Injuries and Other Setbacks

[Serpentile6]

About a year ago I pulled a tendon in my leg I had to take about 6 months off to recover form it and when I got back I felt like I was learning from the ground up again. About 3 months I almost did it again because it will never be as strong as it once was. I had to take another month and a half off. Again I felt like I had lost maybe a year of skill. Everytime anything like this happens it's because I try to push myself harder than I have before in a final bout of a tournament, or similar instance. So my question to those of you who have this happen to you is, how do you deal with it and get back up to speed?

[noodle]

practice without footwork.

[KShan5[PrFC]]

I'm coming back from a broken leg, and I toook off about 3 monthes (which was not enough time, hence it's not healed). FOr me it almost made me a better fencer, because when I got back it made me slow down and look more and prepare less. So I guess this wasn't the answer you were looking for. My footwork has gone to crap and I can't really practice intensive footwork yet because my leg is still broken.

[Bryn Ralph]

Consult with a sports physician. Get a diagnosis. And follow the diagnostic recommendations. And in the meantime, it would be prudent to restrain from any strenuous activity.

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

About a year ago I pulled a tendon in my leg I had to take about 6 months off to recover form it and when I got back I felt like I was learning from the ground up again. About 3 months I almost did it again because it will never be as strong as it once was. I had to take another month and a half off. Again I felt like I had lost maybe a year of skill. Everytime anything like this happens it's because I try to push myself harder than I have before in a final bout of a tournament, or similar instance. So my question to those of you who have this happen to you is, how do you deal with it and get back up to speed?

I had a chronic problem with the adductor in my front leg after I strained it. After about a year and a half, I fixed the problem by strengthening my adductors (squats and ball work). I havent had a problem with that particular body part since then.....

Your problem is probably different then mine, so check with a doctor.

[xcrunner]

About a year ago I pulled a tendon in my leg I had to take about 6 months off to recover form it and when I got back I felt like I was learning from the ground up again. About 3 months I almost did it again because it will never be as strong as it once was. I had to take another month and a half off. Again I felt like I had lost maybe a year of skill. Everytime anything like this happens it's because I try to push myself harder than I have before in a final bout of a tournament, or similar instance. So my question to those of you who have this happen to you is, how do you deal with it and get back up to speed?

As with most sports injuries, especially ones dealing with tendons or muscles, you need to wean yourself back into what ever sport you're doing. Also remember, if you've been off your leg for a while, it's going to be really weak. You're going to have to do some weight lifting and other forms of PT before returning to even a modest level of workouts. Also anything that you were doing while you were injured to speed your recovery just doesn't end at six months. Continue icing, elevating, and resting your leg after every workout. It may take a few months to get back to a workout schedule that makes you feel like you're getting anything done, but it's best to be injury free than to re-aggrivate your injury.

[ckovanda]

I had a complete rupture of my rear leg ACL a couple of years ago. I did my PT religiously and continue to ice my knee after every practice. there were certain exercises that were very difficult for me to do for quite awhile during the year of my recovery. but little by little the exercises got easier to do and now i'm back up to full strength. To say that your tendon will never be strong again is a little defeatist I think. Take it easy and gradually build back your strength, challenge yourself, but don't go doing front flips into full-on lunges right off the bat.

also, if this is a recurring theme with you, you might want to explore the possibility that you may have a technique flaw that is contributing to this re-injury.

[jjefferies]

About a year ago I pulled a tendon in my leg I had to take about 6 months off to recover form it and when I got back I felt like I was learning from the ground up again. About 3 months I almost did it again because it will never be as strong as it once was. I had to take another month and a half off. Again I felt like I had lost maybe a year of skill. Everytime anything like this happens it's because I try to push myself harder than I have before in a final bout of a tournament, or similar instance. So my question to those of you who have this happen to you is, how do you deal with it and get back up to speed?

Work with a physical or sports therapist. Work yourself back in slowly. And make sure you warm up properly each time. First get the body warm and then do stretches. Just an aside but I have found that you get more injuries in practice than tournaments. But of course your mileage may vary.

[pacer]

Two weeks after summer nationals I was gracefully descending the stairs at home, in the dark, and confident I had reached the bottom, proceeded to totally miss the last 3 steps. It the first time in my life I've sprained my ankle. Four weeks into it my doctor said I could return to fencing slowly and carefully. That was 3 weeks ago and I find that it still takes about 4 days to recover. So I'm using an ankle brace while fencing and doing minimal footwork, ie, no lunges, no bouncing - just basic ( and slow) advances and retreats) It is really making me address my bladework faults.

[Greg]

or runner's knee cost me six months. Got it from running, not fencing. Glad I went to a sports medicines doctors rather than self diagnose and treat. But even with six months off, I did not feel that I lost all my skills. They came back quickly with practice. The best advice in my case was to do a lot of strength work in the gym on my legs to prevent these injuries; have good form and always warm up and stretch before sports.

[lindajdunn]

Fencing with knee bursitis

I suggest scrolling down and reading Peach's reply to me in that message.

My injury has turned out to be NOT bursitis, but torn meniscus. Actually, two tears. The results of the MRI came in while I was at Summer Nationals and I had surgery July 23rd. Recovery is proving slower, more painful, and more time-intensive that I'd anticipated. I'm just now able to do light drills.

During the interim, I have been focusing solely on bladework (although the physical therapist told me to stay away from even that for the first two weeks). My lessons have focused on bladework without moving and I think hurting my knee may eventually prove to be a turning point in my fencing abilities. [Taking an optomistic Pollyana approach.]

I found Peach's advice and instruction very helpful and I'm grateful to other Veterans I talked to at the SN who gave me some advice about recovering from injuries.

[Allen Evans]

Re-read your post. An injury isn't an annoyance to be over come, it's your body trying to tell you that somethings not right....you're not strong enough, or your technique is incorrect, or you're pushing yourself past your limits.

I find that a large number of fencers don't treat themselves as athletes. They don't pay attention to their limits, don't follow the advice of doctors, practice without proper gear or instruction, and......they get hurt. And then they don't manage the injury well.

Listen to your doctor's advice, and understand that unless that doctor has some experiance with fencers, the advice will probably NOT be as conservative as it should be. Fencing puts the body under a tremendous amount of strain, even when the actions are being done correctly. A lot of doctors don't understand that.

I saw an interview with an athlete recovering from a shoulder injury. They were sitting on a bike, peddling while talking to the camera. Even though they were on the injured list, they trained as much as they could, as long as it didn't involve the shoulder. Focus on bladework while you recover from a leg injury, and vica-versa.

[Serpentile6]

Thanks for your replies. I have seen a Doctor about this who treats a lot of athletes. I've been wearing a brace and taking it easy for the most part. The part that has been bothering me is the change in distance for my lunge as it is my back leg that was hurt. It stretched the tendon and from what the doctor told me because of the way that it was stretched not snapped or otherwise it may never have the strength it did before. That's about a 50-50% chance. So I don't know for the long run. While it seems for the most part better I can't seem to readjust my distance to compensate, which is throwing off my game over all. While the blade work may be correct (I had been working on that during my down time) It often is at the wrong distance and doesn't finish right. Again thanks for the suggestions I will keep many of them in mind.

[Peach]

I'd repeat my advice, though now I don't have to re-type it--Thanks, Linda!--here's a direct link to both bits:

http://www.fencing.net/forums/post425321-12.html
http://www.fencing.net/forums/post425583-15.html

I would also suggest that if an injury changes your fencing that much, you are now a different fencer. You are no longer the person who could lunge that way. You are someone else. You need to change your game.

Veteran fencers learn this, some more slowly than others, because we have no alternative. I have learned to make my footwork smaller and my lunges shorter, and to rely on changes in tempo, speed, direction, and distance rather than on raw power.

[Joe biebel]

Thanks for your replies. I have seen a Doctor about this who treats a lot of athletes. I've been wearing a brace and taking it easy for the most part. The part that has been bothering me is the change in distance for my lunge as it is my back leg that was hurt. It stretched the tendon and from what the doctor told me because of the way that it was stretched not snapped or otherwise it may never have the strength it did before. That's about a 50-50% chance. So I don't know for the long run. While it seems for the most part better I can't seem to readjust my distance to compensate, which is throwing off my game over all. While the blade work may be correct (I had been working on that during my down time) It often is at the wrong distance and doesn't finish right. Again thanks for the suggestions I will keep many of them in mind.

I sympathize with this, as I have a very similar injury on my back leg. This has hampered me all season and I don't see it abating. I am a veteran fencer and find the majority of my fencing training time and a lot of my time at meets spent warming up, stretching and preparing physically for bouts. Whenever I don't do my homework, I aggravate or reinjure the tendon. These injuries must not slip out of your conscienceness or the likelihood of further injury is high. It galls me to have to "let up" during an important match because of pain or a sense of impending injury. Let the match go. At least try some other method or tactic to score hits besides the movements that cause injury. Rehab, rehab, rehab.

From a purely technical point of view, I have adapted my lunge and flesche somewhat. To avoid straining the Achilles injury, I have forced my heel on the back foot to the ground and I push off on the heel rather than the ball of the foot. This does not have the same acceleration as the ball of the foot, but I have not been doing it long enough to get real good with it yet. The elimination of the calf muscle on the push foot from the equation definately slows me somewhat. At any rate, it does not cause the same amount of aggravation as pushing off on the ball of the foot for me, so despite less physical ability, I do it.

[D'Artag-NOT]

I've never had a significant fencing injury, but it seems that I've been having one major setback after another since I started competing. (I'm a recreational fencer and don't compete that often, but it still means a lot to me.)

My first competition was at the end of the 2001-02 season; fair enough. Then in November 2002, my father died, and for most of the 2002-03 season it was very difficult to concentrate at practice, let alone compete. In June 2003 I suffered a retinal tear and needed eye surgery that left me unable to train at all for about six to eight weeks. (They put a gas bubble in my eye which wobbled most distractingly when I tried to do footwork, and I didn't have depth perception enough for bladework.)

In February 2004 I developed another problem in the same eye and needed a vitrectomy--a particularly nasty eye operation after which the patient must maintain a facedown position fo two weeks to get a good result. There was another gas bubble involved here with the same loss of training. Vitrectomy is always complicated by the formation of a cataract in the operated eye. So by the time the gas bubble was gone, I was dealing with the developing cataract. Had the cataract surgery in October 2004.

The 2005-06 season was going along okay until this January, when my mother died.

The new season's coming up, and I'm just wondering what's going to happen THIS time.

(Yes, thanks, I'll have some Brie with all this whine.)

[Elendae]

I would also suggest that if an injury changes your fencing that much, you are now a different fencer. You are no longer the person who could lunge that way. You are someone else. You need to change your game.

Veteran fencers learn this, some more slowly than others, because we have no alternative. I have learned to make my footwork smaller and my lunges shorter, and to rely on changes in tempo, speed, direction, and distance rather than on raw power.

I agree wholeheartedly with Peach. Due to pre-existing knee and ankle problems (aggravated by a particularly nasty ankle sprain), I spent quite a bit of time learning not to move on the strip, unless absolutely necessary. I spent a lot of time, standing with my back foot against the wall, learning to defend myself from a stationary position. My point control has improved greatly. I try not to do more than one advance or retreat, but I'm still adjusting. Yes, I am the stereotypical epeeist, who doesn’t move. Be happy that you are still capable of lunging. Take things slowly, learn your new limits and follow your doctor's advice. It's better to be cautious, than to rush things and not be able to fence again.

</lecture> . . .Dear god... I sound like my coach...

[Sabresque]

I back up the people who say to first of all, get back into it SLOWLY. Don't just run out there and go all out every day. I tore my ACL a couple years ago and it's still a problem for me, especially if I come back after taking some time off. You have to ease yourself back in and LEARN TO READ your body. You feel muscles, that area getting overly tired? This REALLY increases the risk of innjury. I by nature am one to push myself TOO hard and my knee has taught me some really useful skills such as patience and listening to when my body screams DONT HURT ME AGAIN. lol

My other piece of advice would be to seriously consider that you might be reinjuring it because of a reoccurring problem in your technique. For instance, part of my problem was that i was overlunging and because of the amount of training I do my muscles were tired so they decided to give out and couldn't support my knee anylonger which ended in an ACL tear. Since then my lunging technique has vastly improved to prevent injury. Could there be something like this hurting your body? Fencing when done correctly is hard on your body, and when done incorrectly is MURDER for every joint you have in your legs and feet.

[lindajdunn]

The new season's coming up, and I'm just wondering what's going to happen THIS time.

(Yes, thanks, I'll have some Brie with all this whine.)

Sympathies. My mother developed a sudden and frightening mental condition just before my first SN and I flew out only because I had non-refundable tickets and fenced only one of three planned events before getting a flight change to fly back. I had a meniscus tear in the left knee late April that wasn't diagnosed until I was at the SN this year. I'm also wondering what's going to happen THIS season.

[Peach]

At Veteran events, casual conversation about personal calamity is pretty much the norm If it isn't happening to us, it's happening to the (theoretically grown) kids or to the elderly and infirm parents we are now caring for.