BACKGROUND
My whole life has been revolved around soccer, whether it was playing, teaching, or watching it. It’s as if it became my religion, my way of life, my passion. In June 2010 my life was derailed, at the age of 18 I got injured with one of the most common soccer injuries; a torn anterior cruciate ligament. It required reconstruction; January 31, 2011 my doctor performed the surgery. According to her I had made an ecstatic recovery and it had been a very long time since she had seen someone recover as I did, by week 2 I was already bending my knee to 100 out of 120 degrees and had a slight limp when walking. She had given me 6 months to go back to playing soccer. February 20, 2011 a friend had asked me to go out for dinner with him; as we walked into the restaurant 20 feet in I slipped and fell, my left extended straight in front of me and my right leg flexed fell straight to the rigid floor. My second injury came in play to my life, I felt destroyed, disoriented and it was one of the most painful things I had ever encountered in my life time. My patella (kneecap) had shattered in 5 pieces and 1 out of those 5 had broken into fragments, I required emergency surgery, February 23, 2011 I underwent my second surgery. For 4 months I was to keep my right leg in a leg immobilizer, meaning I was not allowed to bend my leg at all. I had wires and screws to mend my patella; Mid June 2011 I underwent surgery again to remove the hardware they had placed. They told me I may never be able to play soccer again, my leg will never feel the same, I have high risk of developing some sort of arthritis, and that later in life I more than likely will have to get a knee replacement. My life came crashing down on me, emotionally I was very unstable and physically I had gained weight and muscle mass in my leg. Friends were lost due to my emotional state; I broke up with my boyfriend of 4 years and also broke up a 20 year relationship with my best friend. My emotional state was very poisoned, I felt like I had lost the meaning to my life, everything I did I would do with a negative outlook, I didn’t care for anyone nor anyone that came my way. Nonetheless I did my physiotherapy, and recovered my strength to walk without a brace. I put my anger aside and was determined to beat the odds and play soccer again. By November 2011 I was playing soccer once a week again. With pain and struggle I was determined to play, the love for the sport was just way to strong. Yet another hurdle arose, as I played once a week my knee would swell to the point where I could not even bend it. My doctor kept telling me not to play and that it was normal for it to swell as I had a lot of trauma to my knee. I just did not feel right, unstable and in pain on a daily basis I insisted something else was wrong, we did an MRI and it showed I had a non-displaced medial meniscus tear and a buildup of scar tissue. For the fourth time I was going under the knife again, this time a more simple surgery that did not require 27 staples. April 2012 the surgery was a success, I felt an extensive amount of relief. But it was too late at this point my life had already changed, I was to adapt with what I had.
As a result this has disrupted many of my psychosocial health aspects. Physically, I was not sleeping properly; I had a major weight gain after not being as active as I used to be, and my body function had been minimized as I could not be as active as I wanted to be without having pain. My activities of daily living were all disrupted; the simple things like going up the stairs, walking a block, sitting and standing for too long were all done with pain.
Socially, it had affected me greatly. I lost two of the closest people I had, and I had become someone else. I isolated my feelings as well as myself I did not like to speak to anyone in regards to my injury and my losses. I had loss the sense of belonging to my team and the social support I would receive from them.
My mental health had deteriorated; I had no sense of reasoning or acceptance. I could not accept the fact that the injuries had happened nor could reason as to why.
Emotionally, things became a domino effect, because of all the events that I surpassed, it just made everything worse, due to my injury I gained weight, I no longer had the self-confidence and self-esteem I once had. I isolated my feelings which effected my emotional state, I no longer expressed the love and compassion I once had for people.
Spiritually, I was lost; I felt I was no longer in tune with myself. I had lost all faith in life; I didn’t know who I was anymore or my purpose to life. I didn’t understand why this had happened to me, why God put this along my path and took my physical abilities with him.
Now in day I have battled with my demons, for the mental and emotional aspect I began to see a psychiatrist to help me reason and to express my feelings. So now that the emotional part has been semi dealt with, the physical aspect is now what I would like to address.
References: Donatelle, R., Thmpson, A, (2011). Health the basics. Toronto Ontario: Pearson Publishing.
As a result this has disrupted many of my psychosocial health aspects. Physically, I was not sleeping properly; I had a major weight gain after not being as active as I used to be, and my body function had been minimized as I could not be as active as I wanted to be without having pain. My activities of daily living were all disrupted; the simple things like going up the stairs, walking a block, sitting and standing for too long were all done with pain.
Socially, it had affected me greatly. I lost two of the closest people I had, and I had become someone else. I isolated my feelings as well as myself I did not like to speak to anyone in regards to my injury and my losses. I had loss the sense of belonging to my team and the social support I would receive from them.
My mental health had deteriorated; I had no sense of reasoning or acceptance. I could not accept the fact that the injuries had happened nor could reason as to why.
Emotionally, things became a domino effect, because of all the events that I surpassed, it just made everything worse, due to my injury I gained weight, I no longer had the self-confidence and self-esteem I once had. I isolated my feelings which effected my emotional state, I no longer expressed the love and compassion I once had for people.
Spiritually, I was lost; I felt I was no longer in tune with myself. I had lost all faith in life; I didn’t know who I was anymore or my purpose to life. I didn’t understand why this had happened to me, why God put this along my path and took my physical abilities with him.
Now in day I have battled with my demons, for the mental and emotional aspect I began to see a psychiatrist to help me reason and to express my feelings. So now that the emotional part has been semi dealt with, the physical aspect is now what I would like to address.
References: Donatelle, R., Thmpson, A, (2011). Health the basics. Toronto Ontario: Pearson Publishing.