Broken ribs and broken dreams

[philistine]

As soon as I hit the tree I knew something was wrong. "oh god, oh god. Steve, I'm injured, call for help." It was cold--very cold. Nearly 20 degrees below zero. What a day.

In the end it wasn't too bad. 4 broken ribs, lacerated kidney, pleural effusion, and 4 days in the hospital. Luckily I didn't hit my head, I didn't injure my spine, I didn't puncture or collapse my lungs, I didn't ruin my life.

My season is over, and honestly, I'm glad. I'm dissapointed by the fact that I put myself in such a dangerous situation. I'm an advanced rider, but I made a mistake. I love snowboarding, but the pain and fear that snowboarding caused me almost outweighs the joy that I got from riding. I know that I'll start riding again next year, but I don't think I'll ever attempt to ride at that level again, and that makes me sad.

So, to those of you who have injured yourselves while riding: is it worth it? Will I get over these terrible feelings?

[Guest dragon fly jones]

Details - talk it out.

[Jrobb]

Recreationally, I don't think injury is worth it...but we don't really go through life weighing the odds and only making decisions that have no risk. The risks are what makes our activities enjoyable. I'm not diminishing your ordeal, I'm glad you came out of it in somewhat good condition...it could be worse. You sound in somewhat good spirits. I think you'll "grow out of" your view on this. Afterall, it's not snowboarding that led you to this turn in the road, but an accelerated path towards risk while snowboarding you stated. You were able to pinpoint the wrong turn, and now you can work on getting back on track.

I've only had minor injuries so far, strained ligament here and there but even then, not worth the risk again. Each could be pinpointed to fixable error or bad decision...usually doesn't happen twice.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery...but may we be blessed by some more details? When you're ready to confront them of course.

J

[tufty]

You're on a slippery slope there, and I'd advise you to get off it. It's not far from "is snowboarding worth the risk" to being terrified to go outside your house in case you get run over or mugged or shot or slip on a banana skin and break your back.

It's natural to have a certain amount of trepidation before getting back on the board, and even when you have got back on the board, but it's something to get over. Sure, balance the risks, but get out there and enjoy yourself, live life to the full, each and every day.

Remember, when you're doing something dangerous, the major risk is something that you are exposing yourself to, in most cases the fault is your own when something goes wrong. You control your destiny. The same is not true if you're run over by a drunk driver, shot in some random driveby shooting whilst coming out of a restaurant, etc. Life is short, it should be sweet.

If I die snowboarding, or doing trapeze, or tightwire, or stacking a motorcycle into a wall, I'll die happy, with no regrets. This doesn't mean I take unnecessary risks, all it means is that I do the best I can with everything I do, and enjoy myself doing it. Grab life with both hands, and don't let go.

Yeah, it's natural to be afraid. That fear won't go away unless you make it do so. Get back on the horse as soon as you can, give the fear a good kick in the balls, and get back to doing what you enjoy.

Simon

[Recon]

I'm with Simon on this one/ he said it very well!

I would rather Live 40 active years in my life then 70 safe boring ones!

Sorry / but i refuse to get heavily involved in Armchair athletics!

Yes it's true that it is a fine line, that separates a hobby from Mental illness.!

We are a special breed we adrenaline addicts. .Our life is measured in moments not years, We take chances, which makes us love life even more !! Our meaning for existence (FUN)

Our bored counterparts just don’t understand that the cookies taste better over here !!!! Always has /always will! I think of the masses of people who never leave their house/ very time I'm on a summit/what they are missing in the sites /sounds /& aromas of the mountains! Also when I see the handicapped skiing/ on one ski or in a seat ski/ refusing to be a victim/ grabbing hold of life/ Feeling the Rush! I have such respect & admiration for these individuals

How ever you can be smart about it & take a few precautions !

[Blackbird]

Pretty much every reply so far is spot on the money..

Injuries come and go... the body heals... the mind however takes a bit more to heal..

My advice.. When you are ready after you're all healed up (Next season or whenever)

Get back on that horse and rein her in... you'll be a better rider for it!!!!

I broke my tailbone so bad on an overrotated backflip that it needed surgery to have it glued back into it's position...

(a Bit of gory detail follows so be warned!!!)

Due to the nature and location of the incision, It wasn't possible to stitch or staple it closed again..So I had a 5" open wound from the middle of my butt up to the top!!

So I had to have a nurse every day for almost 3 months pack it with gauze while it healed up from the inside out.... a 5" incision...basically looks like a butt crack extension!!

First night home from hospital I took a nice hot salt water bath and lost 2 litres of blood... I passed out trying to get out of the bathroom and I was back in hospital...

... I'm a MUCH stronger rider now... I love the sport much more deeply.. I will never EVER let an injury destroy my love for MY sport... I'll ride better and better every year till my body can take no more!!!!!

Another way to explain... I raced BMX for 9 years.. Last year was the last one. I'm retired... (At 32 LOL)

in 2004 I came off during a celebrationary ride after the Australian Titles (I got 6th) and I over shot a jump, and clipped the front wheel on the landing went over the bars and landed on my left shoulder... smashing it...

I had a plate +6 screws, some wire installed holding it together.. I was off work for 4 months....missed an entire season snowboarding!!!!

The next year I trained so hard to work on my weaknesses and ended up taking the #1 spot in The State Titles....

Trust me... you may feel like doom and gloom now... but when you're all healed up... all the pain you feel now will be a distant memory!!

keep your mind occupied and the pain killers coming... don't sneeze or cough (I know what ribs are like to break.!!) You wanna know whats worse than breaking ribs?? Splitting the cartledge in between them!! Trust me I've done that too!!!

All the people here will tell you the same.... Just remember the first time you linked a turn.... the first time you railed your deck from heal to toe.....

Would you really wanna give that away???

[Guest dragonsword5]

I'm really sorry to hear about your injury but I have to agree with everyone else. I tore my ACL in March and it hurt a lot. It was probably small compared to the number of injuries you have but in the end everytime someone asked me if I was gonna get on my board again I said "of course! why not?". And they'd look at me like I was crazy and be off on their way. I took to working out and my therapy all the more aggresively so that I could get back out on the mountain as soon as possible.

I love snowboarding. I can't see myself not snowboarding. But now I take a little more precaution; going a little slower, wearing my knee brace, etc until I feel myself strong enough to barrel down the mountain again. I don't want to go through that pain again or missing out on the other sports I do but I don't want to loose the "love of my life" sort of speak.

Get well again. Do whatever you can to get stronger. Don't give it up. It is so worth the risk when you get excited in november when temeperatures start to drop (well not this season) and you know your gonna be out on the mountain ripping it up in the few weeks to come.

God bless on a speedy recovery.

[Buell]

Philistine,

Sorry about your injury and hospital stay. It is certainly an understandable time for reflection. Hope the recovery goes well.

Buell

[John E]

Where & when were you riding? What caused you to hit the tree?

[Michael_A]

My season just ended with a broken wrist 9 days ago. I had the same thoughts at first.

My two mistakes were not wearing wrist protection; and not paying attention on a narrow icy trail. Both of these I can modify in future.

What helps me: When I have recovered, will I look back and say: would I have given up 24 days carving this year to not have had not gone through this? Absolutely not.

Michael

[Rusty]

Sometimes things go wrong in an inherently dangerous sport like snowboarding, what you have to remember while you heal is all the sunny days, stupid jokes on the lift, waking up early for a powder day, eyeballing a carpet of untouched cord, white washing your friends and all the other good things that kept you buying lift tickets and praying for snow in the fall. What you need to do is get back out on the hill as soon as possible, don't let the summer go by with that voice in the back of your head saying "I wonder if I should even bother snowboarding again"...trust me I speak from experiance.

1/9/04

Blew off a trail at Sugarbush in VT

2 broken wrists (one took surgery)

4 broken ribs

1fractured sternum (that one sucked the most)

1 fractured hip

bruised lung

bruised heart

Two weeks in three hospitals, almost three months out of work, six months of physical thearpy.

3/28/04

Rode a freeride deck at Mt. Sunapee in NH...because I wasn't gonna go through the summer with that voice in the back of my head saying "I wonder if I should even bother snowboarding again"

Take care.

Rusty

[skategoat]

I'm with Simon on this one/ he said it very well!

I would rather Live 40 active years in my life then 70 safe boring ones!

Sorry / but i refuse to get heavily involved in Armchair athletics!

When you reach your 40s and have a family, you will reconsider that sentiment. It's a goddamn shame to die young. NOTHING is worth that. Not "fighting for your country", not your ego and especially not a leisure activity like snowboarding.

I've had some close calls that left me thinking. An injury like philistine's would have me selling all my gear and taking up winter golf.

Good luck phil., I hope you have a speedy recovery. There is no shame in hanging it up if that's the way you feel.

[mtnpig]

....is what some people do not address or are in denial of. Injuries are heeled but a human body repair is usually never "as good as new". Confidence will return and maybe even a lesson learned will help you. Alot of times you just eventually become more consistant (wiser) and polished from all these experiences You may not go for the X-game moves as often or at all. Some of us are content with the memories (like Al Bundy who played high school football) and some just never say when (like Miguel Duhamel/AMA Pro Racing). You end up adapting but the one thing "I" can't accept is the constant annoying pain that lives with me day after day. So...........would I do it again? HELL YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Best of luck on your recovery. Gavin

[bumpyride]

Just give it a little time, and the perspective will change. I'm in no way suggesting what to do, but if you think back on other experiences and how they sometimes blend into the background, they usually only alter behavior, not completely reverse it.

Speedy recovery and try not to get too down. Watch some cartoons and laugh as much as you can.

[FTA2R]

what is your dream? just to be able to ride at a very high level? to be a competitive amateur racer?

i'm currently dealing wiht my first real injury myself (although it's minor compared to what some of you guys have done). my season is normally only about 3 months (and just on the weekends) but this year it was 4 runs and i've told myself i'll just come back stronger next year, not worth the risk of injuring myself further, even though I'm headed to VT in a few days.

i learned from my mistake, never turn wide (was not on my carving board, btw) if you'r enot sure who's around. i think the important thing is to learn from your mistake.

totally quitting is unecessary. ride easier runs if you have to, ride slower. perhaps look at more protection.

[Allee]

Heal fast, Philistine. Sorry to hear about the accident, and I can well understand how sore and unhappy you must be feeling right now.

It's a good question, though ... it's a rare day on the hill when I don't come off with a crash that makes my ears ring. Touch wood I've only broken a thumb and never torn ligaments or the like, but it does get to the point where sometimes you crawl out of bed the next day and think "is it all worth it?".

I've lifted weights hard and heavy for 20 years now, and last year the body finally started to tell me that enough was enough. Now I've had to modify my programs to allow for the chronic back and elbow injuries. It's kind of depressing, but I never thought of giving it away - it's too much a part of me. If you love the sport, come back to it, but give yourself the time to rest. You may never board at that level again, but why deny yourself the joy of a bluebird day on the hill, with the wind in your face and the crunch of snow under your board? Now is a little soon to be making decisions ... time is a great healer... let it work its magic.

[John E]

Its interesting to see the wide range of attitudes here - from "go for it" to "its not worth the pain". To some degree, caution comes with age. I just checked the year old thread on the age of forum members and the average is about 35 or so. There are quite a few in their 50s & some in their 60s.

I just turned 50. I've done a number of "risky" sports and have never been hurt badly. Part of this is luck & part is calculated risk. I've skied most of my life, then soft boot snowboarding & lately some hardbooting. I ride bikes quite a bit - both mountain & road. I don't think that I take big risks but I don't sit in my recliner all day either. A bad injury might make me considerably more cautious.

I like mountain biking but I no longer see it as worth getting hurt for. I LOVE snowboarding and I'm willing to take bigger risks to persue it.

A friend of mine is becoming more risk adverse with every passing year to where his main motivation is to avoid injury - even at the expense of excitment & fun.

I don't want to get hurt but I don't want to spend the rest of my life being "safe".

[bumpyride]

But oldacura may be right. I once did a hanging 1 handed 360 degree full moon off a chairlift at Big Mountain, and now I would prefer to be on the ground while doing it, or at least only 10 ft off the ground.

[philistine]

Well everyone, I sincerely appreciate the straight forward remarks and words of encouragement. There is no denying that this community has some hard core riders that are fully devoted to the sport. It's a love affair, and for some people, injury is nothing more than a fee that must be paid in order to live in a land of heavenly corduroy. I'm baffled by the loyalty to the sport, it's as if your living the way of a bushido warrior--prepared to spill your entrails for his sacred majesty. Seriously, some of you guys are fanatical, and I admire your for it.

Unfortunately, I don't think I was cast with the same enthusiasm. Perhaps I was even born with an unhealthy amount of respect and fear of nature and the limits imposed by it. But don't get me wrong, I love the sport, the feeling, the time spent with friends, the sleepless nights praying for snow, the feeling you get when you look back at the most gnarly line you've ever tracked. It was this love that had me on the mountain twice a week despite a two hour drive and hours of homework waiting at home. I was progressing and it felt great. I felt like a manly man; like a man without fear; a man with nothing but unbridled passion.

However, when I hit the tree I wasn't pushing my limits. I was taking a few turns through the trees, caught an edge, and railed into a tree. I was only going at a moderate speed, I wasn't pumped with adrenaline, but I still injured myself. And while it's a minor injury and could have been much worse--it could have been much worse. If i had been turned in a different direction, hit a different tree, fallen in a different way, the injury could have been much worse. Indeed, even if I had been alone, my life could have been drastically altered.

I do love snowboarding and everything that goes with it. But what I love even more than snowboarding is sincere human interaction with family and friends. To me, family is more important than all the stoke in China. I think that after this experience I will strive to achieve a good balance of moderately risky behavior and a rewarding family life.

[D-Sub]

I will strive to achieve a good balance of moderately risky behavior and a rewarding family life.

sure don't see anything wrong with that.

Im having a hard time with the "snowboarding = automatic injury" thing. I've had my share, including a shattered forearm (both bones) and I was actually quite scared after that one. Still cringe when I see rocks (riding at bachelor made me a nervous wreck;)) but I still ride. Im not aggressive as I used to be but I still love it. Backing off a little will still give you plenty of good times!

[jnshapiro]

Perspective changes as you get older and have a family. I used to be heavily into rock climbing. Pretty good too, I put up a 5.12 at my "home" crag and did a number of others in that difficulty range. But my hands took a beating. Broke all my fingers, dislocated shoulders, broken ankle, broke both hips, etc. Got so bad I just can't climb anymore. My hands and wrists hurt most of the time from the damage.

I skied a ton too. Tore up both knees, lost a tooth, broke some ribs, and other assorted injuries. Knees got so bad that I couldn't ski for the pain.

Then I found snowboarding . No more knee pain!

I also cycle (road and MTB). Gone over the bars more than once to the dismay of my hands and forearms.

However, I have a pretty good idea of my skill level at each point and I continually try to improve by riding a little outside my comfort zone. As I get better, that point moves. There are some things I'm just not willing to do anymore, cliff drops for example. And my body just doesn't move as quickly as it once did, so tight trees are out too.

But with all that, I still get out there and have fun. That's what life's about. Work is just a way to be able to pay for the fun.

[philistine]

Perspective changes as you get older and have a family.

I'm only 22!! Yikes! What next, will I be moving into a retirement home?

[Mark Brown]

Heal fast and hope the vibes improve...

Seeing the wrong side of 50, I'm a cautious rider - mostly blues and ride with lots of armor (wrist guards, elbow pads, torso armor, padded shorts, knee pads, and a helmet of course). I broke my arm early on, fractured a thumb, and bruised a couple of ribs - each time people would ask "You're going snowboarding again?!?!?" Heck yeah, I love this sport! Each of us has their own risk tolerance, some higher that others. Just remember the grin on your face when slicing and dicing, then make your own decision.

Best of luck!

[Jim]

I'm only 22!! Yikes! What next, will I be moving into a retirement home?

You are right Phil. Some of us are addicted to the adrenaline rush. I feel like I am being pursued by the eventual day when I cannot be saving my ass from one thing or another. Just the way some of us are wired.

It used to be that odds for success at 30-40% was good to go. Now odds of 70% success is the rule. It has been 40 years since I had the same conversation to myself as you are now and playing the odds has kept me alive and feeling the rush. I may need some plastic surgery soon (broke my nose + stiches surfing...again, and don't want to scare the grandkids) but I definitely will be used up instead of stale.

Don't give up before you try it again.

[Guest demonballer]

I got a really bad head injury when I was skiing in switzerland and It was during the summer so we were way up on a glacier and I had to be air lifted off. There were no real permanent side effects though. Execpt the insane hospital bill I got for staying 2 nights and three days in a swiss er. The bill to get air lifted off the glacier was also about 3 grand. There were some hot nurses though, they were quite friendly too:1luvu:. That pretty much ended my season for me. Im still paying off those freakin bills.