me to put this in gimp central would be welcome. Have nice day!

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friend of mine turned over his 10,000# barge a couple of weeks ago, ever since, he has been scared to death to operate it. The barge is every bit as worthy as it was before. Fear is the enemy. Get past it. Fuck fear.

I got a severe concussion in 06 dropping a wall on my bike. I don't even remember the accident. I lost 5 hours during which I was somehow charged $3000 and it had a few permanent minor effects on memory and speech. (yes i was wearing my helmet)

It wasn't until this month that I was able to get both wheels simultaneously off the ground again. 100&#37; mental block.

I think if I had done it doing something I did regularly (getting air on the bike) I wouldn't have had a hard time getting back to it.

Attacking is key. I took a nasty spill backwards down a cliff(s) about two years ago(gunks for you climbers). Still, that feeling of helplessness envelopes me when i'm 200 feet up and exposed. 2 pitch trad problems and tall bouldering problems have forced me to think about it to the point of shaking and loss of strength. (no skiing injuries, yet) It's just a matter of whether or not you can push it out of your head. Tough at first? Sure, but plenty of things in life are all about the mental game. Immerse yourself, and gradually it gets easier.

Face the fear, gain your confidence, keep on raging. and good luck!

i blew out my knee 2 years ago and what really helped me was getting right back out there as soon as possible. its obviously a little late for that now, but i would say take it easy and just get back into it at your bodys pace, dont be trying to recreate what you used to be doing, at least night right away.

You gotta get back on the horse! I broke my arm in an avy a few years ago, After surgery I went out and rode lines all around where I got buried(but I was safer about it), I still had the cast on.

Just use it as a challenge you have to overcome and then kick it's ass. You have to be a little crazy about it and build your confidence up.

Just remember, it happened and you are still alive. If it happens again it will suck, but you will still be alive.

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Originally Posted by ULLRismyco-pilot

Just remember, it happened and you are still alive. If it happens again it will suck, but you will still be alive.

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Not necessarily. A mere 6-12" and I'd have been paralyzed or dead.

I never had a doubt in my mind I'd get back out there and on it again. I pissed off my mom and fiancee in the hospital when I was getting wheeled around the hospital in the wheelchair and saw some stairs outside that looked like a fun gap on my bike. I said so and got some dirty looks. Heh.

Do I have the occasional flashback and that fear of helplessness and breakage time to time? Of course. Has my skiing changed since the accident? Hell yes. I pay more attention to the consequences of my lines, and of what could happen should something go wrong - catch an edge, prerelease a ski, whatever. I am way better at scoping my lines and minimizing the risks, while still pushing my abilities and feeding that part of me that needs the edge. But I don't ride the edge of control like I used to, I don't push it beyond the line like I used to. And I'm a better skier for it.

You have to understand what you're comfortable with. But you also can't be terrified of the possible consequences, otherwise you're just not going to have fun with it. Go out, enjoy the mountains, and build your confidence as it comes. Charge if you want. Cruise if you want. Take it at your own pace. It'll come.

Just remember why you ski in the first place. Do you want to be afraid of it the rest of your life, or do you want to enjoy it? Take it a bit slow at first, but don't be afraid of what you're doing. Be confident and remember "I got fucked up that time, but I won't again, because I'll do X instead". Think, learn, apply. Then charge.

Look on the bright side - you have this extra awareness and motivation to learn to do things correctly vs. just going for it and crashing all over the place like you used to.

Part of it for me is like what Particle said - I analyze things better now. Sometimes I'm over-cautious, but I've learned it's better to stop and look at it and go back and hit it later than it is to hope for the best.

And while some part of me hates that I'm more of a chickenshit nowadays, the fact is that I've become a WAY better mountain biker and skier than I was before injury. This summer I scaled it back a notch on the drops and rock gardens I was willing to try, and instead of being hurt all the time I really learned to corner, and manual over logs and rocks, and just generally ride better because I've learned to flow with the trail. Which really, is a hell of a lot more fun that cartwheeling through a damn rock garden ever was anyway. ;)

Start with doing things that are lower consequence. Take it as an opportunity to really work on your skills and balance, and when you gain confidence and start getting back to the higher risk, gnarly stuff, you'll be that much better at what you're doing and it will actually be much safer to do it. It takes time - you have to give yourself permission to take it easy and build back up. If you try to go 100&#37; immediately, you're just asking for another injury.

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Originally Posted by Duker

Well, Heres my thought today. 2 1/2 years ago (some might remember) I was skiing jackson and it really worked me over, breaking my tib and fib and ending my season. The following summer I left to fullfill some different Aspirations and I havent skied since. This season Im back, Im going to work at the hill, The spats will be polished and ready to go. There is only thing that Im a bit nervous about.... Ocassionally I have dreams of the crash and feel my leg snap all over again. they make me sick to my stomach. So my questions is am I going to have any confidence on skis again? I know many of you have had much more serious injuries or tramatic mountain experiences.... Is the mental state a factor? Is there anything you can do to overcome it? Input would be welcome. also telling me to put this in gimp central would be welcome. Have nice day!

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Try some visualization. Sit in a quiet place and just breathe for a few minutes to settle yourself. Then, when you're ready, form some vivid images of yourself skiing in a comfortable manner (no need to charge hard or anything, just picture smooth, rythmic turns). Do this daily, 2-3x a day if you wish. After 7-10 days, or when you feel comfortable, start changing the image to more challenging stuff, eventually working to the place where the injury happened originally. Progress in small steps, using the breathing to calm yourself whenever you feel the slightest anxiety or uneasiness. Your eventual goal her is to "rewrite" the images of crashing and injuring in your mind. You need to see yourself skiing again, not crashing.

If you literally are dreaming of this crash in your sleep, you've likely got some variation of PTSD. Perfectly normal. Consider working a few sessions with a psychologist. PM me if you like and let me know where you're located, I know several sport psychologists around the country who deal with this stuff all the time.

damn, I never even hurt myself and I'm still a pussy!
hang in there and try not to doubt yourself and think too much. I have that problem.

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Is the mental state a factor? Is there anything you can do to overcome it? Input would be welcome. also telling me to put this in gimp central would be welcome.

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The best way to overcome it would be to post a thread about it in Gimp Central, but you went and fucked that up too.;)

Seriously though. "Is the mental state a factor?" I'd say it's more than a factor. It's the reason we do it. To test and stretch our boundaries both physically and mentally. It's a mental boundary you must cross. Go kick it's ass, and maybe then the dreams will become untracked powder lines.

Had a nasty tib/fib frx from a motorcycle accident, and was worried about the same thing when I returned to the slopes. I started off skiing very conservatively, but after about 6-7 runs noticed that I was back to almost full speed/aggressiveness.

Start off slow and make sure everything feels OK, and just kick it up a notch every couple of runs. By the end of the first day your confidence will be back.

My first post-injury yardsale was pretty scary - I bit it hard popping out of Hell's Woods at Jay at almost full speed. That caused me to start worrying a little bit again, but once I realized everything was OK it was back to business as usual.

I've had three knee ligament injuries (2 mcl and 1 pcl) in the last four years and some chipped teeth/concussion from a huck gone bad. About this time of year I start training for the winter season. Having had the injuries pushes me to train harder. I used to be over conscious of my knees and would be happy at the end of the day if I was injury free. Now I just charge it. I don't think about what can happen. I know I have trained as best I can and I don't worry about the possibilty of injury. I think if you hold back a bit fearing injury, that only opens the door.

Fear prevents us from reaching our potential... it also keeps us alive.

We're taught to identify and adjust to obstacles in our line but not to focus on them lest we hit them - same thing applies to your fear... recognize it, adjust for it, then rip your line around it!

Gidde Up!

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...hlight=criscam

I gotta be honest, I still struggle with it since I tore my ACL. I still feel that "pop" all the time and two years later and I am still holding back more than I should. Its probably made me a "better" skier, but I lost that fearlessness that I had. Gotta get it back this year, at least to some extent.

Just remember that they have gotten seriously good at putting people back together. ;)

In all seriousness, fear is there for a reason it keeps us from doing very stupid things but you have to balance it out with your own confidence. I used to have this problem hitting tables, I could hit reasonable sized tables with confidence up to 360's but the 5 just had a weird mental block. I got so scared I would freeze up in the air and wreck hard. Visualizing in my mind exaclty what I was going to do and relaxing really helped and not stopping before the table to think about it helped too. I think once you do the thing that really scares you a couple of times the fear just disapears.

Back when I was about 14, i hit a tree ski racing, right to the face. I cracked my skull, my eye orbital. ended up with 15 stitches on my forehead. anyway, they showed me an xray of my skull and my brain was bruised at the front from the impact. My doctor told my parents that my personality may change (your personality is found at the front of the brain). And, it did. Everyone i talk to thats known me well before and after says the same thing. weird stufff..

Duker, while you were gone, last March I blew my left ACL completely SKIING and had recon April 17, 2007. So I am just about 5 months out. I have the same reservations and that is why I am going back to what I do best, snowboading. At least to get ALL my muscle back and I will be riding cautious and maybe 75&#37; of my level before. I want to work up to it and be confident too.

Then I will get back on skis later in the season as my daugter will be 3 in Jan and will start skiing. :biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin:


You are normal. Well, in so many words at least. :p

Trust me when I tell you that as soon as you are back on skis, you will have made the first huge step toward banishing those dreams to the dustbin of the subconscious. Of course your conscious mind will never forget, but the process you have to go through to clear the subconscious includes that first run.

I had flashbacks to my 1000 foot ragdoll that ended with 17 broken bones and a lacerated heart. And I don't need to return to the same couloir again. But I skied, continue to ski, and while I will never forget that day 21 years ago, the dreams and flashbacks ended when I skied something steep again and didn't fuck it up.

Think of it this way. What would Plakespear do? RIP