You are a hard working, dedicated, serious athlete. You want to be the best you can be and you are willing to consistently put in the time and energy, day after day to make this happen.
You have a passion, a drive to train and compete in your sport that not many understand. Your friends think you are crazy. Instead of late nights socializing, you need to get to bed for early training. Instead of 2 weeks off at the end of the year, you take 3 days.
When someone asks you what you do, you say, “I am a competitive athlete.” This is your identity. This is who you are.
One day during practice, you came down a little wonky on your foot, and felt it in your ankle. You didn’t hear a pop or a snap, and this has happened before. No problem. Walk it off.
The next day you start warming up again and you feel a little tenderness, a little pain, so you modify and lighten the load a little to give it more time.
When you get home that night, you stretch it out a little more, and ice it. You try to work through it and bring more blood flow to help the healing process.
When you get up in the morning, you decide to give yourself a day off, which turns into 2.
Finally, you get back to training, then one day, your ankle feels stiff and you look down and it’s swollen. By the next day, you can’t even put your foot down without pain. You start to get worried.
You go to the Sports Medicine Doctor who says that you will be out of action for about 2-3 months depending on how things go.
No, you can’t safely continue training without risking permanent damage. You must stay off of it to fully heal or this could be a career ending injury.
You are a serious athlete and train intensely. Injuries are a normal part of the territory and you’ve been through minor and major ones before.
Now comes the process of rehabilitation.
When an athlete is injured, they will always treat the physical pain.
But the mental pain an athlete experiences from the temporary or permanent loss of their sport can be more difficult to overcome, and create lasting problems long after the physical injury has healed.
When the mental pain is not treated, an athlete’s overall recovery can be delayed or incomplete. In addition, these untreated mental and emotional issues can continue to surface when an athlete returns to play, in the form of performance problems.
Athletes, Parents and Coaches who pay attention to the mental aspect of the recovery process can greatly facilitate a smooth and complete recovery. Mental and emotional difficulties can be dealt with quickly and effectively.
If you want to learn more about facilitating complete recovery from a temporary or permanent loss of your sport contact me.