Taken Out / Niko Salaman / Slaptap X The Blade Clothing
from Niko Salaman on 7 Nov 2016
I Have to stop skating for about a year, this is the decent footage I had been saving for different projects.
song : Crywolf – Anachronism (I do not claim copyright ownership of musical content)
I hope that this little extract I adapted can shed some light on my situation.
– About the Psychological Side to Dealing With a Chronic Injury
I want to say some personal words about dealing with a chronic overuse injury. I’ve had a chronic ankle sprain,caused and supported by 3 year old scar tissue, in my right foot for nearly 9 months now. (Alongside multiple fractures in both feet, and shins(now a shin splint), neck and spinal misuse and damage, fractures and now scar tissue in my right shoulder, I dont even know whats wrong with my left thumb but it doesnt work properly and a section of my lower back isnt in use, these have all been present for 11+ months now)
Obviously to those of who spend time with me, you may know though i try not to show it much, this has totally affected my ability to skate and in turn my entire life. Its been a pretty negative and depressing roller coaster ride and I could deal with this better if blading wasn’t my passion, my livelihood and my life.
Way back, Because I didn’t want to be slowed down in my training and progression and love of the sport, especially when things were picking up, by anything ever, I went for a few weeks in total unawareness/denial” about the potential severity of my condition(s). I was aware of the growing pain, but chose to keep right on training in hopes that it would just “go away” or my young body would heal like normal. However, Suspecting something more serious after a shoot, I finally made an appointment with a chiropractor, She diagnosed the ankle and we started various therapies. taping my foot to limit range of motion and taking anti-inflammatories, constant icing and acupuncture, plus physio, whilst trying to keep skating, haha no.
After still stubbornly and stupidly not stopping. Although i knew the pain and instability wouldnt just poof away, and i knew there were other longterm factors involved.. The point here is that for some people, like myself, I hung on to every hope of still being able to maintain my lifestyle of skating, I can see now though I was and am simply blinded by love(some of you will know that im reallly, really good at this). So eventually I knew i had to man up and pack it in for as long as could bear. Ive done that 3 times now(six weeks off, on, then 11 weeks off and again now) i found in those in between times that it doesn’t take much to have a minor setback in progress, at all. Good days are those days when I am not aware of the achy sensation in my foot or when skating itself is put out of mind 🙁 or when I know it is healing, bad days are those when am aware of it and I know that I have begun to re-injure it again, so i get intensely depressed or angry and just want skate more to burn those feelings up. It is also so tempting to “test” it out when it feels better and it is easy to over do that, which is agonisingly frustrating, especially if youve just deprived yourself for months and then given in.. Thus these feelings constantly affect and change my disposition, so feeling lost is an understatement.
Psychologically, what can you expect when you are injured? It is very difficult to stay enthused about something that in the back of your mind you are not sure when you will be able to return to that activity or be confident in your skills of it. It is a lot easier to deal with an acute injury where you know that in just a matter of time it will heal. You may find yourself withdrawing from social things or whatever. You may experience depression and hopelessness, while at other times be able to remain positive and moving forward. My own personal experience with this has given me an appreciation of what a person with a chronic illness has to deal with. There are a lot of “ups and downs”, endless amounts.
injury allows you to step back and let your body rest, and right now at least thats what i want. So after rereading this I or anyone can see I am thoroughly broken, (especially if your at the Rush jam this year) Mentally, physically the pain has equalised to the point where i am just being an idiot.
I had a plan for my life at the point in which i am in now and blading was at the heart of it. So now i have to make the biggest and most heartbreaking detour of my life so far, and change course. That said, I will never turn my back on blading, i love it to its core. But now i simply wish to finish my sections another day.
Thank You to everyone I’ve met on my journey so far
and thank you for reading and understanding this very extended post.
Thank you for reading and watching.