2021/22 Injury Report, who is on the sidelines?

[tch]

So a reminder to be careful and think ahead.
Got lured into off-piste at Brighton this week, nice open area that funneled into two narrow, bumped out chutes surrounded by trees. Caught an edge trying to be too careful and tumbled forward into a full-on slide for life. Luckily (?) I T-boned a tree before achieving terminal velocity, but that came at expense of a couple of broken ribs and some big contusions on thighs.
I’ll live to ski again but may be out for the remainder. Stay safe out there.

 

[Errand Wolfe]

My knee popped really loudly in PT this week, even behind the mask I could tell the therapist was shocked/horrified. I'm really bummed out and not sure I'll ever be able to ski in a "fun" way anymore, may be a good time to reinvent myself and chose another path.

 

[Nobody]

Don't give up hopes this early. Continue to work your PT, and above all, while doing it, mentally envision your best days out skiing. You'll get back there.

 

[Jack skis]

Errand it's early days yet. I'm sure I'm not the only one here who experienced real, and even terrible, illnesses or injuries skiing or in other activities and managed to get back to the sport. Good as before? Maybe not but still able to enjoy the sport and be back on the hill, or mountain as the case may be. Chin up, I'll be pulling for you.

 

[neonorchid]

My knee popped really loudly in PT this week, even behind the mask I could tell the therapist was shocked/horrified. I'm really bummed out and not sure I'll ever be able to ski in a "fun" way anymore, may be a good time to reinvent myself and chose another path.

+1 on @Nobody's advice.

To tell you the truth I really don't know what that snap crackle pop means. Both knees did it all the time after a combination of trauma and overuse injuries. Took 20 years before I could ski again. Never dreamed of that day actually happening when 30 and thought I'd have both knees replaced by 40, hips and ankles by 50, now 10 years past that and still with my OEM parts, TG. Knees don't snap crackle pop like they used to, generally only during bad flair ups.
Funny story, last bad flair up mid Feb 2020 during PT evaluation the young 30 something physical therapist demonstrated a motion for me to do and her knee popped, loud, more than once. I said hey that wasn't me, she tried to deny it was hers with very embarrassed look on her face, LOL. Again, I don't know what those pops are and I'm not about to bother the orthopedic surgeon of the family for an explanation either, I'm sure I'd just be more confused about it.

Long winded way to say it may not be the death knell you currently think it is. Nothing wrong with time out from the path, you'll find your way back, I think, good luck with it.

 

[SSSdave]

Am expecting to finally drive up to ski again, maybe later this week, though my rotator cuff supraspinatus tendon is not fully healed and could take months. Painful raising upper arm above shoulder though below that fine that is about all I need to pole plant if done carefully. Expect pain is due to a larger tissue volume after the tendonitis healed in the subacromial space between the narrow bone space. Given fresh snow after 8 droughty weeks, this is timely.

Other more serious weirdness has been my right hand finger tip hyper sensitivity pain. Not something showing up on any medical web site symptoms, so yeah weird. Note, have had distil phalanges knuckle arthritis the last 20 years on all 5 right hand knuckles that for last decade has actually improved and not affected much. But 8 weeks ago suddenly finger tips became painful to the point I might not ever type on my computer with my right hand, much less ski again as the only way to deal with it was taking NSAIDs like Ibuprofen. As someone that rarely takes any medicines even asprin, I hate how it deadens my overall body sensitivity. Then Sunday after pr just as suddenly as it arose, has over last 2 days nearly vanished?

 

[skibum4ever]

Three months post surgery, I am officially "healed". I have been walking every day and yesterday managed over two miles. Today I saw the surgeon and he was excited to see me walk in unaided. He actually took a photo of me giving him a thumbs up and a huge grin. He intends to send it to my first surgeon at Mammoth.

I will be in therapy for a while longer as I need a lot of work on strength and flexibility. But he lifted my driving restriction which is a big step forward.

 

[SSSdave]

Am popping back on the board today after not having skied or reported in since my above post. Instead have been dealing with the mentioned weird right hand finger tip pain that I thought was some kind of arthritis but is instead likely a rare bone marrow blood cancer that affects 1 out of 50,000 people. When a DNA test on my blood comes back by a couple weeks, will know for certain. Basically blood plasma has too many blood cells of the 3 types that if untreated can cause capillary destruction in places like fingertips and internal organs.

Not curable but highly treatable in this medical science era just with phlebotomy or blood drawing and unlikely to shorten my life if so. Also some new drugs targeting bone marrow cells possible. If interested look it up on Wikipedia. Prospects for skiing this cruddy drought winter are over but expect to ski during future seasons. It is good as a lively,, youthful looking, fit, octogenarian human to be alive in this medical science era as I would have already been gone from a bout of diverticulitis a few years ago. How fortunate I was able to record some videos like this at the end of last season regardless of how my future plays out.

 

[Bad Bob]

2/26 ski season ended.
Skiing a really well groomed black all by myself, hung up the tail of the inside ski. Reflexivly threw my left hand straight into the air (think a fist pump). No fall just pain.
Partially tore the bicep, that hurt. By sunday afternoon the bruise ran from near the shoulder down into the hand. The watch band wastoo tight to wear. 2 to 3 month light on the arm per doctor and 6 months to be fully heal.
Early golf season will be a lot of puttering practice.
Could have been a lot worse.

 

[Ivan]

Well, not a real injury, but something that, unfortunately, impacted my skiing today. When playing soccer (as a goalie) on Sunday, got hit on the inside on my left shin, in the area not protected by the shinguard. Kept playing just fine afterwards, but when I came home, I noticed that I had a pretty big bruise there. Tried to ice it as much as I could over the past couple of days, played tennis yesterday without any issues. But when I tried to ski today, I basically couldn't ski normally: the bruise is just below the top of the cuff, so the pressure from the boot was pretty bad, especially on left footers. Skied maybe at 40 or 50% of my maximum, only did 4 runs in almost constant pain, and called it a day. Too bad, because our ski season here in CNY is almost over (it is supposed to warm up and rain again on Thursday).

 

[SSSdave]

My DNA test results are now in showing I have a JAK2V617F gene mutation thus conclusive polycythemia vera and very likely in the low risk category given my 18 blood tests and symptoms. Very lucky to be alive in this modern medical science era. Have a top rated hematologist. Already having the 3 treatments below and expect to still be backpacking this summer and skiing next winter.

https://www.ijbls.org/images/20_Literature_review_-_Polycythaemia_Vera.pdf

snippet:

The median age of PV patients at diagnosis is 61 with a median survival of 18.9 years, ranging from 10.9 to 27.8 years depending on the risk group...
A typical treatment pathway for PV usually begins with phlebotomy and low dose aspirin, prior to risk stratification. High risk [also low risk given dr skills] patients will then go on to receive cytoreductive therapies such as hydroxyurea [a weak chemical chemo] or interferon as a first line therapy...

 

[John Webb]

My best and worse days This year were 2 days apart. After the Aspen Gathering I stopped in SLC for 6 ski days.

Best day of season was day 4 at Snowbird. I was there in this photo for the Mineral Basin rope drop !:

[POV VIDEO] Insane Scenes When Rope Dropped on Mineral Basin at Snowbird, UT - SnowBrains

Following the storm that dumped over two FEET of snow in 48-hours, Snowbird patrol dropped the rope on Mineral Basin yesterday...

snowbrains.com

Best rope drop ever ! 2 super long untracked runs in 24 in of new powder.

Worst Day was day 6 (my birthday no less) also at Snowbird. I was getting a bit fatigued and took a high traverse
thru the woods forrowing @Jim Kenney to the middle of Dalton's Draw (Double black at top, single black where I was). The traverse suddenly
pitched way up. My left ski stopped slowly but the right ski moved up releasing tension on right leg and twisted a bit odd .
A strain and a quick cramp like snap occured in right thigh. A pulled Hamstring. I actually didn't fall or hit anything so the injury is most puzzling. A red & Blue bruise formed from thigh to knee. Taking PT and trying to rest the injury. Happened 2 weeks ago.

Grounded but hope to be back (groomers first) in 2 weeks or so. Never had this type injury before..
Only one other real injury in 40 years. Cracked fibula sliding on The Wall at Kirkwood 15 years ago. Only 4 days of skiing that year.

 

[tromano]

Gonna ride it.

 

[SSSdave]

With the end of this record late season droughty Tahoe winter, will add to my above post that a subsequent bone marrow biopsy report showed I indeed do not have one of the more dangerous conditions. After a couple weeks of treatment, the encouraging results are showing my out of whack blood conditions may move back to normal levels in just another 2 to 3 weeks. Beyond that, the right shoulder tendonitis/bursitis bothering me these same last 3 months is a larger unknown for athletic interests next winter even if it continues to fade over the near term.

 

[Jim Kenney]

Worst Day was day 6 (my birthday no less) also at Snowbird. I was getting a bit fatigued and took a high traverse
thru the woods forrowing @Jim Kenney to the middle of Dalton's Draw (Double black at top, single black where I was). The traverse suddenly pitched way up. My left ski stopped slowly but the right ski moved up releasing tension on right leg and twisted a bit odd .
A strain and a quick cramp like snap occured in right thigh. A pulled Hamstring.

Very cool that we unknowingly had you over for dinner on your birthday! Sorry your birthday present turned out to be a bag of ice for your sore leg

 

[Jenny]

With the end of this record late season droughty Tahoe winter, will add to my above post that a subsequent bone marrow biopsy report showed I indeed do not have one of the more dangerous conditions. After a couple weeks of treatment, the encouraging results are showing my out of whack blood conditions may move back to normal levels in just another 2 to 3 weeks. Beyond that, the right shoulder tendonitis/bursitis bothering me these same last 3 months is a larger unknown for athletic interests next winter even if it continues to fade over the near term.

Well, that must be a relief! Good luck with the shoulder.

 

[John Webb]

Very cool that we unknowingly had you over for dinner on your birthday! Sorry your birthday present turned out to be a bag of ice for your sore leg

Thanks again. Saw DR & did 7 sessions of PT. Happy to say almost over the pulled hamstring. Finished PT but have exercises for homework. Did not tell PT lady I did easy cautious skiing 2 weeks ago at Northstar. She'll say NO. Then more strenuous skiing a week ago at Northstar & Kirkwood. One run on The Wall. Her orders were no skiing. I told the DR on followup yesterday that I was bad and went skiing !! He had no problem with it ! Keep in mind he skis and was once the patrol room Dr at Sugar Bowl. I am trying to stay out of bumpy trails & Moguls. Also rest once or twice on each run. I should be ready soon for Mammoth.

 

[John Webb]

With the end of this record late season droughty Tahoe winter, will add to my above post that a subsequent bone marrow biopsy report showed I indeed do not have one of the more dangerous conditions. After a couple weeks of treatment, the encouraging results are showing my out of whack blood conditions may move back to normal levels in just another 2 to 3 weeks. Beyond that, the right shoulder tendonitis/bursitis bothering me these same last 3 months is a larger unknown for athletic interests next winter even if it continues to fade over the near term.

So maybe you can ski now that were back to winter !

 

[Spam16v]

Not a real deal breaker here, but 2nd week of March I got to ski a patrol try out at another resort that’s significantly larger than where I patrol currently. First run, taking a turn onto a shuttle got clipped in the bindings by a kid on twin tips. Blew up in front of 8-10 evaluators after an epic tomahawk down a groomed trail… got up, elbow down was numb… shook it off, said I was fine and put my shoulder back in on the chair and ski’d the whole day doing drills. Followed that up with back to back calls at my mountain til sweep.

Evaluators didn’t know I was already a patroller and invited me back two days later for an individual first aid eval and toboggan skills. You only get one real chance, & being there my bridge was likely burnt with my current patrol director once they found out I was there (rumors spread quickly..) ice & heat over and over to patch myself back together & I showed up and ran loaded toboggans all day in the bumps and finished with a bunch of medical scenarios.

Jaundice and brushing down my back and chest, and turns out I tore a ton of stuff in my ankle on top of it. Spent a day getting X-rays and MRI’s at the VA Hospital and the ortho said you’ll be limping all summer and I can cut your shoulder and tighten everything I tore and stretched out if I wanted him to, which I declined.

Ended up being accepted as a provisional walk-on patroller but I was done for the year. I’m self rehabbing in my garage gym, thankfully my shoulder isn’t too bad and getting around better walking, but it’s something I won’t soon forget.

 

[skibum4ever]

I graduated from PT today. Time to start being in charge of my own rehab. Had a frank talk with my physical therapist about skiing next year.

When we started working together in late January, he was horrified at the idea of my skiing next season. Today he said he knew that once I started feeling better I would want to return to skiing. He feels that it's very possible if I work hard and continue to progress as well as I have in the last 3 months. Well, the gauntlet has been thrown down and I have 7 or 8 months of hard work ahead of me.

I will defer my IKON pass if I don't feel ready.

I plan to hire a personal trainer who specializes in helping people return from serious injury. I am apprehensive but highly motivated.