Athlete Anecdote - Injuries

Recovery is the most crucial part of an injury - without it, returning to your sport wouldn’t be possible. I recently injured my ankle, so I know firsthand how difficult it is to not go right back into playing your sport again. After I started having pain in my ankle, I went to see my school’s athletic trainer. She recommended that I ice my ankle, elevate it, and take it easy during volleyball practice. Although I didn’t want to sit out completely, pushing through the pain and not resting my ankle would only make things worse. To protect my ankle, I limited myself to doing the lower-impact portions of practice. Instead of running laps, I would walk them. I really feel like these small things added up to help my ankle heal better.

One thing that I regret is not going easy during games. This year at my school, our freshman/sophomore team was split into two teams, and I played on both. This meant that I was playing on my ankle a lot more than other girls were. This definitely didn’t help my ankle, and I had to go to a doctor. They sent me to a physical therapist, who prescribed ten minutes of physical therapy a day. I’ve seen a lot of improvement in the strength of my ankle after being consistent with my PT. Being consistent with the recovery routine and going easy during exercise truly helps with the recovery from an injury. I didn’t know the importance of slowing down until I had to experience it firsthand myself. If you have an injury, whether it’s big or small, rest is always important for the journey to recovery and full health.