minor injuries

[Samwich]

At the beginning of this season, I decided to not be a pussy any more. Anything that I think is within my ability, I decided to do, and with minimal hesitation. So far, I have been doing just that. Of course, in the words of our very own str8line, "If you push your limits a bit too much, you're going down." I've racked up a lot of minor injuries this year pushing my limits a little too far. Basically just lingering pain in various places. Is this what most skiers feel like all the time? Constant nagging pain? Or am i hurting myself more than most? The pain isn't hard to deal with, I'm just wondering if I'm pushing myself too much and being an idiot. I'm definitely progressing, but i don't much want to die.

Any thoughts?

[Dexter Rutecki]

You need to be a bit more specific.
At the moment, I have pain in my toes (mild--toenails turned black from flat landings), in my knee (mild to medium, same flat landings), and in my back (moderate to sometimes severe, lingering torn disc problem that's come back). None of these are from pushing it too far, really, just from cases of pilot error (shooting off the berm of a banked turn and out into the flats in a skiercross, for example). I sort of consider this sort of pain to be part of the game.
Tell us more about what you're feeling and what brought it on.

[Samwich]

first injury of the year was a fractured tibial plateau. Not badly fractured, i only missed three weeks, and the radiographer was calling it a bad bone bruise rather than a fracture. The orthopedic surgeon called it a mild fracture. That knee (left knee) still hurts, but it's healed and stable. My right knee hurts, but it feels like a little patellar tendonitis, which i get sometimes. Doesn't feel unstable, persay, and a neoprene brace makes it feel like new. The left knee was a cliff huck that i landed. I took a couple turns, and something under the snow hooked my tip. Just bad luck. My right knee is from repeated stress.

I have what might be a cracked rib. Hurts to breath, cough, sneeze, laugh, etc. I also dislocated my wrist a little bit. That was from trying a lincoln off a 12-15 foot cornice. I came really close to sticking it. Landed on my skis, but i turned a little in the air, so i caught an edge on the landing. I am only guessing it was dislocated, because i was rotating it to see what my range of motion was, and it went 'POP' and the pain pretty much disappeared.

None of my injuries are full-bore. My fractured tibial plateau was only slightly fractured. My rib isn't badly cracked, and it is probably just bruised. My wrist still hurts, and is popping from time to time (sounds like someone cracking their knuckles), but it isn't bad. None of my injuries are keeping me from doing anything, but I'm wondering if i'm being an idiot. I'm really progressing fast, but i value my health too.

[Dexter Rutecki]

It doesn't sound to me like you're pushing too much, just had a bit of bad luck (hooking a tip after landing is clearly not pushing too hard).
The rib thing could probably be the most threatening of your injuries...but the damage to the tibia might be worst for your skiing if it doesn't heal correctly.
If you're feeling bad, throttle back when you can and give yourself an extra day here and there to heal. If you don't give yourself recovery time, you'll never be able to go 100%, which will really suck on the days when you'll most want to really go for it.

[phUnk]

A little patellar tendonitis, only really feel it when I stop stretching regularly, pulled (again) groin, tweaked hip flexor that sucked forever until I just gave up on it healing and then it finally did, tweaked rhomboids from lingering suckage from compression fracture injury in Poland, rib that spontaneously dislocates from time to time, and finally some shin bang and huck-neck from filming with Omen on 5 inches of pow and flat light.

Stretching lots helps, but you're going to take your hits if you're pushing it very much. Also listen to your body when it tells you you're too tired to ski any more runs or that injury X hasn't healed enough and is still vulnerable.

[Samwich]

yeah, phUnk, it sounds like you're about where I'm at. None of my injuries hold me back from going 100%, they just make me think carefully about the stuff i'm hitting.

Thursday at 11 I'm done with classes for the day so i'm gonna build a booter at Alpental with some friends. It's rodeo 7 time, and it's sooo on.

[BakerBoy]

Ibuprofen and energy drinks, and quit yer whinin'...

[Vinman]

Actually the wrist thing sounds like to most serious to me. I do not think you dislocated. But a wrist that pops constantly could be more indicative of a tear to the cartiage disc in the wrist. It is proably not an emergency type of injury, but if you do have this injury it will not go away.

Some symptoms:
pain with gripping/ reduced strength of grip
popping noises
swelling
pain to the touch just to the outside of the center to the wrist, kind of right between the radius and ulna


I would say give it another week or so if it has not gone away maybe think about getting it looked at.


But I too do not think you are pushing to hard. If you were really breaking stuff then maybe...

[ulty_guy]

you're way too young to be wearing braces. think about conservation of energy, it's being displaced somewhere else. get healed up right so that you don't get compensation injuries.

edit- note gonzo's post about stupid yoga a few days ago.

[Samwich]

vin - it was swollen and everything and hurt in the area you described, but it was also bent upwards at a weird angle. You wouldn't notice it if you weren't looking for it, but it was definitely there. I also had a little, um, extra range of motion in one direction, and reduced in another. I was watching the super bowl, and holding my hand so it would be supported and not flop around, which really hurts. I accidentally bent it upwards a little bit, and it hurt a lot. Reflexively, I pulled on it as soon as it hurt. I heard a slight 'pop' and the pain pretty much dissapeared. It hurts less and less every day.

Ulty - just neoprene braces. Not heavy duty ones. And only until my knee stops hurting.

[Alkasquawlik]

Originally posted by phUnk
finally some shin bang and huck-neck from filming with Omen on 5 inches of pow and flat light.

Pfff... crybaby. Take a lesson the Omen crew of the fourth consecutive day of filming in Utah. On the ride up to the mountain continously pop 800mg Ibuprofen until you can't feel anything. Then proceed to huck with reckless abandon. Repeat until dead.