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This is going to be somewhat of a rant, I felt the need to write this out for my own sake.
I play relatively high level team sports in my country. Not professional by any means, but people including myself practice hard to have a chance at earning the possibility to play in another country where the level of play is higher. I am surrounded by great teammates and friends, and our club team has been successful in the last couple of years. I have less time to play Starcraft (which I was never that good at to begin with), but I have enjoyed the competition in T-Sports as well 
However, this has come with a plethera of problems in my physical health, which I have noticed takes a large toll on my mental well-being. I try my best to prepare myself for healthy seasons, but afterwards I often find myself struggling to engage in off-season activities. Elbow ligaments, shoulders, back issues... Every year there's something that plagues me and sets me back from taking that next step forward. There's nothing worse than suddenly like 60% of your free time schedule being scrapped because you can't practice how you want to. I recognize that I may overthink and be oversensitive to a lot of things, but I feel like I have a hard time focusing on my "real life" responsibilities when I'm injured. It haunts me for hours a day that now the thing I should be doing is lying on the bed and doing nothing. In normal situations, I can flip the switch from work to sports to social life etc., but when can't do one of those things I enjoy, physical activities become sort of like a forbidden fruit in worst case scenarios. Simultaneously, every time something starts hurting, I get the fleeting fear that "this is the injury that ends my life as a player".
Another reason for mental fatigue is the financial side of injuries. Seeing a doctor, getting MRI scans or physical therapy are very expensive here, and in my position are not something I can just do when I feel like it. Public doctors are of course an option, but most of them don't really have a grasp on the fact that I in fact need to put stress on this part of my body as part of my activity.
It's hard to stay positive, but I try my best. I have been looking for some new indoor hobbies I could do to take my mind off of my interests, if anyone has suggestions or experiences I would greatly appreciate it.
If there's anything I've gained from experiencing these trials, it's these two things:
1. Be grateful for your health. There's a lot of people that are terminally ill or in a lot worse situation than you are, so don't take your well-being for granted. Even playing SK Terran with no wrist-pain is not something everyone can do
2. Be patient; things will get better in due time.
Thanks for reading if you got this far.
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Hey there. I got injured in August 2024. Couldn't work for 12 weeks. My coping mechanism was to study anything I could that could make my resume sharper. In my shoes I earned a CompTIA network+ and a CompTIA Security+ certification. I was also brushing up on my Mandarin and Russian with textbooks (none of that duolingo nonsense). I treated myself as though I had created my own college curriculum for myself.
I had a lateral malleolus fracture, technically a broken bone in my ankle. (slightly NSFW, as some parts of my foot are swollen and purple / yellow)
+ Show Spoiler +
The first two weeks I was injured I was watching Netflix, browsing Reddit, and watching YouTube. Then it suddenly hit me that there were certifications I wanted to earn a long time ago and I got to studying ASAP. Now I have two shiny, albeit near-useless, certifications on my resume.
This helped me in rediscovering the joy I had in studying in my early 20s. I was always thinking to myself, "If I earn the certifications that I want, I can get the job that I want." Alas I digress, as this is only my own coping mechanism.
Your free to DM me if you would like my regimen of low-cost study resources.
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Do you go to a physiotherapist through the year?
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Bot edit.
User was banned for this post.
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Depending on the sport and activity within the sport you might be asking your body to do things it can not do. Throwing 20+ cut-fastballs at your all out highest velocity with cause elbow injuries for 95%+ of the human population. I've yet to meet a female who can consistently throw a cut fastball and not have a sore elbow the next day.
People have to stick to the 4 basic pitches used since 1940. These pitches were thrown long before arm surgeries were possible. The new exotic pitches like the cut-fastball cause elbow, shoulder, and wrist injuries.
Most of the elbow injuries I see from pitchers are guys trying to get their bodies to do stuff that their bodies were not designed to do.
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Hungary11289 Posts
I can relate ... I am training quite a bit swimming and running and got an elbow injury over the summer, so any competitions were off the table for 2 months. Not being able to train (running aggravated the elbow) seemed to suck the joy out of everything else too. With a body used to exercise, it feels very strange not to do it. Hope you get well and feel better soon!
Not sure if you also want advice, but here are some things that I try to do in such situations:
- It's ok to give yourself a bit of time to be sad about being injured.
- However, try to refocus: focus on what you can do instead of what you can't. Going for walks helps. Can you go and swim? If the arms are affected, can you run or cycle? Do some core exercises (and don't forget the posterior chain)? And so on.
- Research your injury/pain, especially when it comes up repeatedly. Someone else is bound to have had it and there is good rehab advice on the net by people who are thinking of athletes. Many injuries are related to functional weaknesses, which you can address through specific strength and/or mobility training.
If you really have a "plethora" of injuries, you might have to also look at the whole picture: food, sleep, rest, etc.
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On January 19 2025 04:32 BreAKerTV wrote:Hey there. I got injured in August 2024. Couldn't work for 12 weeks. My coping mechanism was to study anything I could that could make my resume sharper. In my shoes I earned a CompTIA network+ and a CompTIA Security+ certification. I was also brushing up on my Mandarin and Russian with textbooks (none of that duolingo nonsense). I treated myself as though I had created my own college curriculum for myself. I had a lateral malleolus fracture, technically a broken bone in my ankle. (slightly NSFW, as some parts of my foot are swollen and purple / yellow) + Show Spoiler +The first two weeks I was injured I was watching Netflix, browsing Reddit, and watching YouTube. Then it suddenly hit me that there were certifications I wanted to earn a long time ago and I got to studying ASAP. Now I have two shiny, albeit near-useless, certifications on my resume. This helped me in rediscovering the joy I had in studying in my early 20s. I was always thinking to myself, "If I earn the certifications that I want, I can get the job that I want." Alas I digress, as this is only my own coping mechanism. Your free to DM me if you would like my regimen of low-cost study resources.
Thank you for your comment, and you're absolutely right. There's always something else where that effort can be redirected, and brooding inaction doesn't really help in the long run. I also have some language proficiency tests coming up, so I might as well work towards acing those.
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On January 19 2025 18:02 Uldridge wrote:
Do you go to a physiotherapist through the year?
No I don't, I have an insurance through my league that covers physiotherapy visits but only when I get injured + it's a traumatic injury.
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On January 21 2025 19:12 Akio wrote:Show nested quote +On January 19 2025 04:32 BreAKerTV wrote:Hey there. I got injured in August 2024. Couldn't work for 12 weeks. My coping mechanism was to study anything I could that could make my resume sharper. In my shoes I earned a CompTIA network+ and a CompTIA Security+ certification. I was also brushing up on my Mandarin and Russian with textbooks (none of that duolingo nonsense). I treated myself as though I had created my own college curriculum for myself. I had a lateral malleolus fracture, technically a broken bone in my ankle. (slightly NSFW, as some parts of my foot are swollen and purple / yellow) + Show Spoiler +The first two weeks I was injured I was watching Netflix, browsing Reddit, and watching YouTube. Then it suddenly hit me that there were certifications I wanted to earn a long time ago and I got to studying ASAP. Now I have two shiny, albeit near-useless, certifications on my resume. This helped me in rediscovering the joy I had in studying in my early 20s. I was always thinking to myself, "If I earn the certifications that I want, I can get the job that I want." Alas I digress, as this is only my own coping mechanism. Your free to DM me if you would like my regimen of low-cost study resources. Thank you for your comment, and you're absolutely right. There's always something else where that effort can be redirected, and brooding inaction doesn't really help in the long run. I also have some language proficiency tests coming up, so I might as well work towards acing those.
Basically, just use udemy and another website called scribd. Important notes:
Scribd: register an account, and provide them with a cc number for a 30 day trial. download as many PDFs for free as you want then cancel the subscription. I got enough material to study for a couple of years.
Udemy: gotta be slightly more careful. Find courses that you want to study, but ask around on reddit or Google search recommended courses. Then find them on udemy. About "being careful": when you first search for your desired courses on udemy, you will get a massive discount but it's only good for 2 or 3 days. You can get around this by making a second udemy account, but is a bit troublesome.
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On January 21 2025 19:14 Akio wrote:Show nested quote +On January 19 2025 18:02 Uldridge wrote:
Do you go to a physiotherapist through the year? No I don't, I have an insurance through my league that covers physiotherapy visits but only when I get injured + it's a traumatic injury.
I would, even if it's just to check, visit a physiotherapist when you're in your training regimen. They will, I think, be able to help keep your muscles and tendons less strained. Even if it's just 1 visit.
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On January 20 2025 01:27 JimmyJRaynor wrote:
Depending on the sport and activity within the sport you might be asking your body to do things it can not do. Throwing 20+ cut-fastballs at your all out highest velocity with cause elbow injuries for 95%+ of the human population. I've yet to meet a female who can consistently throw a cut fastball and not have a sore elbow the next day.
People have to stick to the 4 basic pitches used since 1940. These pitches were thrown long before arm surgeries were possible. The new exotic pitches like the cut-fastball cause elbow, shoulder, and wrist injuries.
Most of the elbow injuries I see from pitchers are guys trying to get their bodies to do stuff that their bodies were not designed to do.
Haha, did the elbow ligament give the sport away?
Yeah, the freak injuries suck but there's really nothing you can do to prevent them, sometimes it just happens. But it's so depressing when you try something new like a new pitch type or a slight tweak to your mechanics and it just causes issues somewhere because your body is not used to violent movements happening in a new way. A year ago I hurt my shoulder because I tried transitioning to a short-arm form for extra command...
I agree 100% that there are certain pitches like the cutter and splitter which probably shouldn't be thrown, considering how much they damage the UCL. The modern sweeping sliders are also subject to this imo.
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On January 21 2025 05:21 Aesop wrote:
I can relate ... I am training quite a bit swimming and running and got an elbow injury over the summer, so any competitions were off the table for 2 months. Not being able to train (running aggravated the elbow) seemed to suck the joy out of everything else too. With a body used to exercise, it feels very strange not to do it. Hope you get well and feel better soon!
Not sure if you also want advice, but here are some things that I try to do in such situations:
- It's ok to give yourself a bit of time to be sad about being injured.
- However, try to refocus: focus on what you can do instead of what you can't. Going for walks helps. Can you go and swim? If the arms are affected, can you run or cycle? Do some core exercises (and don't forget the posterior chain)? And so on.
- Research your injury/pain, especially when it comes up repeatedly. Someone else is bound to have had it and there is good rehab advice on the net by people who are thinking of athletes. Many injuries are related to functional weaknesses, which you can address through specific strength and/or mobility training.
If you really have a "plethora" of injuries, you might have to also look at the whole picture: food, sleep, rest, etc.
Thank you for the comment, really appreciate it. Sorry about your injury, the elbow getting aggravated from running must've been pretty painful...
The "plethora" was maybe an overstatement, it's never many injuries at a time, but I think functional weakness may definitely be a part. I try to stretch as much as possible but I guess when you leave even one muscle group out and then go put strain on it, bad things happen. Swimming is also great! I will definitely need to do that more, not just when in recovery.
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On January 22 2025 18:30 Uldridge wrote:Show nested quote +On January 21 2025 19:14 Akio wrote:On January 19 2025 18:02 Uldridge wrote:
Do you go to a physiotherapist through the year? No I don't, I have an insurance through my league that covers physiotherapy visits but only when I get injured + it's a traumatic injury. I would, even if it's just to check, visit a physiotherapist when you're in your training regimen. They will, I think, be able to help keep your muscles and tendons less strained. Even if it's just 1 visit.
This is definitely true. When you're healthy, you tend to overlook the importance of these things but then it comes to bite you in the ass when something does happen.
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EPT![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/4jYP3K0.jpeg)
