A personal story of a sports injury (and how to deal with yours)

Hello there fellow earthlings!! :) Today I will share with you my personal story of how I tore my Anterior Cruciate Ligament and also some tips to deal with a similar sports injury.  I hope that my experience and information might be of assistance to any of you who have a similar injury or who needs reconstructing/repairing of a similar nature.  Please share your experiences with me and please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like to talk.  I am not a psychologist or medical professional, but sometimes an ear to listen is exactly what is needed. :-)

So, without further ado:


MY STORY:

I used to be a very sporty child and teenager: In primary school, I played mini-cricket, netball, swimming and athletics and danced hip-hop and modern and in high school I participated in athletics, swimming, netball, softball and danced a variety of dance styles including hip-hop, jazz, contemporary, Latin and ballroom, African and ballet.  I also had dance as a school subject.

Here I am, all glittered up and excited for the show to start

I am the kid in the middle holding the ball
This was looong ago :P

When I started high school in 2006 I was warned by many not do dance and play sports at the same time.  Naturally, I didn't want to give up either my sports or my dance and instead approached my dance teacher (who also gave body conditioning classes) to help me come up with a way to do both safely.  The result was a new strategy to play on my tippy toes and incorporate dancing into my sports (especially netball and softball) in an attempt to avoid as many common injuries associated with the specific sport.

This approach worked well, until we played on a horrible netball court filled with holes.  I jumped into one and, since I was playing mainly on my toes, my foot got stuck in the hole and I pivoted on my knee.  This caused a partial tear to my ACL.  The orthopedic surgeon advised me that I am still able to continue with most of the sports (long-jump, for example, was out of the question) and all of my dance styles as long as I adapt a few things.  These included longer warm-ups and wearing a special brace during physical activity.

Clearly focusing very hard :P

Having fun on stage

With these precautions and safety measures my knee held up well, until about a year later when I tore my ACL right through during a contemporary dance class.  Unfortunately, after this, everything changed.  I had to drop out of softball, action netball and all athletics except shot-put, I had to degrade to the B- team in netball where the impacts and speed during games aren't as bad as with the A-team, and I had to stop dancing contemporary, jazz and hip-hop.  Since I had dance as a subject, with jazz as major, I had some big adjustments to make in this field too as I then had to switch to Latin dancing as my major.  My dance teacher also helped me with some extra strength and stretch exercises and there were some everyday adjustments that I had to make, for example I could no longer jump on a trampoline or sit on my haunches.  I could also not run up stairs anymore and had to be very careful about how I move my leg.

Source: Local Physio

This was honestly a very difficult time for me with big adjustments in my life.  But, I coped, and my injury was under control until I fell pregnant in 2015.  I just found out that the hormone that allows a woman's body to stretch and adjust to the baby's growth, relaxin, has a negative influence on joints that do not have proper ligaments anymore (keep this in mind girls).  As a result, my knee has worsened since 2015, and even more so since our baby was born.  the extra strain on my knee from all the activities with a young baby and toddler, such as a lot of bending and carrying, of course, further negatively impacted the condition of my knee.

I finally decided to go see an orthopedic surgeon again as I was told by my original Dr in 2007 (when I completely tore my ACL) that surgery is not required until the injury starts impacting on my everyday life, which it unfortunately has done for a while now.  I saw my new Dr on 23rd January 2018 and was told that I do, in fact, need an ACL repair along with some cartilage and arthritis repair.

The ACL repair will be done with a reinforced donor tendon and the cartilage and arthritis repairs will be done by way of injections during the same procedure.  The procedure itself is not that big, and only requires one, maximum two, nights overstay at the hospital.  The rehab (physio) afterwards, however, is very important.  I will be in a brace for 3 months and booked off from work for 4 weeks.  I will receive physio that needs to be followed for 9 months, which is the most dangerous time period of the recovery as the risk of re-injury is at its highest.

I spoke to my Dr and we arranged the operation for the end of November due to the 4 weeks off-time needed from work.  Luckily this will give me December/January as a good rest period.  In the meantime, I will receive some physio (pre-rehab I guess) to ensure that I do not injure my knee any further before the operation.  I am currently waiting for the physio to contact me and arrange an appointment.

I thought I would document this experience as the year goes by, as well as next year after the operation.  So, I will post again as soon as I have been to the physio to give you all some information and ideas in this respect.

NOW, MY TIPS:

• If you have any type of sports injury you will know that some things in your life will never be the same.  No matter the type of injury, there will always be some things in your everyday activities that you can no longer do as before.  Because of this it is very important to adjust what you do every day as well as how you do it to compensate for your injury.  My personal example of this is avoiding jumping types of exercises/games (such as trampolines and jumping jacks) and finding other ways to bend that does not include any form of going onto my haunches or standing up and putting weight on my left leg.
• Always make sure you have some form of anti-inflammatory medicine, such as Nurofen (ibuprofen 200/400mg) on you.  These can come in very handy if you had to do something that put extra pressure on your injury and caused it to swell up, giving you the intense pain only an injury can.  Just remember to never take ibuprofen on an empty stomach, it is very strong and can easily upset your stomach, a pain none of us needs added on.
• Another anti-inflammatory medicine that works wonders is a flurbiprofen patch, such as TransAct patches.  Although more pricey, these have a faster effect on the injured area and less side-effects, such as that tummy issue I spoke of.
• Applying some Arnica gel can provide some immediate relief until the ibuprofen kicks in.  It can be used separate from the ibuprofen, though I have found that the two together gives me the fastest and most effective relief.  Just a note from my Dr, never wear a brace after applying arnica gel as it will abrase your skin which, mixed with the skin's normal sweating under the brace, may cause some infections.  My Dr was also the one who suggested arnica gel as opposed to deep heat, a very common rub for sore muscles in South Africa. 
• Do not forget about the RICE method - Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.  This is really important to do when your injury has experienced some sort of strain, which can happen quite often.
• If you have an injury, you will probably have noticed that your muscles surrounding the injured area strains as it compensates for the injured part and this pain can be quite intense, and also interfere with everyday life.  What I have found to work very well is actually a method we used in school when it was a big and long sports day - lie in a warm bath with about 2 tablespoons of Epsom salt (if you do not have Epsom salt, table salt can also work).  After about 10 minutes, rinse the sore area with cold water, for about 3 minutes, followed by warm water, for about 3 minutes, and repeat twice, finishing with warm water.  I find it easiest to jump in the shower for this.  When you have dried up and gotten dressed, lightly stretching the sore muscles also helps quite a lot - just make sure that you do not put any strain on your injured area.
• Having a sports injury can also have quite a toll on one's emotional and psychological well-being.  I suggest that you talk to others about your injury, search for a support group (there are numerous ones online) and always know that you are not alone.  Eventually, you will get used to it and it will definitely get easier to handle. 
• Finally, do not be shy about your injury or the fact that there are certain things you have to do different than other people.  You have an injury and that is a fact.  No one will think funny of you because of it, and if you do encounter someone who does, try to not pay any attention to them, they are clearly not worth it.

Thanks for reading and I hope you all have a nice, pain-free day :D


Bye bye for now :)

Michelle Smillie
Let life be, let love in