It feels a little odd looking back at my post of 9 June. I had an awesome training session that day. Yet on the Monday following it I found that I’d seriously injured by leg. Since then I have been hobbling. Only today have I bothered to bring my netbook with me – sitting on a train causes a nagging pain right down the back of my leg.
The Injury
From extensive Googling I would describe my injury as grade 2 tearing of my hamstring and calf muscles in my left leg. Combined with this I have damaged my sciatic nerve, also in my left leg. The cause is, undoubtedly, roller derby, though I don’t know what specifically. I did fall small and have another of the team land on top of me, but I can’t imagine how that would injure muscles in the back of my leg.
As a result I have no power in that leg; I’m unable to stride. The outer three toes and that side of my left foot are numb. Sciatic pain, as I’m sure most readers will be aware, causes pain from the hip joint all the way down the leg.
I haven’t been absent from work as a result, though I’m glad I’ve not had to travel. For the first two weeks I wasn’t able to sit on the train as it was too painful. At work I sat half on the chair with my left leg hanging off the chair.
Lessons learned?
You will take longer to recover than you think
This is probably true at all ages, but the timescales for you youngsters will likely be shorter. During the first week after injury I thought I’d be good to go, though not 100% , by the following Sunday. After two weeks I sought medical help. Now, at almost five weeks, I still can’t walk properly. It will drive you insane. Stick with it.
Check/treat for injuries after contact sports
I wasn’t aware I was injured until the day after practice. In future I’ll consider having a cold bath after each practice session. If this helps to reduce injury time then it’s worth doing.
Use the Internet wisely
The frustration at not being able to do anything and the nagging pain resulted in my doing lots of “research”. From that I knew I’d end up having my leg amputated or worse. Much better to…
Seek medical attention
I have rarely/never found a visit to the doctor to be useful. In this instance though it would have resulted in my getting stronger medication sooner. Would that have speeded my recovery? I’d like to think so, and I now have medication to counter the adverse effects of the NSAIDs too. That said, after almost three weeks on the strong stuff I’m still not 100 percent. (See my first point)
Ibuprofen is an anti-inflammatory
I always thought Ibuprofen was a painkiller but apparently it’s more a “nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug” (NSAID). So in the first two weeks I would probably have been wise to take paracetamol as well.
Recovery
Every day I wake up and hope that I’m “better”. Well, I’m recovering, but I think it will be probably another month or two before I’m back to normal. In the mean time I’m part of the SimpleUsability team running/walking/hobbling in the Leeds 10k – help raise money for the Leeds Children’s Hospital by sponsoring us. Then next weekend I’m skating with The Skateful Dead in the Men’s European Roller Derby Championship down in Birmingham!
No rest for the wicked it seems :-)