I’ve injured myself a lot over the years. Even as a kid, I spent so much time at the Sports Injury clinic in town that I’m sure they wondered what on earth I was doing to constantly be banging myself up.
The worst non-sports injury I’ve ever had would be during my 3rd year of university when going to school all day, working at night and constantly hunching over books studying wore my body down and resulted in a cervical disc derangement. This is a fancy way of saying I had a protruding disc in my neck. It. Was. Painful. It took a few months of rehab to get back to normal after that and to this day, when I get physically exhausted and start to hunch my posture, my neck will start to ache. Thankfully, I worked at a physiotherapy clinic at the time and they took pity on the poor, broke student and treated me for free.
The worst sports injury I’ve ever had would be achilles tendonitis. Not so much for the pain I experienced from it because that was fairly easily managed but rather for the Active Release Therapy I went through to fix it. Basically, a chiropractor used his fingers to strip away the scar tissue on my tendon to promote healing and function. It worked like a charm but it was the most painful thing I have ever experienced. I remember leaving the office covered in sweat with tears in my eyes. Thank goodness it worked!
After those two experiences, I am definitely more mindful when it comes to listening to my body. Especially as a mom and someone working towards fitness goals (half-marathon). I can’t afford to be side-lined and unable to take care of my kids properly and I certainly don’t want to miss my races this fall.
Your turn! What are some of the worst injuries you’ve had and how did you overcome them?
About Steph
Can’t say i’ve had anything as complex as you’ve had to deal with. Couple of broken bones, scaphoid and collarbone. However recently I have been battling what i think is IT band syndrome, its not fun. To combat it is an everyday task but ive been doing lots of foam rolling, static/dynamic/pnf stretching, yoga and a couple times a month, like you, I go to get a massage/ART. It ends up starting relaxing, then it hurts like hell and I leave bruised and battered. The good thing about injuries is that it kind of forces you to be more in touch and aware of your body. Thanks for the post.