Hi everybody

I broke my kneecap last Thursday. now I'm in a big brace. it sucks

2 years ago I fractured my elbow DH biking.... I went through rehab and several surgeries to help regain movement and to be able to use my right elbow (I am a righty). 8 months later I was able to play tennis and make it through my school tennis tryouts. My biggest piece of advice I can give you is to have hope and not to give up. You need to constantly have a positive attitude. If you have trouble walking a certain way, compromise by using other parts of your body to help you get around. For example, because I didnt have a large range of movement in my elbow, my shoulder and collarbone helped me to perform everyday tasks normally. I didnt have full movement in my elbow for more than 10 months after the accident, even while playing tennis, but I was just so greatful that I was able to play sports again and to be outside with friends, just screwing around.

Im not gonna lie... your journey to full recovery will probably be painful.....
But remember to have hope and to keep your head up!!
Good luck!!!

I hurt my meniscus, jammed my left leg an inch into my pelvis, dislocated my right shoulder, herniated two discs, caused a hematoma in my lower left back, and messed up a vertebrae (thankfully didn't break it) about a year and a half ago (Late December 2012).

I don't know what to say as far as "words of wisdom" go... But - in my experience, stay a good skis length away from opiates (or at least oxicodon/contin). Maybe it's cause I have an addictive personality, or maybe it was because of what I was prescribed (maybe both), but to this day I STILL have issues from my oxy prescription. My doctor never told me it would be that addictive, and I was stupid enough not to research or ask about it. I didn't mess around with it. I followed my prescription word for word. But it still screwed me up.

Other than that, fuck what everyone tells you. I was told never to ski again. Well, respectfully, I believe the doctor who told me that should have my (small) ski pole shoved up their rectum. Fuck them. Fuck them very much. You don't want to hurt yourself obviously, but as long as you can physically/mentally do it and aren't seriously hurting your body further, get out and ski.

Honestly, skiing is the ONLY thing that helped me calm down, think, and just chill after I got hurt. Granted I was dealing with shit beyond my physical injury.So if you feel up to it, then go ski. It's a bitch after you get hurt... but just go ski with your friends and it's still incredible. Vibes brother.

Keep it real, ~onelove

I broke my right arm once when I was 2 and broke it again minorly when I was 13. Broken fingers multiple of times before the age of 14. Got a concussion during ski season this year. I was mountain biking. I had to sit a week out it sucked:(



I think you guys beat me in injuries...

My best advice is to not let injuries stop you.

I tore my acl twice and fractured my back when I was 14 and quit gymnastics because of it. I regret it every day. Sure injuries slow you down, but you can't let them stop you like I did. Maybe you won't ski at the same level, but skiing is skiing and it's great. That's the beauty of skiing, at all levels it's awesome.

Use skiing as a motivator. When or if you want to give up, just think about skiing. If you give up, you won't ski again and if you're anything like me, that's not even an option. Look to people like Thall. He had a pretty awful injury but he recovered and look at where he is now.

Just stay positive. Pt and rehab is some hard shit but in the end it's so worth it. Until then find other things that get you stoked. Do as much as you can even if it's not that much. The more you do, the happier you'll be and you'll be less likely to fall into depression, which will slow down your recovery(happened to me).

Tore my ACL in my right knee and damaged my meniscus in my left knee (had to have 25% removed) 8 months ago, took me 5 months post op to get back to skiing. I wanted to prove to myself I could beat the average rehab time (I also had the surgery a month before Russ Henshaw so I just wanted to beat him as well) and just really wanted to ski, so I just threw myself into the rehab. Most people say learn an instrument or something to keep you entertained but I was also doing my final year of University (College) so that and my physio kept me more than occupied. I don't know if you have to do physio or anything or just wait for it to heal, just remember to give yourself small goals to reach and remember to reward yourself, you will defiantly come out stronger physically and mentally!

Let it heal fully. You don't want to be like Tiger Woods and jump back in full force without it healing fully and properly.

danbrownI broke my kneecap last Thursday. now I'm in a big brace. it sucks

I feel you dude its been 3 weeks since I broke mine and I'm out of that stupid brace.

Thanks everyone. Months of pt before im back skiing hard. I really do need to go skiing again. Thanks for all of your comments I will be taking all the advice and reading them many times. Yay ns.

Some of the Legends of our sport who are still around and killing it have recovered from one or more injury's that were said to be " Career Ending "

My best advice is to listen to everything the doctors say for rehab, eat extreamly healthy, and rest. You can do anything you set your mind too.

You the man BOO, stay strong. Cant wait to see you make a comeback edit!!!!!

I've torn a tendon and pulled a muscle in my knee, got a concussion that knocked me out for 10 hours those are really only the big major injuries that I've had. Here is the story of the tendon and muscle. It was a pow day and I was skiing with a few of my friends, and a saw this sketchy handmade jump into some pow so I decide to hit it, I landed it find but was leaning a little too far and tomahawked once and landed on my belly and had this sharp pain in my left knee and luckily one of my slower friends I was skiing with was behind me and took my ski off, and thats the end of that story, can't really remember it that well because it was 3 years ago. For my concussion it was a training run and apparently I spun the 2nd one( just finding out the speed for the jumps) and I sorta knuckled the 2nd one so I sat down to get speed, I think what happened was I started spinning to early caught and edge on the jump and gapped the whole landing (the jump was 35ft to knuckle and landing was about 50 feet deep) and landed right on my head on flat. The funny thing about it was I was just staring down at the ground with my scrapped face and bleed nose, and apparently some hot skier chick came up to me and asked if I was okay and I screamed at her as loud as I could and said "FUUUUCCKKKK OOFFFFF" then at the bottom my friends heard her telling her friends saying that I was a dick

WhydoineedthisI've torn a tendon and pulled a muscle in my knee, got a concussion that knocked me out for 10 hours those are really only the big major injuries that I've had. Here is the story of the tendon and muscle. It was a pow day and I was skiing with a few of my friends, and a saw this sketchy handmade jump into some pow so I decide to hit it, I landed it find but was leaning a little too far and tomahawked once and landed on my belly and had this sharp pain in my left knee and luckily one of my slower friends I was skiing with was behind me and took my ski off, and thats the end of that story, can't really remember it that well because it was 3 years ago. For my concussion it was a training run and apparently I spun the 2nd one( just finding out the speed for the jumps) and I sorta knuckled the 2nd one so I sat down to get speed, I think what happened was I started spinning to early caught and edge on the jump and gapped the whole landing (the jump was 35ft to knuckle and landing was about 50 feet deep) and landed right on my head on flat. The funny thing about it was I was just staring down at the ground with my scrapped face and bleed nose, and apparently some hot skier chick came up to me and asked if I was okay and I screamed at her as loud as I could and said "FUUUUCCKKKK OOFFFFF" then at the bottom my friends heard her telling her friends saying that I was a dick

Hahaha. That was an amazing story. It also sounds very painful.

ShaunNDDuffYTore my ACL in my right knee and damaged my meniscus in my left knee (had to have 25% removed) 8 months ago, took me 5 months post op to get back to skiing. I wanted to prove to myself I could beat the average rehab time (I also had the surgery a month before Russ Henshaw so I just wanted to beat him as well) and just really wanted to ski, so I just threw myself into the rehab. Most people say learn an instrument or something to keep you entertained but I was also doing my final year of University (College) so that and my physio kept me more than occupied. I don't know if you have to do physio or anything or just wait for it to heal, just remember to give yourself small goals to reach and remember to reward yourself, you will defiantly come out stronger physically and mentally!

man i cant help but feel that was less than safe, i was told six to nine months, more realistically nine, simply because it takes time for the blood vessels to grow into the graft and that it didn't matter that i was stronger than i was previous to my injury. I guess if your doctor gave you the go ahead. even most professional athletes who focus solely on rehab are given at least six months these days. i guess each case is different

Broken C3 back in ~2008 followed by an emergency flight to the nearest hospital and a one week vacation right in there. Luckily I had no nerve damage so wearing a brace for 4 months straight was enough...

It wasn't the most painful experience (beside some bad headaches in the healing process) but definitively the scariest thing that ever happened to me. It changed the way I ski now and how I appreciate the time in the mountains.

As a result of a hereditary spinal defect I broke my l4 and l5 vertebrae playing soccer during the summer after my freshman year of high school. I was told I would never be able to run again, let alone ski. It took me until the winter of my senior year of high school to get back on skis. I was too afraid to hurt myself again. Furthermore I had lost all of the progress I had ever made. I couldn't even slide a rail, let alone try to hit a jump. But through perseverance and a good group of homies on the hill. I was able to get back at it. Picked things up quickly and progressed more in that first year than I had the rest of my life. I got into urban and park, and managed to get some pow out in UT for the first time. Then this winter (January 28th) I was unfortunate to break both of my wrists and suffer a concussion. Combined with all previous head injuries it was somewhat serious. However the hardest part was that I no longer had access to either of my arms. Luckily I only had to have two casts past my elbow for a week and a half. Not only was it difficult to do everything it was also frustrating. I had to have family and friends help me with everything. Furthermore I go to a somewhat difficult college and decided to stay in and finish out the rest of the quarter armless.Through lots of help from professors, administrators, friends and family I was not only able to finish out the school year going through two surgeries and not being able to write but also being able to get out for the last day on the hill.

The point I am trying to get across here is that whatever your doing to keep going no matter what. You gotta keep your head forward and think about your future. Your not gonna be stuck around forever. Find something your passionate about and get at it while you cant ski. I got into photography and tutoring at risk kids in the city im from. Furthermore your probably not going to make a living off of skiing, although it will always be an important part of your life. As long as your able to go out there and push yourself to be the best person you can be both on and off the hill your injury will make you stronger. Both mentally and physically. As hard as it is don't worry about the next ski season. Just worry about getting better and having a good ass time while your at it.

Also my girlfriend has broken both of her hips and it took her two and a half months to get back to running, 4 to be cleared for all activity, including skiing!

Wishing the best for you and your recovery. Hope the rehab and PT isn't too monotonous.

i broke my kneecap a couple years back and I'm not gonna lie, you still have some real painful days ahead of you. after i started walking again i used to get shooting pains up my leg. best thing you can do is to take it as easy as possible and only walk for short periods of time.

as for the post injury blues though…i broke my back skiing three years back now. at the time i thought i would never want to try throwing inverts again, but due to motivation from the guys i ski with i was back at it the next year. you really just gotta keep the positive attitude up and stick to your pt like crazy so you can get back out as soon as possible

VinciBroken C3 back in ~2008 followed by an emergency flight to the nearest hospital and a one week vacation right in there. Luckily I had no nerve damage so wearing a brace for 4 months straight was enough...

It wasn't the most painful experience (beside some bad headaches in the healing process) but definitively the scariest thing that ever happened to me. It changed the way I ski now and how I appreciate the time in the mountains.

geesh i just got a bumpy ride in the back or an ambulance while strapped to most uncomfortable piece of plastic I've ever experienced…..definitely agree with that last part though

wait the boo that played skate against Steve stept productions? You slay man +vibes just let that heal fully so you can go back at it this season.

Boo.Hahaha. That was an amazing story. It also sounds very painful.

Ya dude, so happy that I don't remember sending the jump to flat

man i cant help but feel that was less than safe, i was told six to nine months, more realistically nine, simply because it takes time for the blood vessels to grow into the graft and that it didn't matter that i was stronger than i was previous to my injury. I guess if your doctor gave you the go ahead. even most professional athletes who focus solely on rehab are given at least six months these days. i guess each case is different[/QUOTE]

I did a lot of 'prehab' before my operation and was on an accelerated programme which I stuck to pretty well so I was well prepared for it. I understand what you mean, but my doctor and physiotherapist both said it was fine, as long as I wasn't out doing stuff I was before and treated it like I was learning to ski again, so I was just building up my muscles and balance through skiing at first. I didn't do any fancy wirily birds for a month or so, still pretty nervous about doing them tbh. Had an MRI the other week at 8 months and it's completely fine, but everyone is different as you say, and everyone has different obstacles to over come, I just wanted to share how my passion for skiing kept me going.