Dealing With An Injury
My name is Justin Styffe and I play for the Laredo Bucks of the Central Hockey League. I am a third year professional and feel lucky to do what I do. All of the perks of professional hockey of course come with a price tag. All too often that price is injury.
On January 16th of last season I was going hard to the net when I was hauled down from behind. I went feet first into the goal and caught my left foot on the post. It bent my foot back, rupturing all the ligaments in the top of my ankle, breaking four bones in my ankle and breaking my fibula in three places. The result was an ended season and an eight hour surgery to install plates, cables, bolts, and screws.
After the surgery I found myself in a state that I have never been in before. I felt upset, mad, frustrated, and slightly depressed. Seeing my fellow team mates continue on with their season and into playoffs without me was extremely difficult. My favourite thing about hockey is the camaraderie and brotherhood that exists within a team. Feeling left out of that was difficult for me. Adding to my frustration was the fact that I was unable to do any sort of physical activity for the next 4 months. I had to keep all weight off of my left leg until all the bones had healed properly.
As any athlete knows, working out and training are addicting. They benefit your mind as much as your body and having to sit around the house wasting time was terrible. To combat my frustration I decided to educate myself further on nutrition to aid in keeping my body in the best shape I could without exercising regularly. Most importantly I think was my decision to sign up for an online firefighting course to do through correspondence. This gave me something productive to occupy my mind. It proved successful in cheering me up and taking my mind off the fact that I was not able to help my team win.
April 20th I was cleared to begin full rehabilitation on my injured leg. I started with exercises as simple as spelling out all the letters of the alphabet with my toes. This was to aid in regaining flexibility in the ankle joint. Other exercises included flexion activities with rubber bands, standing on tennis balls and balance activities. Gaining flexibility and mobility in the ankle has been paramount in my rehabilitation.
Today I am back into full training. It has been difficult to regain the leg and lower body strength that I had a mere 6 months ago.
I am looking towards this off-season training as my biggest physical challenge yet and I am extremely happy and excited to get after it!
[Justin Styffe plays in the Central Hockey League for the Laredo Bucks, he is also a friend of RIVALUS.]
