[bccarlso]

Just felt like ranting a little! Been dealing with a disc extrusion/herniation in my neck that's basically taken me out of the outdoors scene for the past three months. Had a great summer with more backpacking trips than usual, and was looking forward to roll that into winter with some snowshoe day trips and maybe try my hand at a winter camping trip. But alas, laid up inside for the most part. Anyway, misery loves company, I'm sure others have gone through similar times... but hope you all are in great health and getting at it! -Ben

[Bruce Albert]

There is little more frustrating than a sudden onset physical limitation on accustomed and treasured activity. Of no help is the visit to the neurosurgeon and being told, “We don’t do anything for that and cannot make you twenty years old again.” Full on empathy sent…but will probably change nothing. Vibes and best wishes for full and rapid recovery.

[Celticclimber]

More company for your misery In June of 93, I put my right femur in two pieces backcountry skiing at Cascade Pass. It wasn't until Feb of 94 that I was 100% again. Increasing age does make healing a whole lot slower. Keep as positive an attitude as you can. That will help speed the healing.

[uww]

As I've gotten older I have been grumbing more often and for longer. I think it's time for me to start some sort of prehab exercises or at least stretch instead of talking about how beneficial stretching would be.

[bccarlso]

Ouch, Celticclimber, no fun! I have had injuries in my youth that I was able to recover from, but have more recently spent most of my 30s dealing with chronic back pain that doctors can never seem to diagnose. It had caused most of the sports I enjoyed to be too painful to continue, but thankfully hiking and backpacking seemed mostly unaffected. Then, as of last September, this neck injury which sort of came out of nowhere. X-rays and an MRI and neurosurgeon visit later (which takes way too long) and now I'm scheduled for a steroid injection and some PT; and lots of prayers that it will get better enough to not need surgery. Anyway, these setbacks teach me a lot about myself and life, perhaps more than just going on enjoying this in some kind of status quo. But, it doesn't make it easy!

[Eric Hansen]

Empathy for all. I had a pretty bad ankle sprain (repeatedly) when I was training for trail runs back in the day. Time and a wobble board did the trick, healed it. I had a mantra that went - Worse than missing the month is missing the season. And worse than missing the season is missing a year or the rest of your life. Acknowledge the ouchie, let it heal or it just repeats over and over. Also helps to shift gears completely (if possible) to a new track, new skills while the healing progresses. i.e. Drop trail running for fly fishing, kayaking or pack rafting. Focus on what is possible now.

[Bowregard]

Just to try to put a positive spin of this for some: When I started hiking seriously my calves would ache and I developed a large knot on my achilles (tendonosis). Through PT I learned that my "less active" years and resultant lack of flexibility had caused my walk to change and the smaller calf muscles and Achilles was taking the majority of the load that my glutes and quads should be taking. Stretching and strengthening not only resolved that issue but a host of other nagging problems that I had developed over time. Now if I could just convince myself to DO all the stretching and exercises that help I might extend my time in the mountains.