Daughter nervous after broken leg last year

A snowHead

My daughter broke her leg in the first hour of our ski trip last easter. We have optimistically booked for Easter this year, the leg is fully healed now, but she is absolutely petrified of the idea of skiing.

She was only 8 when she did it, it was a slow speed twist that ended up with a radial fracture of the tibia and titanium pins, 5 nights in hospital, 8 weeks in plaster, 2 months physio.

I'm trying to decide whether to take her to an indoor slope for a confidence building lesson, any advice please? We are in the SW so at least 250 miles to the nearest one makes it quite a big deal.

Also, is it ok to ski the same slope where she broke it? I'd like to take her back to La Tania as we know the resort and the instructors there, but it's not the easiest green run back into resort. Will it scare her more to go past the same spot, or will this help when she knows she can do it?

Is it better to wait another year ( could leave her with the GPs & have a easy child free week?) im thinking she should 'get back on the horse' but don't want to put her off by pushing too hard.

If anyone has had a similar situation I'd be keen to hear how it went, positive or negative! Thanks

A snowHead

@Renside, we were in a similar position a few years ago. We booked and went skiing a year after my son broke his leg. He was already a reas competent skier, and was a bit older. He also had a straightforward break. We decided to go to a different resort partially as it just seemed the right thing to do, and we were thinking of changing resorts anyway.
We considered the snow dome first, but my son wasn't keen and tbh I have never been a huge fan of them. He was a bit nervous the first day, but then was pretty much straight back to where he had been before, within a day or two and we have been skiing every year since.
I think you will know what is best for your daughter so the only advice I can give is to involve your child in the decision making process and to take it easy. Wherever there was a choice of runs we always took the easier one, just for a day or two. If she is petrified then would a private lesson on the slopes help? We have booked private lessons to great effect when one or other of the children needed a boost. It depends what level she is already and maybe you were thinking ski school.
Hope this of some help. Good luck

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@Renside, Our daughter broke her leg when she was in lessons when she was 5 years old. We went skiing the following year to a different resort and didn't put her in lessons, I think the change of resort and circumstances helped.
I was concerned at the time that she wouldn't take to it again but it didn't take long for her to start enjoying it.
15 years later she is still loving skiing, she still remembers when she broke her leg but she looks on it as a positive that she overcame her fears.

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@Renside, tough one. Any granny or aunt who would be willing to take her for a week?

Whatever you do don't push her

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@RENSIDE

Simply ask your daughter from her heart what she would like. Not to lecture, but never "force" the child. Encourage where need be, but do not push. Her injury was (is) nothing short of absolutely serious, least of which not being the emotional side. Trust me, it stays with you for life. Without question, for life. And what is her physical condition in terms of sensation of the region where the injury occured? Is it sensitive to the point that the surrounding muscle, tendons still need considerable time to heal and become less sensitive to topical contact such as a ski boot?
Some individuals naturally just get up and go. Others need time. Would she simply care to go along and not ski, instead do something else, perhaps ice skate or something? Or would she prefer to be with her GP's and friends?

I am just curious. The slow twisting fall is always the most potentially injurous as load - torque builds up upon the leg for a long period if the binding does not release which, forgive me, it should have especially in the case of your child as per assumed proper setting and function which for someone her age is not a high setting, most certainly today with the way bindings generally are designed it's a far cry from decades ago when the slow twister claimed so, so many due to no coordinated standards between boot and binding and variation in DIN.

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I would be encouraging her to go as long as it's possible to have a relaxed, no pressure attitude once you are there. Private lesson(s) with an instructor she knows and trusts? Let her decide if she wants to do ski that same slope again. It may not matter so much once she starts getting confidence back.

Good luck snowHead

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I think it's only natural she will be nervous regardless where you go
I broke my humerus a few years ago skiing on a flat run in a lesson ( I realise it's not a leg )
I was nervous going out again the first time I went skiing and I was in a different country !

After all it is free

Thanks for all the responses. It's such a difficult one as I'm 90% sure that once she got there she would love it again, she was intermediate level before and absolutely loved it. But if she didn't, then it would make it into an even bigger deal, and poss put her off for ever.

DJC you are right about the binding. The accident happened when she cut if the corner of the piste and dipped into deep snow.. When we eventually realised she was actually hurt ( don't be silly darling, get up, come on, get up now!) the ski was still attached and twisted behind her. I've spent hours wondering if it could have been avoided but it did happen.

Great to hear that other people have overcome this, thank you! I might wait another year. I've never skied without kids in tow and it might be quite nice!

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Vaguely similar situation - a friend of ours took a sizable spill a couple of years ago (nothing broken but scared herself at what might have been) and her confidence was shot to pieces. Since then she'd been very tentative, particularly of steeper pitches, sometimes locking up completely and having a panic attack, with us having to coax her down. We persuaded her to have a private lesson this year, and her confidence is coming back, and she was much better for the latter half of the trip, and skiing stronger.

Once your daughters confidence in her own ability is back, she'll be fine.

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@Richard_Sideways, yes, and how the 'coaxers' behave is crucial too! Though there is no substitute for a lesson or two to reinforce confidence in own ability.

Thanks for all the advice. Now hoping we might get some snow at home, we rarely get it down here, and I'm sure that a day sledging will bring the confidence bac Laughing

You know it makes sense.

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Help!!

Daughter nervous after broken leg last year

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