No Spiders Allowed

Thoughts from the Mind of An Arachnophobic Brunette

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Day 28 - Post Sugery - Overcoming Fear?



Here are a few eye opening statements I came across today while doing a little ACL research online:

  • ....but resuming normal physical activity is more difficult after an ACL injury than any other injury, not only because of the stamina an athlete must regain, but more importantly, the psychological fear that plagues an athlete with a reconstructed ACL.

  • ....because once the ACL is torn, it can always be reconstructed, but the athlete is rarely the same psychologically.

  • "World-class skiers have the highest ACL injury rates and they’re the some of the best trained and the strongest athletes.”

  • “Some of the most valuable instruction that skiers can receive, is how to correctly fall,” “It’s important for skiers at all levels to acknowledge that occasionally, they’re going to go down. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

So, it's normal to be scared (Good, I'm already scared and I thought I was crazy--that's part of the reason I was doing this research), I'm going to fall again (I was really hoping to avoid that) and I'll never be able to get past this psychologically (great).

So what do you do?

What do you do when you are standing on that line between "can't wait to do it again" and "my palms are sweating just thinking about putting on skis again"? I guess that all along I assumed that as more time passed since my injury and as I started to feel more and more normal again, I would start to lose my fear.

I guess fear is good. Hopefully, it will make me a little more cautious and help me NOT to re-injure myself. I really just hope that it doesn't rob me of the joy I normally feel when skiing. I don't think it will. I think I will get past this to some degree. As new as the injury was during my first trip to the emergency center immediately following my fall, I was still hoping that there was some way they could shoot me up with something so that I could continue to ski on the rest of the trip (before realizing the extent of my injury). I guess if I was wanting to ski then, I probably will still want to ski 10 months from now.

Any other ACL reconstruction people out there have any experience with fear following your injury?

posted by Nonblond @ 4/15/2008  

9 Comments:

  • At 4:29 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    I had reduction surgery one time,(would rather not say where) does that help?

     

  • At 9:30 PM , Blogger Jed said...

    Honestly, this is the worst part. The first one wasn't too bad because I tore it in soccer during contact so I had all of track season to re-trust my knee.

    The second was the worst because I took off all spring and summer and rejoined rugby 10 months post-op. I don't think during that entire season I ever recovered my normal tackling posture. I was timid going into them, timid making them, timid all around.

    This last one, I know is going to be the absolute worst to get over psychologically. Mainly because I didn't "do" anything. I didn't fall, get tackled, lose a ski or doing some roundhouse kick. I was running and I switched directions. (More specifically for those Ruggers following along. I chip kicked 20 yd to the full back. He was coming straight at me and I was anticipating a cut, he cut to my left, I planted my foot stepped off and POP.)

    My first 2 were "Ok, that was dumb, don't get into that situation again." I imagine that my 3rd situation follows what most everyone else in this little ACL Blogring are going through. Just a routine event for our respective sports.
    -
    I did have my first skiing experience after any ACL last winter. Our family regularly skied spring break since 2nd grade. However with my ACL senior year of HS and then with college I never had an opportunity to hit the slopes again until last winter. I was a bit scared at first, ok horribly scared. I had bad visions in my head of one ski going loose and then the carnage that would ensue.

    I know my first few runs were very timid. By the end of the day I was hitting some more aggressive slopes. Anytime I got near a 'danger zone' I pulled up immediately. Although I was still doing it 'socially' and I only fell once when I decided to push the limit and went unstable. My knees (both had been done at this point) held together.

    After a near 'perfect' day skiing next day I decided to try snow boarding. I don't think I was up long enough to tear anything.

     

  • At 10:43 PM , Blogger Vixen said...

    I'm sure as you get stronger you'll gain confidence and know what your knee can and can't do. If anyone can overcome psychological challenges YOU can! :)

     

  • At 8:31 AM , Blogger Melissa said...

    What a great post! I feel like I have PTSD when I bend my knee wrong now. I'm sure that when I get back to playing soccer it's going to be more mental than anything to feel like a normal game. I appreciate your insight.

     

  • At 11:31 AM , Blogger Michele said...

    Excellent post!

    This is the hardest part for me. I am so ready to put my ACLr behind me. It is the fear of re-injury that is holding me back.

     

  • At 11:55 AM , Blogger Nonblond said...

    Thanks, All! It really helps to hear about your experiences. Hopefully, one day, this injury/surgery will be a distant memory for all of us.

     

  • At 6:34 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Amen on all this! The fear is already on me. It was probably about a month ago -- three weeks after my injury -- when I first joked with one of my black belt instructors about my knee and I needing 'couples' therapy.

    Amen, too, on this statement from your previous post:

    "It's odd, but I think I will walk away from all of this with a lot more than just a reconstructed ACL."

    In fact, this is kind of backwards for me right now. I know I've already gained a lot from the experience so far. It's the ACL itself that's still in question.

     

  • At 7:49 PM , Blogger pilgrimchick said...

    I can imagine that fear has to be a big part of it--there are a lot of "what ifs" associated with surgery repairing injury. You make a good point here that having gone through this process may make you more likely to be cautious, though.

     

  • At 12:57 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    first of all yes reconstruction surgery sucks bad. But, if you train and rebuild the muscles youll find theres nothing really to worry about. The first time hitting the slopes after my rehabilitation was a nerve wracking until i began the descent and realized that wow, my knee is really strong and actually had improved because of my strength. Bottom line, train hard and get your leg muscles BOMB PROOF and the rest will follow! ps i just blew out my other proclaimed good knee, and am looking to do another reconstructive surgery next week. yea it sucks, but in a year ill be jumpin of huge cliffs again just fine! done let it get to your head! good luck

     

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