What was your worst injury and how did you overcome it?

ninerbuff

I've been fortunate to have never majorly injured myself through sports or being a gym rat for decades. However my worst injury happened about 4 years ago.
It was at a family party. My aunt had just cleaned her wood floors to a high sheen and we don't wear shoes in any of our homes. I had just put on brand new socks (unwashed) so I'm assuming they had a "slickness" too it. My aunt has a 2 step raised foyer and I was bringing some food over to my kid. As I went to step down, I strided too long and skipped the step and my left foot slid outward while my knee buckled inward. I hit the floor hard all the while NOT dropping the plates of food. Knee was on fire. I limped out of the house that day and next went to hospital.
Diagnosis was a torn menicus and I almost detached my MCL. Luckily I am a rehab trainer and knew exactly what to do to recover. I spent 4 months strengthening and rehabbing my knee and eventually was able to squat again. But I couldn't go ATG like before without a pinch in my left knee. I knew at that point the meniscus tear was the issue. So I opted to have surgery on it to get it trimmed and repaired. Another 2 month rehab and I got back to leg work being able to squat ATG again and my knee feeling about 90%-95%. I can basically do what I was able to do before and am glad I had the knowledge and discipline not to come back too fast which isn't uncommon.

Looking forward to hearing some stories.


A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

kellyiris6

I played in an intramural adult co-ed basketball game. An opposing player was coming down the court while I was the only one on defense, so one on one. I knew the player didn’t know what a charge was so I stood up straight and planted to draw the foul while they plowed into me. I fell backwards and instinctively tried to catch myself on the fall, while they landed on top of me. My arm broke both bones; radius and ulna. The radius was so bad when I got to the ER and after X-rays, 2 hospital staff had to pull at my forearm since it was jammed toward my wrist to try to set it in place, while it was broken in half. The next day or so I had to get surgery with screws in the radius. I recovered with physical therapy for months. This was about 12 years ago. Unfortunately, it still hurts occasionally very slightly and I can’t move it in certain directions. I quit basketball, but still play other sports to this day for fun. And no, the metal detector at the airport does not go off when I walk through 😀

Machka9

Burnt my left foot to the bone in early November 2001
For weeks I could not even stand up because the blood would pool and the foot would swell.
Started to hobble around after about 6 weeks.
Got on my stationary bike with a slipper at about 8 weeks - early January. Could only manage about 5 minutes at a time.
Squashed my still-bandaged foot into a cycling shoe in February and was able to get outside for a short ride!!
Had to learn to walk properly again when I could wear shoes.
Cycled the Rocky Mountain 1200 Randonnee in July.

I've had a number of injuries over the years, but that was probably the worst one.

My husband, on the other hand, is recovering (or perhaps has recovered as much as he is going to ... it's hard to tell) from a severe traumatic brain injury. He'll never likely cycle the long, long, long distances we once did. But he is getting out there and cycling a bit.

Grace_spaceship

Broke two vertebrae in my spine (L1 + L2) in December 2018 tobogganing with my family over the holidays. Most pain I've ever been in, luckily no surgery was needed, just a very restrictive brace. I spent 4 weeks lying in bed pretty much 24/7. I will never take walking for granted again! 8 more weeks in the brace. The first time I took my bace off just standing upright felt like planking. My core was very weak and it's taken over 2 years and a lot of physiotherapy to get back to pre accident strength! The only permanent change is the shape of one of my vertebrae, but it has no affect on me and it's *almost * like it never happened!

cwolfman13

I've had a number of nagging type of injuries over the years, but fortunately nothing really serious. I go back and forth on whether or not to call what happened to me last summer an injury...but I was in a pretty gnarly mountain biking crash in June 2020...bad "road rash" up and down my right leg with some areas pretty sliced open, my right arm and right side of my chest and cracked my helmet. Lots of swelling in my right knee, but that went down after a week or so.

All in all, my injuries directly attributable to the crash healed pretty quickly...but the crash triggered a gout flare in my right foot. Apparently you can have gout and high levels of uric acid in your blood and joints but not know it until a trauma jostles around all of those crystals and you have a flare. It wasn't immediately diagnosed because the flare was a-typical in that it wasn't just my big toe...wasn't in my toe at all...it was my entire top of my foot and my ankle.

Podiatrist thought I had badly sprained my foot and ankle and put me in a walking boot for a few weeks until my follow up. It was still pretty bad when I went to my follow up so he ordered an MRI, which ultimately showed nothing...but I was still in a lot of pain with a lot of swelling. He finally decided that it was possible that it was an a-typical gout flare and referred me to a rheumatologist. Took almost a month to get in for my appointment (mid Sept). At this point, the pain and swelling had been going on for the better part of 3.5 months with some minor relief here and there, but then it would just flare out again.

Rheum ultimately determined it was gout. Put me on two weeks of a high dose of prednisone and another two weeks at a lower dose and that finally knocked out that inflammation. It almost felt like some kind of miracle that I could walk again. I wasn't able to do much at all...just walking to the bathroom was pure agony and I was using a cane and had my foot in a boot. All in all, it was about 4.5 months with some more mild discomfort continuing for another 2 months or so before things normalized. Extremely painful and it just went on for ages.

Fortunately I haven't had any other flares since. I'm on a medication to lower uric acid and have another follow up on April 2. I'm hoping to get off those meds as I've also given up alcohol and I think my blood work will ultimately show only trace levels of uric acid at this point.

mel941980

I collapsed twice, on pavement, due to bilateral pulmonary embolisms the summer of 2019. I was hospitalized and then had multiple subsequent infections, including Pneumonia. I was put on 13 rounds of steroids, blood thinners, multiple rounds of antibiotics, and had surgery. The infections were relentless, I became depressed, gained a lot of weight, and was perpetually exhausted. Luckily, it was a huge wakeup call. I started by committing to walking at least 45 minutes 4 times a week, eating a plant-based diet, and tracking calories.

13 months later I've lost 76lbs; I now exercise 5-6 days a week, eat a balanced diet, and, most importantly, feel so much healthier.

Alinouveau2

Nothing super major thank goodness. I've have a couple of concussions, my brother which whom I figure skates competitively, fell on my head once. I got and asked him why everyone was so concerned. Got another skating with someone else as an adult when I clipped someone and landed on my chin

Broke my forearm like my first week back skating as an adult. Tore my rotator cuff...you guessed it skating and 11 years or so later had surgery ti repair it.

Broke a toe walking into my kitchen island and sadly had some skating commitments so couldn't rest it until 2 weeks later. Oh I majorly sprained my ankle a couple of years ago slipping on something in the kitchen. I sprained the inside which isn't common and didn't realize it was as bad as it was and went curling. I went to the de a week later and he was rather concerned with all the bruising....it was ok. Cleared up, I'm sure the curling everyday helped...keeps the blood moving 😂🤣

Btw I overcame all my injuries through a combination of ignoring them and eventual rest. The shoulder after the repair i did lots of physio and had a very aggressive recovery protocol so in 6 weeks I was back on the ice and in 3 months curling. Still working on building up the strength but it's awesome

Whatsthemotive

I was in my late 20s. Someone crossed the center line and topped the hill in my lane. The engine entered the passenger compartment. I had a fracture in my left foot. My right heel bone was crushed. The doctor said to think of it like a hard boiled egg that had been rolled until the shell was in many many pieces. I had a cast on my left foot for four weeks. I had a cast on my right foot for four months. It took me over a year to find a surgeon, who performed a subtalor triple fusion.

I recovered from that surgery over a period of months and was left with limited range of motion but less pain. After years, I developed significant arthritis in the right ankle. In 2019, a surgeon recommended a total ankle replacement. Upon researching total ankle replacement, found that the results are not as consistently good as are the results for hip and knee replacement. Also, being overweight causes the likelihood of a good outcome to go way down. I opted for bone spur removal, which will hopefully hold off the need for the replacement until I lose weight and they improve the procedure odds.

I walk with a significant limp, have pain when walking and standing, and must avoid any high or moderate impact in exercise.

Whatsthemotive

Need to edit. I do seated exercises 5-7 times per week. My mother died 4 months after my surgery and my brother died 5 months after that. I was overwhelmed with events and did not take care of myself for a while. I have lost 16 pounds since the start of the year and hope to lose 35 more.

concordancia

I have degenerative lumbar discs. It has been bad enough that I can't walk across the room without taking a break. Physical therapy helps. I can only do low impact exercises and I have been so careful for so long (it has been ~30 years since the first episode, 20 since an actual diagnosis, but the treatment didn't change), that I can barely twist or bend side to side. I can't do windmill toe touches, for example. I am trying to work on waist flexibility now, but it is slow going.

On the plus side, I am the only one in the family diagnosed who has been able to avoid surgery.