Post-Vacation Injury Update

On my vacation, I found a souvenir shirt which nicely summarizes the four stages of a happy snowboarding life. For those who can’t read the fine print, it says “Eat, Drink, Snowboard, Recover,” So why is it that I seem to be stuck in the fourth stage for so long?

Actually, once my shoulder survived the plane ride over to New Zealand (unfortunately, not my bags for the first five days…) it really did not give me trouble for most of my trip. I did my best to avoid the really hazardous sports, like bungy-jumping, skydiving and white-water rafting, even if NZ had the reputation for being the best place to do adventure sports of anywhere in the world. I tried hard to stay the course. Even when my friend went paragliding and asked me to join her, I declined the offer and watched from the bottom of the mountain instead. Most people would admire my courage and persistence. I just wanted to avoid injury so I can run again once I got back to the states.

Even up to the second last day of the trip, I was still doing well. My shoulder felt strong. I had good mobility with limited pain. Then we found a sandy beach in the back of the backpacker’s lodge we were staying in, and all hell broke loose. You see, my friend and I had been driving 1000 miles all over the country in search of a nice swimming beach. Since the first day of vacation, we had been yearning for a chance to run our toes over the sand and submerge our bodies in the crashing waves. But all we found through the whole time we were there were rocky beaches and empty shorelines. We loved the scenery and the hiking, but at least for me, it just wouldn’t be a vacation if you don’t get to spend at least part of the day on a sandy beach. So imagine our exhilaration when we found one right in our own backyard, so to speak. So what does that have to do with my shoulder injury…well, that’s when I broke my restraint and allowed myself to run in the sand…figuring that falling on soft sand shouldn’t hurt that much. I was running slowly at first, then faster, all the while enjoying the nice cool breeze and watching the waves crashing next to me. Next thing I know, my left foot hits a ditch and I’m flying headfirst, landing with all my weight on my left shoulder…

I’ll spare you the gory details, but safe to say that I reinjured my clavicle, and had to return to the sling for a couple of days. That’s why my injury counter is still running and I haven’t as yet gotten back on the roads. There is some good news though. I finally went back to my orthopedics/sport medicine doctor today for x-rays. And although the fracture had slipped a bit more, there is some callous formation around the injury, which is a sign that the bones are healing. As such, he is starting me on physical therapy, and not only that, he’s given me permission to do some JOGGING and LIGHT RUNNING.Woohoo! Music to my ears.

Now if only the weather will cooperate and the snow on the ground outside can disappear, I can finally get back to business!