Injuries Suck...what was your first?

[Aron Snyder]

I tore my bicep off a couple months ago and I'm not having much fun going half speed! I still hit the gym everyday and did some shed hunting this weekend, but I'm counting the days till I'm back to normal. I did break my hand a couple times when I was younger and have a pin in a couple parts of my hand, but that seemed much easier to deal with than the bicep issue.
Overall I can't complain to much as it is a good time to be injured and things could have been much worse.
Anyway, what was your first injury that required a lot of down time?

 

[idabow]

I shattered my fibula and tore every ligment and tendon in my ankle. 9 screws and steel plate to put humpty back together again. they took one screw out but 8 and the plate will forever remain. I dont need a barometer on my watch I have one in my leg. I still have the screw they pinned my ankle together with its about 8 inches long.

 

[dreamingbig]

Ouch and ouch. I just had a bout with achilles tendinitis and had to not run for a month. That was tough but nothing like you all are/have gone through. I did tear my mcl in college football and missed three games.

 

[ScottR_EHJ]

I broke my left ankle in HS, but that didn't keep me down long. The torn ACL/left and right meniscus was brutal though, it took me about a year to feel fully recovered after surgery. 13 weeks of physical therapy was rough!

 

[aggieland]

Aron, did that happen at band camp?

 

[Aron Snyder]

aggieland,

pulling you tallywacker doesn't count as pulling a muscle!

 

[Rent Outdoor Gear]

Went to the doc for a fairly "routine" clean up of my meniscus. Was going to be good as new in 4 weeks. Not coincidentally, I went in for surgery 4 weeks before the opener of the bowhunt. When I woke up the doc informed me that he had instead found the cartilage in my knee was too far gone so he just removed what was left and drilled a few holes in the end of my femur in hopes the bone marrow would flow out and generate some scar tissue to replace the cartilage. It's a good thing I was still highly drugged when he told me I'd be rehabbing for 6-months to a year. Still not impressed with the results of the surgery after 3.5 years. It may have recovered better if I hadn't been bowhunting on it 4 weeks later... Take care of your knees fellas - stay hydrated and don't be a bad ass and pack out more than humanly possible in your pack. Been there, done that, paying the price...

Coop

 

[Becca]

I fractured both my tibia and fibula in my left leg goat hunting in Kodiak in October 2010. The surgery to repair it involved reaming out the marrow in my tibia, and pounding a titanium rod into the space with a mallet, and securing with three screws. Recovery was long, drawn out and painful, but much better than losing my leg, which we found out later was a very real possibility if I hadn't gotten surgery in time. 8 weeks totally non weight bearing on crutches, then another two months in a walking cast.I couldn't drive at all while I was in the cast, which meant I got farmed out to both my parents and my inlaws for the time that Luke had to go to work out of town. It wasn't all bad though, I did get to spend a lot of quality time with family and friends and if I had to be incapacitated, better that it happened at the beginning of the winter instead of during prime hunting season.

All said, I was out of work for 5 months, because as a nurse I needed to be able to stand for 12 hours before I could go back. I did physical therapy twice a week for 4 months, and tried to look at that like it was my job while I was off-- I really credit the amazing job my therapists did, combined with the amount of work I put into it with getting me first walking without a limp and then hiking again. I did my first black bear hunt 7 months post injury, but I still wasn't walking very well. I rode my bike hard all summer and then walked and hiked as much as I could tolerate to get strong enough to chase sheep and caribou with Luke in August, though I was taking quite a bit of Tylenol.
A year and half later, I think I am finally back to about 100% now, although the leg still bothers me sometimes. More than anything, I guess the forced immobility helps me stay motivated to exercise and stay active now...being forced to sit in a recliner for six months really makes you appreciate being able to get up and move.
Here I am at the shooting range helping sight in a new scope a few weeks after my surgery:

Hang in there Aron, it will get better!

 

[Evan Williams]

I torn BOTH my Quads simultaneously. Luckily, I didn't have to have any surgeries because of it. The scare tissue formed wasn't an issue according to the doc. I still have tears in the sheath lining with some muscle still protruding through the tear BUT nothing like the original tear when I had two lumps on my quads DOUBLE the size of a grapefruit. I still have to really stretch them out or I have issues.

 

[Rick Seymour]

Back hurt for numerous years, especially doing an Aron (picking up/carrying alot for a long time). Last hunt "before" I was with my cousin and I had to pack 2 bulls out of a hole while he sat at the top bitching about a sore back. Spouse made an appointment went in for a MRI. Dr said "I don't know how you walked in here". Days later and 9 hr. of surgery 6 screws 2 rods and a plate. Months later went from 212lb down to 145 lbs. I now hover at 185lbs. Going for a 45-50 mile bike ride this am when it warms up, I can and do anything now but run, no complaints. If you sit on the couch you are not going to get injured

 

[Aron Snyder]

That last sentence is priceless!

 

[aggieland]

The morning after I killed a cow elk last season, I decided to "Think" ahead and take 4 aleve pain killers that I had placed in my first aid kit before leaving from home. What a nightmare, after loading up my pack with 60 pounds of elk meat and starting off down the trail, I and many others sharing the trail with me realize my very obevious mistake. The 4 pills I had taken were not the aleve from home but in fact... Viagra....

 

[aggieland]

Ok, I made that last one up lol you folks needed a good sunday laugh.. Hope all is well and you guys are healing fast!

 

[ElkNut1]

I'll be 57 in a couple days, I can only imagine what my 1st injury ever was! (grin) I do know when I tore my rotator cuff it was months before I could shoot again, I was in a sling for 2 months! Hope you have a quick recovery there Aron!

ElkNut1

 

[a3dhunter]

Don't remember my first, but my worst was tearing the plantar ligaments in both feet at the same time.
When you tear your arch, I will tell you that you have a hard time walking and it will change your life!
Surgery wasn't an option.
Long recovery on something that still gives me problems almost 2 years later.

 

[Aron Snyder]

If you can't remember your first MAJOR injury, than it couldn't have been to major....even if you're old

I guess when I hit 50 we'll see if I can remember anything, so I probably shouldn't say to much just yet about remembering.

 

[BMB]

both ankles dirt bike accident......sucked balls.

 

[zrider2]

2009, broke nearly every bone in my right foot. I am 4 surgeries in. Already have a bag (2 plates, 12 screws) that they took out, and when they fused 4 bones in my midfoot they added 9 more screws and another plate. Kinda funny this thread came up, I go see the doc tmrw about an extremely tight achilles tendon, got a feeling I have another surgery coming up.

I still get out though I just pay heavily for it at the end of the day

 

[a3dhunter]

If you can't remember your first MAJOR injury, than it couldn't have been to major....even if you're old

I guess when I hit 50 will see if I can remember anything, so I probably shouldn't say to much just yet about remembering.

Yeah, not thinking you have any room to talk about memory......
and you're getting "old" pretty quick!


I would say my 1st major injury was a torn rotator cuff pitching in high school ball, the pain doesn't compare to the foot arch pain though.

 

[Backpack Hunter]

First one was a fractured foot. Kept me out for a couple of months, the doctor said it would have been better to just break it.
The most recent was an ACL & MCL tear. Gutted it out for two years, then finally did the surgery. Went out turkey hunting on crutches 4 weeks later, but it was a year before I could do a backcountry hunt again.