UPDATE:Skiing again after ski accident

A snowHead

Hi I ended my last ski trip in moutiers hospital after breaking my proximal humerus and was wondering
if the accident would of caused the lose of my "nerve". How has anybody else faired after a big accident?

My arm was repaired with a metal plate and 7 pins and is near enough back to normal now

A snowHead

Completely depends on your attitude dude. I know people who have skied again as soon as poss after breaking backs and rib (whilst skiing), I know another who has all but quit after a (fairly horrible) ankle injury.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

I ruptured my Acl one skiing holiday. It took more than a month to get seen by a specialist and physio. Another 2 months before I had full ROM and got the swelling down. I could then have the recomstructive surgery. It was a full 6 months of intensive physio until I got the all clear to start back at hockey training. I then found out I was pregnant and that I wasn't allowed to ski while PG it wasn't until my daugther was 17 months that I went skiing again for the first time after the fall.

I was worried I might have lost my confidence especially as it had been so long. I hadnt at all, it felt so good to be back up on the slopes again.

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I broke a wrist and needed surgery to sort the nerve out.

The first day back on snow the following winter was difficult - I'd suggest going straight into a lesson with someone who you've discussed your history with and is prepared to ease you back gently. Being overly cautious can lead you into bad habits which put you in more danger of having a fall.

I still find it a bit unnerving to be in a gladed run (which is how I broke it!) but once I've got over the initial hump I'm fine. I actually think it made me a LESS cautious skier. Kind of along the lines of one of the worst every day ski worries has happened so what's left to get bothered about? Obviously it doesn't mean I'm devil may care - but skiing is also about what's in your head and it helps me manage the fear factor to know I've gone through an accident and come out the other side.

Does that make sense?

Good luck!

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Of course an accident like that may make you more nervous. It all depends on your out look. I had a bit of a prang over year ago, was hospitalised and plated. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I was determined to get back skiing. For me it is more than a holiday recreation, but I think that about much of what I do, it is part of life. If I don't feel that committed about something I don't do it. Was this accident something that could have happened in another situation? Can you improve or adapt the situation so that it doesn't happen again? What are the chances of it happening again?
I managed a few tentative days skiing at the end of season before last, and have done five weeks this season. I was quite pleased with my skiing by April, happy with most things apart from jumping (same on MTB but am now getting air again). I still get set backs and am seeing a physio, but skiing is great again.
Strangely it was my wife who lost confidence after what happened to me.
If you really like skiing you'll be back in no time.

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I do want to ski again just hoping when i get to the top of the mountain that i'd still have the confidence to point my skis down it.

I like the idea of sorting a lesson out. Would of loved to get back on the piste straight after but couldn't because of the injury, or for the rest of the season

It was a nothing fall that caused it just landed funny, i was stopping on a blue run back to resort to see where my friend was and fell over just before i came to a stop

I'm slightly concerned about landing on the shoulder again

On a side note the service in the hospital was brilliant puts my local uk hospital to shame

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d_retallack,

After all it is free

d_retallack, a private lesson is probably a good idea. When I skied again last Xmas, it was the insults from my elder son telling me how crap I was that made me follow him off piste down steep stuff. Once I'd fallen over and not hurt anything I was ok. How long ago was your shoulder pinned?
My accident happened in France and I have been told that I would probably not have had such rapid and top quality treatment in the UK (after a shaky start when I walked to the village doctors then drove to the hospital). However they do spend twice as much on their health service as we do.
I would recommend you don't neglect physical rehab. Once things seem better there is a tendancy to let it be, but for me this has lead to problems. I am getting physio again and re-starting exercises to get my left shoulder back to where it should be. I'm afraid that once I was able to play squash, MTB and ski again I forgot about the boring reallignment stuff. Hopefully this will make me even more prepared for the coming ski season. Though to be fair, even if it doesn't I'll still be throwing myself down a snowy slope come winter.

It was pinned in january this year I have stopped doing the physio
Similar to you once I could cycle and play cricket I kind of stopped
doing the rehab.

I like the sugestion of not skiing blues. My accident was probably
a case of last run of the day not concentrating fully

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d_retallack, so was mine, but it was the bloke who smashed into the back of me that wasn't paying attention. A doctory type snowhead might confirm that the break will be mended by the time it snows again. I'm quite confident that my vertebrae are happily fused now and mobility has not been much effected. Yet I still have an irrational idea that a slight lack of vertical flexibility will matter when I approach a jump.
I also believe I am now taller.

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Ripped my achilles in March 09 on Serpentine (Flaine). Dont ask!! Had the op and stood at the top of a blue in Samoens anticpating that something would happen, no idea what. Then thought &@!* it and set off. Absolutely nothing happended than I skied down the piste. Get back on that horse and dont think about it. Best of luck. d_retallack,

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d_retallack, I smashed my femur skiing years ago and like you was plated and screwed, I was nervous about skiing, but decided I would go at least once to see how I felt. I went to Scotland for a short weekend just over a year later, the first turns were pretty nervous and to be honest I avoided straight tucks off piste (which is what caused it) for a fair few years, but I still enjoy skiing!

Agree with what JulesB said, I did physio for months and months, but stuck at it as they told me I would walk with a limp which I am glad to say they were wrong about!

Good luck!

You know it makes sense.

Everyone's different. Skiing I was back up skiing relatively gently 8 weeks after a broken leg but mountain biking I've never recovered the confidence that I had before a particularly bad accident. Get a respectably bad fall in early doors is my advice then you won't be wondering.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

Hi. I broke my t3 and t4 about a decade along with a blood clot, three fractured ribs and torn muscles elsewhere! I did not lose my nerve but it has altered my outlook on the actual importance of the sport and why I do it. when people ask me why I continue to do it I basically say, 'because I can'! I think if you can place the sport in it's proper context, acknowledge the risks and don't place too many expectations on superficial macho aspects such as 'performance' then you should be fine. Good luck!

A snowHead

JulesB,

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Hurtle,

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Agenterre, Laughing

After all it is free

Agenterre, cheeky b*&%$£d

No! Cheeky SHORT b*&%$£d Smile

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Agenterre, Laughing

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genepi, , she wasn't looking! She'd skied on thinking I was pi$$ing about off piste somewhere!
However she did take the brunt of the aftermath, and you're right, I'd have got down a really steep bit of MTBing at the weekend no problems if people in front hadn't got off and crawled to the edge to see what was in store for them. It puts you off.

Right after all your advice i've decided to definatly go again this coming season, alot of my friends and family have asked why i would want to go skiing again but obviuosly their not skiers.

just need to decide where to go now hmmmmmmmm

at least i broke my arm skiing the Swedish chap in the room with me broke his humerus arm wrestling in a bar

You know it makes sense.

d_retallack, have a good time. Don't forget that advice about starting with a lesson. Might make a big difference, get you off on the right foot (so to speak....). snowHead

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

d_retallack, a lot of our non-skiing family wondered why JulesB wanted to go skiing again, but even I, as the affected spouse did not consider that we wouldn't be on our skis again at the earliest opportunity. Our kids went skiing just two days after the accident while I did a 4 hour round trip to the hospital on New Years Day. It had snowed really hard and they couldn't resist the powder day. In fact I thought it was very important that we went skiing as soon as we could , it gave us something to aspire to on those miserable days we were stuck on the couch or in hospital when we could have been on the piste. We never considered that we could actually make it by the end of the season though, and it was tight. If accident had happened at any other time apart from the end of December, it would have been impossible.

A snowHead

I had to hide my full arm cast when skiiing after I broke my Ulna doing stupid things on skis, but still managed without too many problems. I figured that it was well enough protected not to be a problem. Then when I broke my thumb in 2 places it made holding my poles properly a bit more tricky whilst the cast was still on. As for the mentality after everthing had healed It was just a matter of building up again, but I agree with those that are suggesting a lesson, its so much easier if your instructor tells you to do something.

Best of luck and enjoy

EDIT: why not try a couple of sessions in a dome just to get 'back into the saddle' so to speak

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

My son's ex girlfriend was badly injured when she fell in st Anton, snowboarding. Unlucky - very, very poor and icy conditions and she landed with her back on a lump of ice. she broke bones in her spine, was helicoptered off the slope, was in hospital for some time then out but still in a full body plaster, staying at her Dad's apartment in Zurich and having lots of therapy, including water therapy. We didn't know for some weeks - my daughter knew but was sworn to secrecy because we were in touch with her mum (parents separated) who is disabled and very weak, and Kerry didn't want her mum to know until she could walk in and tell her herself. She is not a very gung-ho or sporty girl, but she did love her boarding, and she is now back on her board. Fortunately her new boyfriend (now husband) is a South African who had scarcely ever seen snow and though he is learning too, she is better, which helps give her confidence. My son, who is both very good on skis and a board, and completely unafraid, would have been not at all the right person for her to rehabilitate with.

People did think she was completely mad - but she was careful, she doesn't go daft, and she does love it to bits.

(She is scared of skiing after a nasty accident when her dad pushed her a bit hard when they were skiing together when she was a teenager. that left her on crutches for weeks, with bad ligament damage. she has tried a bit of skiing, on very gentle slopes here, but she just felt really freaked by the thought that her two legs were going to go in different directions. So for her, that first injury has left her permanently scared of skiing, but she wasn't scared to get back on a snowboard after breaking her back. Just goes to show it's hard to tell how people will react after an accident).

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d_retallack, it is ALL in your head. Rehab needs to include an element of mental challenge. It doesn't need to be skiing related it could be something completely off the wall like learning to springboard dive. A sport that requires little equipment but combines development in both mental and physical attributes.

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I have always wondered how I would react post bad accident. I would hope that I would get straight back to it, as with everything the mind is the thing that holds you back.
Thankfully we as a family have never had an injury of any note. Fingers crossed that continues.

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I had a fairly bad bike accident and now just can't go quickly downhill. It totally knocked my confidence.

After all it is free

I've dislocated my shoulder several times whilst skiing. I tried the 'get straight back up and go again' method but found that I was so tense and nervous about doing it again my skiing went backwards (figuratively speaking, not literally). I was persuaded to have some private lessons, and found them a massive help, as the instructor noticed how I was favouring my 'good' side more since the accident. As has been said, a lot of it is in your head.

Good luck!

UPDATE

I'm off tp La plagne 1800 on Saturday, got a 3 hour lesson booked with oxygene on the Monday afternoon

Getting quite excited now

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d_retallack, good luck, that lessons sounds a really good idea. Hope it goes well. snowHead

Help!!

UPDATE:Skiing again after ski accident

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