Sports Injuries
Friday, September 16th, 2011Sports injuries! I am going to whinge here. What was I thinking? Why did I not listen to my body that was telling me I had a sports injury? It has been two years exactly (give or take a day) since running my 10.5k run – the first for many years.. I had been careful not wanting to injure myself before the big event. But I did and despite the injury kept running ignoring the pain. Anyone will tell you that you shouldn’t run on an sports injury but I was determined.
Bad move. One TIA later – Transient ischemic attack – where the blood flow stops to the brain for a short time giving stroke-like symptoms for up to 2 hours and can be a precursor to a stroke. A few days after my run and continuing to experience excruciating pain in my lower legs, travelling up to the thigh and into lung area, my daughter watched me collapse on to the floor from my office chair.
Face planted in the carpet and unable to lift my head, she asked me if I was ok? I told her I was fine and would be up in a minute. To cut a long story short and after a rush to the doctors surgery – the slurred speech left almost as quickly as it came, the veering right into walls and posts did eventually stop. It wasn’t just a TIA but I will go in to that later.
The lessons learned:
1. Do not ignore pain in your body – it is there for a reason.
2. Do not ignore symptoms of stroke or possible clots – slurring, drooping, pain in extremities or lungs. I am not a doctor check out other sites that give more details of what to look for.
3. You know your body well. Do not take no for an answer. A doctor told me once – “You know your own body and if you are saying this isn’t me – well chances are it isn’t.” Get some tests done and don’t give up on the first try.
4. Persist with exercise once you are right and adjust according to the injuries. Don’t give up on health.
5. A small dose asprin every day is a good thing to do.
Have a great day and its good to be back. Tell me of your sports injuries and how you recovered.
