Minor Setbacks
Minor Setbacks
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I dislocated and broke my pinkie toe yesterday while rolling. No idea how I did it–this was totally a freak thing. It definitely looked a lot worse than it felt. Leaving your toe bent at a right angle tends to gross people out. Anyhow the doctor took good care of me and set me up for another X-ray on Monday. Right now, I’m icing and elevating and showering with a plastic bag on my foot because of the plaster splint.
Injuring my pinkie toe is probably one of the most minor sports injuries imaginable. There are many famous stories of athletes who “fight through the pain,” and some are fairly drastic–like that of Trever Wikre. I don’t compete, but I’ll still hate waiting the 3-6 weeks to completely heal. I definitely feel silly wearing the hard shoe around. I guess I can somewhat sympathize.
With a little extra time to think, I came to wonder how many minor setbacks are we responsible for when uninjured? How many little things do we do, knowingly or unknowingly, that keep us from training as hard or as often as we’d really like? When I sleep in and skip a workout, pig out on bad food, or fail to rest when my body’s telling me to, I realize it’s similar to suffering an injury. I injure myself with each poor choice I make and hamper my own progress.
This probably sounds overly dramatic, but being hurt brings perspective, I guess. You don’t realize some of your bad habits until you’re forced to stop and reflect on them.
On another note, does anyone have any advice on how to train around a foot injury? I’m already getting antsy!