One misstep, and your game changes from performance to rehab

By Holly Scott

November 16, 2004 | You're at the top of your game. Things are going great. You've never been faster, worked harder or done better. Suddenly all that changes, because of the mere pop in your knee or a silly collision.

"A sports injury is one of the most awful things that can happen to an athlete," said Dale Mildenberger, Utah State University athletic trainer.

Mildenberger deals with athletes everyday as they walk in and out of the athletic training room doors. "When someone walks through that door, it's one of the lowlights of their career," he said.

"The training room is a place where people come when something's gone wrong."

As a veteran of two knee surgeries I have an insight of what it's like to be out of your game for a recovery period. It's a hard experience. You are immediately taken from things that are a part of your everyday life. Activities you love, that are encouraging you to get through another day.

I was a junior in high school. My four years of tumbling paid off because I just made the varsity cheerleading team. I was tumbling at a performance and came out of my second back handspring gaining speed for my third. My tumbling pass ended at three back handsprings when I heard and felt a pop. Intense pain shot through my knee as I limped off the floor. A few days later the doctor told me I tore my anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).

Athletic events have become one of the biggest forms of entertainment for Americans. Think back to those games where you see a player injured lying on the field or court, the crowd cheers as they arise from the ground, they are carried away and don't return to play. What happens to them once they are off the field?

Once off the field it takes just as much effort as it does when you are on. Mildenberger says that the key thing an athlete can do after an injury is participate. "It's not always someone else's job to get you better," Mildenberger said. "You have to actively participate and work hard to get back."

Shannon Ross, a USU soccer player. has been through two knee surgeries. Her first happened in high school while she was being recruited for college teams.

"I cried myself to sleep for one week," said Ross. "I had to go to practice and watch my team do something I couldn't."

Along with attending practice to just watch, athletes spend many hours in therapy. For athletes such as Ross and myself you can expect being in the gym five days a week for two or more hours. Mildenberger said that after an ACL injury you don't start getting back to your sport for at least six to nine months.

A knee injury is not only physically hard but is as much emotionally and mentally damaging. Physical therapist Lori Olsen explained that it is different for everyone. Olsen finds that it depends on if the athlete has been hurt before. If so, she said that the athlete knows what lies ahead of them and it's emotionally frustrating.

"Either way it's frustrating," said Olsen. "You are away from the team and spending hours in therapy."

Olsen categorized patients into two categories, the fighters or the ones who get depressed. "Everyone gets frustrated when they have an injury, but there are those who just really work hard and push through it."

When Ross injured her knee the second time she said, "I sat there and thought to myself oh boy...not again. I've paid my time, I learned the first time, why again?"

Well 'again' because like my mom told me, "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

Ross said that this time she understands it's going to take time to get back 100 percent but she feels that you can become a better player from it. She also realized she's not just an athlete and that she has other characteristics that make up who she is.

Ross said what she learned most through her experiences was patience.

"You'll feel good like you can play," she said, "but you have to wait it out."

Olsen explained what it takes to come back from a knee injury. She said that after being out of your sport for a season you have to learn to re-trust your knee and be able to take another blow and regain your confidence. "Athletes have the fear of hurting themselves again," Olsen said. "It's a mental game where you once felt invincible and now your confidence in your knee is shot." Athletes regain their confidence by working hard and going through rehabilitation.

It had been four years for me and I had long gained my confidence back. I was snowboarding on Beaver Mountain. I went over a jump, landed and heard the infamous 'pop' sound. The whole way down the mountain in the emergency toboggan I cried holding my knee tight to releive some of the pain. I tried to convince myself I wasn't that unlucky to tear my ACL again, but it turns out I was that unlucky. My confidence was shot once more.

I am now teaching myself to walk, run and jump yet again.

Aside from the injury itself Ross said it's hard to go through because no one else understands or has sympathy for what you are dealing with unless they have experienced it as well. "People don't understand how hard it is to sit there and watch your team play without you," said Ross.

Olsen explained that for the most part athletes get back to their activity level. It is very traumatic when someone doesn't get back, but that happens very rarely. "It's all about taking the time to get back, setting goals and working hard," Olsen said.

Athletes take a big hit when they have to experience a sports injury. The physical, emotional and mental recovery is often underestimated. But when it all comes down to it, it is the athletic drive instilled within them and the love for what they do that helps them fight their way back.

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