The Injured Athletes Club

"  Surgeries one through three, there is still this fear around weight gain and therefore restriction. And I think part of me wants to know, is that a major factor in why I didn't heal well? I'm not going to dwell on that or guilt-trip myself over it; it's in the past. But it was also an opportunity for surgeries four and onward, to say: 'Let's take a different approach. Let's nourish to heal. Let...

" I've unfortunately faced a series of surgeries and setbacks over the last few years. While I feel like I have a supportive group of friends, I don't feel like my primary coach has been that understanding of the mental toll that this has taken on me or how to navigate a game plan through my recovery, even though she's successfully done that in the past with me as injuries have come up.  She doesn...

" It really helped me as a coach to be able to look at my athletes and remind them, it doesn't have to be about a PR, doesn't have to be about the best day you wanted, but it can be—if you're healthy—about the best day you have that day. And that can be celebrated, that can be fun, even if it isn't the outcome you would've ideally written in your book."   Becki Spellman has had a long, successful...

"With overuse injuries especially, how do you help injured athletes recognize what to take ownership for, and what was out of their control? For example, one's weightlifting form may have led them to injury. Shame and guilt can be common emotions here, which are not helpful to our recovery, but how do we recognize what causal factors to take ownership of in a healthy way?" —Clark   "If a series of...

" That's how I learn life. I look at it, I visualize myself doing it, and then I execute. And if it doesn't feel right, I can feel it. I can see it, almost like a third person's view. That's the way I've approached life; that's the way I've been able to really reel in on what I'm good at and what I'm not good at."   Ryan Medrano has faced his share of challenges—he was born with mild cerebral pals...

" How do you stay patient when the doctor says you're doing too much? Mentally I get so down." —Kathy   In season 8 of The Injured Athletes Club podcast, mental skills coach Carrie Jackson answers a question every other week about the mental side of overcoming injuries.    This week, she empathizes with Kathy's conundrum—most injured athletes aren't happy with the pace of their recovery, because t...

 "What went through my mind—I was 19 at the time, my birthday was the prior month—was, oh my goodness, is my life over in terms of being able to live my dream? Because hockey, for me, wasn't just a sport. It was a gateway to do better in all facets of life."   Tom Smith doesn't like the word "impossible." After all, time after time, he's beaten the odds. After a paralyzing spinal cord injury durin...

" When you're injured and beginning to rejoin group rides/workouts, how do you let other riders know you're not at 100%? I'm thinking specifically of gravel and mountain biking. I have trouble clipping out quickly, and am currently overly cautious. I want to ride in the very back, but sometimes there are other people ALSO trying to ride in the back. I know people don't want/need to hear my 'woe is...

" When you give yourself permission to explore your identity, you will start to realize that being an athlete is an important part of who you are, but it is not all that you are. When you develop other areas of your identity, it can sometimes open up your performance in ways that were never available to you before."   As we discuss frequently in The Injured Athletes Club, injury brings a rollercoa...

"Besides feed the athlete/feed the monster, are there other ways to reframe and build confidence with that day-to-day overwhelm in month 3 and beyond?" Allison   In season 8 of The Injured Athletes Club podcast, mental skills coach Carrie Jackson answers a question every other week about the mental side of overcoming injuries.  This week, listener Allison wants advice on self-talk and other confid...

"  I woke up in the hospital and told everybody that this isn't gonna define me. I'm going to be playing lacrosse again. But there was always that what-if in the back of my head; I didn't really know if it would be possible. Having amputees sit across from me and hearing everything that they've been through … they were telling me that I'd be able to live an active lifestyle. I would be able to do...

" Just after recovering from being hit by a truck over the summer and breaking a bunch of bones, I got to start running again only to slam my ankle into a table and now I can't even walk. It's possibly just a bone bruise but the pain is radiating through my entire leg and I'm so angry this happened to me just after I got better.   Everything is just fifty thousand times worse. I don't get along wi...

"  The biggest change that I've had to make in myself is, you don't always have to be progressing. I feel like there's this huge push to be able to run faster, run farther, lift heavier, just do more all the time. But it doesn't necessarily have to be that way to reap all the benefits of health and fitness that come along with cardio and with strength training."   Physical therapist and strength c...

"How can I cope with treadmill anxiety? Coming off of a mild ankle fracture, my first few weeks I was back up to speed. Lately, as soon as I go anywhere over a jog, I feel panicky, like I'm going to fall and have to slow down. I feel relatively sure it is all mental—but I'm wondering if you have any tips." —Jennifer   In season 8 of The Injured Athletes Club podcast, mental skills coach Carrie Jac...

"Actionable goals build. It's a mountain—recovery is a mountain. Think about the stops on that mountain that you need to make to get to the top."   Millie Paladino had a successful, relatively injury-free collegiate career in running at West Virginia University and then Providence College, where she ran distances from 800 meters to 3,000 meters and was an all-American in the mile.   She turned pro...

"  I tore my ACL last April; it's been very challenging. Do you have any ideas on how to make the recovery process fun? Also, why do I feel so lost and confused without my sport—what should I do with this feeling? —Ava In season 8 of The Injured Athletes Club podcast, mental skills coach Carrie Jackson answers a question every other week about the mental side of overcoming injuries.  This week, in...

" I don't really want to be who I was before I was injured. In a lot of ways, I'm thankful to a place that just completely broke me, just brought me to some really low points. That's when I was able to grasp my faith or what it was, which is my personal worth. It has absolutely nothing to do with a soccer field or anything of the sort. Just learning that my worth and my fulfillment comes solely th...

" I have had the worst luck in the last two years. I had a knee replacement in April 2022 for a left knee that had at least 6 scopes over a 10-year + period and it was finally ready to be redone. At last, I would be pain-free. I worked extremely hard to rehab so I could get back on my mountain bike and on the ice. I did, eventually, but with a constant nagging pain. It turns out I had a fungal inf...

" Anybody I've met since I got hurt, I feel like they don't know me and that they can't know me. For people that I've become really close to since I got hurt—it almost hurts me to know that this person won't actually ever know who I am or who I was. They're meeting an entirely different person … there's a before and after, and a massive wall that separates them."   As a seasoned personal trainer a...

"I am a soccer player, and I tore my labrum in my right hip. After trying physical therapy for 4 months, I ended up needing surgery. I am a couple months post-op, feeling much better now, and can see that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, however I am still having trouble being around soccer. Every time I go to support my team, it doesn't even feel like mine anymore. I'm very excited to p...

"  I never lost my ability to breathe. I never lost completely my ability to swallow. We had to adjust things for a little while. But I am a huge believer that being as fit at that moment as I was going to be all year—I needed that to get through what I got through and to be able to get up and moving again so quickly."   Lynn Rogers had completed one IRONMAN triathlon and was training for another...

" My injuries led to major surgery, a hip replacement. I have really struggled with being on my feet all day, fatigue, and not feeling even close to 80 percent at work.    I just learned I will have two unrelated surgeries, and the thought of healing all over again in my stressful and physically demanding job has caused me to 100 percent regret coming back early from hip surgery. It seems hard to...

" Now I have to take this as a challenge: How do I have this elite-level B game that is almost indestructible, where I know I can get the job done in a maybe a different way, but just as efficient … and that's where athletes get the most gain in their mental capacity and their ability to win and their consistency is understanding that they can have that elite-level B game. They can beat anyone wit...

" How does one find self-compassion when you've been through this too many times and understand the importance of the beginning phase while also itching to get out of it and back to the activities that bring me joy?   I know all the usual tactics: time with friends, using other activities (music, podcast, drawing), resting, lifting upper body and moving in whatever way I can that doesn't jeopardiz...

"If one already has a good physical therapist, what are the benefits of a personal trainer when recovering from an injury or surgery? Is it just more money or can a personal trainer actually be a value add?"   "How do you balance being smart about prevention without letting worry of re-injury consume you?"   "What is the best way to recover from a VERY torturous PT session? Mental and physical. Al...