Ski injury/recovery?

[Dr Skimeister]

No doubt many have had a skiing/snowboarding-related injury. I had a tibia/fibula boot-top fracture back in '89. The physical part of recovery took several months, mostly related to the decision to allow it to heal in a cast as opposed to pins being placed. It took the better part of the next season to get the mental part of the injury healed. I found myself holding back for fear of the leg not holding up. I eventually realized I stood a better likelihood of another injury by "over-skiing" instead of trusting myself and just skiing the mountain.

Anyone else want to share injury and recovery stories?

 

[Paul]

Ruptured right ACL and had Tibial Plateau Fracture and cracked Fibula on Feb. 11th. Just 3 days before the Epic Winter of '07 started.

Still recovering.

 

[deadheadskier]

January 4th, 1994 - hairline fracture to C7 verterbrea, compressed nerve, dislocated shoulder. Missed the rest of the season. It was the result of a high speed collision during open slope Super G training at Okemo. Our GS course was the lower half of Noreaster and the top steep portion we were instructed to just let them run and prepare for Super G training later in the season. Me another racer got a little to close resulting in a pretty spectacular crash, though my end of it was worse as I hit head first on hard pack going probably 50+.

To this day, I'll only let them run at that speed if I know that no one is going to be near me.

 

[drjeff]

February of '89 racing in a downhill at Gore mtn, I didn't set up correctly for a fall away turn that had a big 'ol dip at the entry of the turn and basically my right ski continued to track down the course while my upper body kept on heading towards the side of the trail with my right knee as the center of rotation

Complete tear of the ACL, 75% tear of the MCL. A nice scar on my knee, but I was back on snow at Mt Hood Oregon the end of July that year after many hours with the sadists that call themselves physical therapists

Took me a good couple of seasons before I really trusted my right knee even though I never had any pain/problems with it after PT. Now heading on 20 years post injury the right and the left knees work just fine and I don't notice any difference in mobility/pain, etc. Whether or not it makes that much of a difference I'm not sure, but the orthopod that did my surgery even 2 decades ago was a fan of glucosamine supplements, so I've been on them ever since(although its a heck of alot easier to find them now than almost 20 years ago!)

 

[JimG.]

Feb 1999...open segmental fracture left tibia (2 fractures, one boot top and the other compound below the left knee) and fractured right tibial plateau along with total right knee dislocation with complete rupture of both the ACL and PCL.

Short version: If I had gone down head first I'd be dead.

Missed the next 2 ski seasons, had 4 surgeries on my left leg and 2 on my right knee to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Outcome: both legs work great today, no lasting ill effects. In some ways my right leg is better than it was before the injuries. No apparent loss of skiing skills.

I have alot of respect for my doctors. They have alot for me.

 

[gymnast46]

Injuries

One really stupid self-inflicted one occurred late last February as I was pacesetting Okemo's NASTAR course. Someone else had set the course and put a cranker over the last knoll. Instead of bailing, I got that deer-in-the-headlights look and skied right through the gate, straddling it. I ejected out of everything and felt a twinge on my chest under my left arm. I had no one to relieve me so I returned to the timing shack and ran the operation until noon when the pain was just too much. I got a ride down in the sled. Turns out I had two broken ribs and that led to pneumonia.

I had to cancel my trip to the Nationals for the first time in four years.

 

[JimG.]

One really stupid self-inflicted one occurred late last February as I was pacesetting Okemo's NASTAR course. Someone else had set the course and put a cranker over the last knoll. Instead of bailing, I got that deer-in-the-headlights look and skied right through the gate, straddling it. I ejected out of everything and felt a twinge on my chest under my left arm. I had no one to relieve me so I returned to the timing shack and ran the operation until noon when the pain was just too much. I got a ride down in the sled. Turns out I had two broken ribs and that led to pneumonia.

I had to cancel my trip to the Nationals for the first time in four years.

Broken ribs really hurt alot.

Like when you breathe...or laugh (ouch!).

 

[ComeBackMudPuddles]

Oy. This thread makes me quesy.

 

[kbroderick]

Two concussions (one major, for which I ended up in the hospital overnight), one broken collarbone, one boot-top contusion...all while I was a JIII (13-14 year old ski racer). Nothing serious since then...*knocks on wood*. I think it would take me longer to recover both physically and mentally at this point; in those cases, I was back on skis as soon (or slightly before) I was physically ready.

 

[ALLSKIING]

Feb 1999...open segmental fracture left tibia (2 fractures, one boot top and the other compound below the left knee) and fractured right tibial plateau along with total right knee dislocation with complete rupture of both the ACL and PCL.

Short version: If I had gone down head first I'd be dead.

Missed the next 2 ski seasons, had 4 surgeries on my left leg and 2 on my right knee to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Outcome: both legs work great today, no lasting ill effects. In some ways my right leg is better than it was before the injuries. No apparent loss of skiing skills.

I have alot of respect for my doctors. They have alot for me.

You hurt both knees in the same fall?

 

[Kerovick]

Wow, I'm getting the impression that alot of recovering from a ski injury is really mental. That makes me wonder how much of my knee discomfort is in my head. I would be devastated if my ski career was over and may be making it up in my head.

 

[mattchuck2]

Broken Thumb in 94 - No recovery time needed, skied with a splint in my glove.
Internal Bleeding (Liver) in 98 - Hospital for 6 days, then didn't ski for rest of winter (It was late March anyway)
Sprained wrist in 2000 - No recovery time needed
Torn MCL last year - 2 weekends off, skied with a brace for 2 weeks, then returned to normal

 

[JimG.]

You hurt both knees in the same fall?

No, my left tibia had a compound fracture just under my left knee, but amazingly my left knee was totally uninjured. Which was good because it has never been injured. My right knee had messy cartilage from an old high school football injury, so the surgery to fix it actually was an improvement in that regard and others.

As mangled as my left tibia was (the bigger of the two lower leg bones), my fibula was undamaged. That's a very thin bone.

My doctor told me two things about these apparent discrepancies in my injuries. One, that I was going very fast when I hit things and two that if my fibula had broken my lower left leg likely would have been torn off.

Ugly.

 

[gymnast46]

Shoulders

Alot of the recovery is mental. 2002, I think, I crashed on my snowboard, on a gentle blue at Killington. (Caught the front edge and dived into the mountain). Partial shoulder separation, bruised kidney, pee'd blood for two days. I finishe dthat run, took another run, then the adrenaline wore off and I called it quits. I only snowboarded one more time since then. Just doesn't have that allure anymore......

I was laying out a hard toeside carve on my alpine board at Bromley a couple years ago and hit an ice patch. I was reaching out with my right arm when it smacked the snow hyper extending it. The diagnosis was a SLAP tear (not sure what the acronym stands for). The Ortho prescribed PT. I remember asking if I would be able to play the violin and he said, "Sure". I replied, "Cool! I never could before". :razz:

The therapy worked fine and there's no lingering problems.

 

[JimG.]

I was laying out a hard toeside carve on my alpine board at Bromley a couple years ago and hit an ice patch. I was reaching out with my right arm when it smacked the snow hyper extending it. The diagnosis was a SLAP tear (not sure what the acronym stands for). The Ortho prescribed PT. I remember asking if I would be able to play the violin and he said, "Sure". I replied, "Cool! I never could before". :razz:

The therapy worked fine and there's no lingering problems.

Been there, done that...agreed the therapy worked fine but the first few nights after the injury were not restful.

Throbbing shoulder.

 

[danny p]

christmas day 5 or 6 years ago....first run...hunter mtn - hells gate, somehow crossed my board with my friends, went down, and his metal edge went across my right hand ring finger. Didn't realize I was bleeding until I got down to the lift and someone told me they followed my blood trail down the mountain. Went in to first aid and asked for some tape, and the lady politely showed me my finger bone. Luckily enough, there was an orthopedic surgeon on the mountain that sewed me up for cheap (didn't have insurance at the time). didn't get a second run. really crappy way to start christmas.

next year after that, hunter mtn. christmas morning, last run at around lunch time...mess up sliding a rail and bust my goggles on the rail along with a bloody nose or lip or both (?) can't remember. I had a stigma with riding at hunter for a long time...broke it two seasons ago. i'm still really careful when I hit up that mountain.

 

[2knees]

tore right acl dec of 90. skiing eggshell bumps really fast. that was stupid
tore left acl in 94. skiing on 205's and misjudged the amount of air i was gonna get. landing ended up being across the fall line and not down it and all the weight came down on the left leg. folded like a house of cards.

 

[L2RAFO]

Two seasons in a row I broke ribs while on the hill. Both events happened in the middle to end of March. The first time I did it it took me over two months to heal, and forced me to cancel my Snowbird trip in April. The second year, I had the life changing epiphany of being introduced to Arnica ( homeopathic product that tells your immune system to go into overdrive, and target the repair of broken bones/muscle/ligament tears ), and repaired the almost identical injury in a little over two weeks allowing me to get my April Snowbird trip in with zero need to hold back, even on the toughest terrain.

Does it change my concerns about busting myself up? You bet, because I know that I won't be out of the game for as long as I used to be in the event of serious injuries. But it still doen't mean that I'd rather not have anything happen at all.

 

[Beez]

Pres weekend 05 I broke my tailbone. That was my first season and I fell a lot. It still hurts, which is surprising. I can't sit on hard surfaces and when I kayak I can only stay out for about 1.5 hours tops. I now have a pad that basically looks like a diaper and it is very embarassing to wear but effective.

Last Easter weekend at Stratton I messed up my knee. Doc thought I tore my meniscus, MRI showed I had not. They never figured out the exact problem, but it bothered me for about 6 weeks. Had to alter my workouts etc. Now it seems to be fine.