The Injured Athletes Club

"It's really accepting the emotion and coming into the present moment—not time-traveling and wishing things were like they were in the past or time-traveling and wanting this to be over already and thinking about the future. Instead, it's bringing yourself into the present moment of like, okay, I would prefer to not be feeling this way. I would prefer for this not to be happening. But this is happ...

"A question I think a lot of us have is, when do you let go? That is, when do you realistically decide that the energy, physical, mental and emotional is not going to be rewarded and a change in goals—whether that's physical goals or life goals—is an order? In short, when do you stop beating your head against an immovable wall?   This week—in a replay of an episode from season 4—co-host and mental...

"My previous perspective, or the way that I have always thought about my body, is that it's injury-prone. That's the narrative I had adopted and often just think of myself and my body in sports, or in doing any sort of physical activity, that it's not quite suited to or made for this type of activity and that there was something just wrong with me, for lack of a better way to say it. Through the c...

"Will I ever be the athlete I was before all of this? My fear isn't around re-injuring the same part, my fear is, what body part might go wrong next? Is this my body's way of telling me that my age is finally catching up with me?"   —Louise   This week, co-host and mental skills coach Carrie Jackson answers a question from listener Louise, who is trying to navigate through a series of injuries and...

"You can't fight for everything in life. But we all have a few things in our lives that are core to who we are, and that pull on us every single day. As much as you can endure, endure, because it's always worth it and it's bigger than you."   Running back Tim Hightower had all the momentum in the world heading into his fourth season in the NFL—a critical year, when contracts are renewed (or, in mo...

"One of the catalysts for us starting the Injured Athletes Club support group and then also doing the podcast is so that you don't feel like you're alone … when you lose your sport, there's sometimes so many little mini-losses that come with that. So to be able to come to the Injured Athletes Club and be a part of a community is so special, and you all are the ones that make that special."   One b...

"My parents are dancers, so I literally grew up in the studio. Ballet kind of goes hand in hand with my identity—I have always been Chyrstyn the ballet dancer. I didn't realize that until I had it taken away from me and I had to sit down and identify other things that I was interested in. Otherwise, what was I existing for? I think having the confidence of understanding a little bit more about wha...

"I'd really love to know how to stop comparing the athlete I was before injury to the athlete I am now. I had knee surgery 10 months ago, and even though I'm fully cleared for all activities I am really struggling to get back into a groove with running. Any type of speed work really isn't working for me and I just can't seem to get any speed back. I am so frustrated with my lack of progress and wo...

"One of the biggest challenges athletes face is trying to figure out if the pain that they're experiencing is pain that's a signal to stop or a pain that is okay to push through. Like, 'When I feel this pain, if I push through, am I going to do further harm? Am I going to make things worse?' The fear of re-injury helps you pay attention to your pain.   But when you are physically cleared to do you...

"I'd love to know how you ever get comfortable with pushing the limits, or pushing hard again, without being so scared of re-injury. I often feel that in my speed workouts, I'm holding back, afraid to see how hard I can push, because I'm scared, but I also don't want to let that fear hinder my athletic development! How to strike a healthy balance of 'fear' I suppose or learning to listen to your b...

[Having type 1 diabetes] comes with a lot of struggles, but I try to kind of embrace those struggles and learn from them and they help me grow. Having that perspective with type 1 helped me with my ACL recovery. Because I could say, 'Alright, this is going to be one of the hardest times in my life, but in the long run, I will be stronger because of it."   When the 2020 Olympics were first postpone...

"How can we communicate with our partners, friends, and family about how hard we are finding it to be injured and what we need in terms of emotional support? —Anna   "I have the same question: My husband is very helpful in doing physical tasks I still can't manage eight months after a trimalleolar pilon fracture, but he can't accept how severe this injury is, even though he has heard my surgeon ex...

"Rugby is something I think about all the time. But then going like, if it's gone, am I okay? If it's ripped away, like my able-bodied football career was, am I okay? In that moment, I wasn't. I had to ask, who is Joe in this new life in a wheelchair, and what's my identity? ... I think that's an important piece too, where a lot of athletes—it might not be as devastating as a paralysis, but when t...

"I loved the bit in the book where it gave ideas of how to respond to common messages or responses from people. I find it difficult to respond to the two following common comments I get about my injury journey:    1. You'll come out stronger    2. Your injury means you can concentrate on other things that are not your sport." —Louise   This week, co-host and mental skills coach Carrie Jackson answ...

"I obviously was devastated; there's no way around it. It hit me really hard, and I kind of allowed myself—I tend to do this when I'm going through something like emotional turbulence or something where I'm upset about something going on with my sport or personal life or whatever—I'm like, okay, I'm gonna give myself x amount of time to be sad. Lean into that. Cry it out, feel bad for yourself, li...

"How can you navigate injury when living alone? An initial challenge for me was being alone (no spouse, boyfriend) and close friends not in the same city. Realize this is not the case for most.   One of the biggest issues was physical navigation of surroundings on crutches, no one to help, which leaves one feeling very frustrated initially. The other is an enhanced sense of isolation because nobod...

"Every twist and turn, it was obstacles, right? And so for me, all I did was thrive. I learned from those. I realized, I can either take it two ways. I can let it overpower me and I crumble, or I freaking thrive and I rise. So that's what I did—I took that road."   When high jumper Priscilla Loomis caught COVID-19 in January 2021, she—and the team doctor—assumed she'd be fine in a few days. But in...

"Any suggestions on how to deal with family or a spouse telling you that you should quit your sport?" —Marvin   This week, co-host and mental skills coach Carrie Jackson answers a question from listener Marvin, who's wondering how to handle a loved one who expresses a view that, for many athletes, is very difficult to hear.   Most often, your family and friends really do want what's best for you....

"It was one of those that was like, injury leading to injury, and it was strange for me because in my over 20 years as an elite level athlete, I've never had really bad injuries. I've always been one—even though I used to train really hard—I was resilient. I would get niggles and things like that, but I never dealt with anything this big and had it set me back this much. So it really challenged me...

"After being injured for almost 2 years, I finally found a PT that I could work with to deal with my traumatic ankle injury and have made huge improvements, to the point where I have been able to run pain free more often than not.  What I'm struggling with now is keeping up PT exercises. I'm so excited to be running again and quickly am finding that I'm putting all my energy into the sport that I...

"I always felt like I was supposed to help people in general, and then I just thought, 'Well, maybe this is actually what I'm supposed to help people with, is navigating nutrition and navigating feeling like they don't belong.'"   So many athletes who cope with injuries and other setbacks emerge with a powerful drive to give back. For Starla Garcia , that desire arose even before she'd reached the...

"It's been really interesting, this journey with the left shoulder, because I think finally, one of the things I've come to realize is that maybe I've been a little too patient with the process, sort of comparing it to the right shoulder. With my right shoulder injury, it was a different injury, and there were different things going on. And I knew it was going to be a minimum of a year of PT and t...

"I'm walking again, I look like a normal person, I feel very able. But internally, the struggle is, I am not where I used to be. I cannot do the things I love. I cannot run. I cannot jump. So, I still feel the injury is a cloud hanging over me, and I've still got a long way to go. It's an interesting feeling and mental battle that I have with myself on a daily basis."   It was January 2022, and Sh...

"What's the best way to remain confident and advocate for yourself when the medical system doesn't seem to be working for you? Recovering from this stress fracture, I've had a number of instances of having to push back. First there was the surgeon I went to for a second opinion who told me I didn't need surgery—but that my body was trying to tell me "something," namely that I'm not a gazelle and I...

"I think first of all, it is so easy to dismiss this diagnosis and think there must be something else the matter, because the symptoms are so extreme and it is hard to believe that it can be something as simple and as basic as an energy imbalance. But it really can. And until I was brave enough to get really honest with myself and almost reach a point where I had to admit that there was an energy...