[Today's photos: Caroline, Casey, and Steve taking a break from their Entry Level Coach course and me icing my knee]
I’m posting later than usual today as I spent my après-ski time searching for a physiotherapist. Zermatt is a small village but as I found out today, ski and climbing injuries manage to support at least a couple “phisiotherapie” practices. Unfortunately I was not able to get an appointment at either today so will be visiting one or two tomorrow as I have been advised to take the day off skiing. Let me go back to the beginning…
The ski day started fantastic. Helga Cuddy from Oakville/Blue Mountain joined Rory, Paul, and I in Sandy’s group. Helga is a great lady who got her Level 3 last year. The group continued our work on short radius turns while once in a while mixing in some longer turns. I was doing great. The pain in my calves and quads was way down from the days previous. Even riding the T-bar was more comfortable. Sandy told me he couldn’t believe how much I had improved over the last couple of years. He also told me that I was skiing at Level 3 standard and that if I keep it up over the next week and a half I would have no problem getting my pin.
Then everything changed. After doing a fun, fast run where I demonstrated for the group, I was standing at the bottom of the T-bar. When everyone got there I pushed off to join them in the line and my right knee just gave out. I experienced searing pain and couldn’t put any weight on it. I figured it had to be just a cramp or something and tried again, still pain and no weight. A second later it was fine, and then again pain and no weight. I didn’t know whether I should get on the T-bar but it felt better at that point and I did. I rode all the way up with no problems. I did the run cautiously as I was scared to put too much weight on that leg not knowing whether it would hold up.
At the bottom Sandy told me to sit out a run and rest. I sat in the snow with Casey’s group and waited. They took a while as Rory had a crash and hurt his ankle. What a pair we were! We both managed to ski out to the tram. Really there were no other options from where we were.
I felt fine walking back to the hotel but still thought I should see if I could get professional treatment; hence my search for the physiotherapist. While walking through town my knee swung from being completely pain-free to being so debilitating that I couldn’t walk for a few minutes. This was obviously upsetting. I came back to the hotel and went to see Sandy. He set me up with ice from the bar. Casey gave me an herbal remedy. I had already bought some Ibuprofen as the Ibuprofen I brought from home spilled in my luggage on the way over and ground itself into a fine powder.
Sandy was great. He convinced me it was in my best interest to take a day off tomorrow – to seek treatment and to rest. He assured me that I was doing great and am well on track to get my Level 3 next week and that not to consider this a set-back. I’m trying to stay positive. :(
The ski day started fantastic. Helga Cuddy from Oakville/Blue Mountain joined Rory, Paul, and I in Sandy’s group. Helga is a great lady who got her Level 3 last year. The group continued our work on short radius turns while once in a while mixing in some longer turns. I was doing great. The pain in my calves and quads was way down from the days previous. Even riding the T-bar was more comfortable. Sandy told me he couldn’t believe how much I had improved over the last couple of years. He also told me that I was skiing at Level 3 standard and that if I keep it up over the next week and a half I would have no problem getting my pin.
Then everything changed. After doing a fun, fast run where I demonstrated for the group, I was standing at the bottom of the T-bar. When everyone got there I pushed off to join them in the line and my right knee just gave out. I experienced searing pain and couldn’t put any weight on it. I figured it had to be just a cramp or something and tried again, still pain and no weight. A second later it was fine, and then again pain and no weight. I didn’t know whether I should get on the T-bar but it felt better at that point and I did. I rode all the way up with no problems. I did the run cautiously as I was scared to put too much weight on that leg not knowing whether it would hold up.
At the bottom Sandy told me to sit out a run and rest. I sat in the snow with Casey’s group and waited. They took a while as Rory had a crash and hurt his ankle. What a pair we were! We both managed to ski out to the tram. Really there were no other options from where we were.
I felt fine walking back to the hotel but still thought I should see if I could get professional treatment; hence my search for the physiotherapist. While walking through town my knee swung from being completely pain-free to being so debilitating that I couldn’t walk for a few minutes. This was obviously upsetting. I came back to the hotel and went to see Sandy. He set me up with ice from the bar. Casey gave me an herbal remedy. I had already bought some Ibuprofen as the Ibuprofen I brought from home spilled in my luggage on the way over and ground itself into a fine powder.
Sandy was great. He convinced me it was in my best interest to take a day off tomorrow – to seek treatment and to rest. He assured me that I was doing great and am well on track to get my Level 3 next week and that not to consider this a set-back. I’m trying to stay positive. :(
1 comment:
Crap! Crap! Crap! I hope your search for a physio went well today and you got some good news. The only thing that's supposed to be snappy is your skis - not your knees!
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