Sports Injuries Thread

[palitoy]

I'm sure I'm not alone in this one.

Twelve years ago while teaching a Karate class, I had an error in depth perception and kicked a door frame at full power. Never fight one of those, they'll win. My foot felt like i was walking on my wallet but it went away after 2 days. Everything healed then, I was barely in my thirties.

It would flare up semi-annually, as almost a reminder of my stupidity.

Recently, I've taken up running with my son and I've noticed that the next morning one foot is now bigger than the other.

It's amazing what comes back to haunt you.

[Mikey]

Not a sports injury but about 30-sh years ago I got hit in the leg with a front loader.

Was fine after it initially healed (5-ish weeks)

Around 10 years ago it started giving me trouble again

Today it hurts like hell every time it's humid - even if i'm just lounging on the couch.

[Hector]

Right shoulder from years of playing third base softball. I used to play in a San Francisco softball league for over ten years. I developed calcification on my rotator cuff...to this day...my right shoulder still hurts...especially at certain movements.

I also dislocated my left thumb playing basketball in my 20s. To this day, I get a shooting pain here and there.

The last one is not sports related...but I tripped and fell trotting up the backyard stairs nearly three months ago...and fractured my right toe. I made the mistake of not going to the doctor right away. I went to Yosemite two weeks later, limping and all. Once I got back...I finally went to my doctor...and the toe had already set crooked. Well, the toe healed naturally but now is a bit crooked. I could have surgery...but that would require breaking the bone and setting it straight. Doc says if I don't care about the slightly crooked toe...I can function just fine with my present situation. I'll think about it...but I'm leaning towards leaving it as is...I think I'm walking better now, lol.

[Donkey Hoatie]

Oh man, where to start on this one.

How about 8th grade? The high school needed some bodies to wrestle against. Even though I'd never wrestled, it seemed like it could be fun. I did pretty well, just because I was pretty strong for my age. Well, I was able to handle the guys around my size pretty well and then found myself paired with a kid who had a good 25 pounds on me. Unfortunately, he was also a lot stronger than me and I found myself heading toward the mat unexpectedly and felt my right shoulder separate. To this day, my shoulder still sits a good inch below where my other shoulder lines up.

Football, junior year. It was my first year playing at boarding school and I was doing OK on the JV squad as a LB/WR. Another good game or two, and I'd probably get into the LB rotation on the varsity team. There was a fumble on a kickoff and I saw the ball just sitting there in the open. My opponent and I were about equidistant from the ball, but I thought I could beat him there. Instead of diving head first towards the ball, I figured I'd slide in and cut him off and get my whole body in between him and the ball. As I slid, he dove in helmet first and nailed my leg. I got the ball, but couldn't walk. The coaches were convinced it was just a bruise, but I was done for the game since I couldn't "walk it off." Crutches for a week, then back at practice even though I could barely walk. Played the last 3 weeks on one leg and got yelled at for "dogging it" even though it was pretty apparent there was something wrong. 6 weeks later, I was still hobbled. Turns out, my leg had been broken the whole time. Fortunately, it was a clean break and I didn't have to get it re-set. But, it still aches if I do too much running.

Junior year baseball. I was probably the best pure hitter on the team at the time and rarely swung and missed a pitch. We were farting around in practice with the pitching machine and guys wanted to see how fast a pitch I could hit. Usually, we kept it kind of low (70s). They jacked it up to 80. No problem. 85, and I was still cranking them out. 90? Well, I couldn't quite square up on it, but I kept trying. Unfortunately, one of the balls we used in practice was a little wonky and lopsided. It came out with a spin I'd never seen before. It kept riding in on me and as I swung, it hit me square on the thumb. There's pretty much no give between a ball at that speed and an aluminum bat. It immediately swelled up. To this day, it's almost 1/3 bigger than my left thumb. And, I have much less strength in it.

I spent most of my senior year of high school football concussed. That was fun.

Senior year in high school with baseball, we were doing some sliding practice in the outfield grass. It had rained, and my cleats locked in the wet mud/grass and I felt a huge "pop." I was pretty sure I'd torn something. If I had it taken care of, I'd miss my last season ever of baseball and could kiss any chance of a scholarship goodbye. So, I just shut my mouth and taped it every day and wore a brace. Even on one leg, I was able to play the whole season and earn team MVP. No scholarships, but plenty of offers of liberal "financial aid packages" at several D3 schools. Well, the knee still hurts 26 years later. Every year, I say I'm going to get it taken care of. Every year, I find another excuse not to.

In college, I was working out one day with some incline 100# dumbbells. My normal workout partner wasn't there to spot me, and I had some moron do it. I was struggling with my last couple reps. Generally, when that happens and you're spotting, you just press on the guy's elbow a little bit and the lifter is able to lock it up and bring it down gently. Well, for some reason, this guy pushed the weight itself towards my legs. I quickly started to lose complete control. I had 2 choices: drop the weight, or try to control it. Considering that 100# weight was pretty much hovering about 2 feet above my crotch at this point, dropping it seemed like a really bad idea. As I tried to move it away from my body, my entire left shoulder popped completely out of the socket and just sort of dangled there as I cursed a blue streak. As bad as it was, it was even worse getting it popped back in at the ER. Almost 25 years later, and I still have to be careful if I'm lifting something heavy because I can feel it starting to give way again.

[TrekStar]

It's called getting old, played baseball up to a semi pro league, played everything but pitcher/catcher
many tweaks and twists back then, now everyday life is a tweak and twist.

[Nostalgiabuff]

back injuries are the worst. I injured my back in a car accident at 15 and as I get older the pain gets worse and worse

[Mr.Marion]

In high school I was on special teams and I got blindsided by a certain future NFL #1 draft pick who outweighted me by a good 80 lbs. I remember stumbling back to the sidelines in the 3rd quarter and my next memory there was 5 mins left in 4th. On the bench a whole quarter went by. We know more now about the serious effects of concussions.