They always have a way of sneaking back into your life if you aren't careful. I did a bit of damage to myself as most guys did that I hung around with. Broken bones, cuts, bruises and strains. Often times it was just a suck it up mentality and keep moving...play through the pain.
The pain would eventually get better, and yes, for the most part things would seem to heal without any major limps or noticeable ramifications. There were benefits to living that way. One major one was that pain wasn't something that would hold you down. That word resiliency keeps creeping back in. There is a difference of course in being hurt and being injured. If a person is just hurt, they can continue...if they are injured that is a different story. The danger is not knowing the difference between the two.
I've had as I mentioned my fair share of injuries. One that came creeping back was a torn ACL that I sustained in a rugby match back in high school. It happened in a game when I was driving up the field with the ball only to meet two players who both agreed it would be a good idea to make a highlight reel hit on this lanky frame that thought it could shake and bake its way around them. Boom! One hit me high, one hit me low and my knee said, "That hurt". I was having a great game up until then. My coach at the time had actually loaned me to another team in a day long tournament because they were short players. I was doing so well that right after I got hit he said "Phew, for a while I thought I gave them the wrong player." He was really good with motivating speeches like that. Instead of leaving the game then, I would limp my way through the rest of it in another position that didn't involve much running. Boy did I show him. My knee swelled to the size of my thigh forcing me to walk like I had a stove pipe for a leg. It stayed like that for a couple weeks. The doc told me to take hot baths. Worst advice possible for an injury like that I came to find out. It wasn't until years later that it was diagnosed in a classroom at Acadia University when the athletic therapy professor used me as a guinea pig for a demo of how to test for an ACL tear. His eyes lit up with surprise and joy when he was able to show the whole class what a positive test looked and felt like for a torn ACL. I didn't have any pain then but I was in pretty good shape.
I stayed in good shape for quite awhile, until I got a little lazy, then a little lazier. Dad bod started to creep in, and the weight room was a place to go if I needed a door stop instead of a place to lift. What happened slowly was that the knee that I kept so strong for so long after that hit, started to show it's weakness again. I never truly rehabilitated that knee or acknowledged that it actually got damaged. It just lay dormant waiting me out before it would show its face again.
It took not being able to show my kids a few things with that leg in particular on the ice to realize that if I didn't look after this properly, it will hinder me later.
I think the same can be said with nearly any injury. Now we find even more that mental injury is equivalent to physical injury. Those same injuries that we "play through" can come back. They can come back hard if you don't get the proper treatment when the injuries happen and learn how to keep yourself resistant to cope with the effects for a lifetime. I just had a chat with someone on an upcoming podcast episode of mine that brought this to light. A mental injury he sustained that he didn't even realize he had, eventually exacerbated itself into physical pain. This guy was an athlete and a soldier raised in an era when "pick yourself up and keep going" was not only a motto, but an expectation. People were taught to move on and forget about it. Move on is good advice, once the injury is noted, worked through and rehabilitated properly. Forget about it,,,not good advice. Learning to recognize the difference between hurt and injured is something that can save a bundle of time and pain down the road. If you are hurt, get off the field as soon as you can..check yourself over and if its safe, get back in the game as soon as possible....If you are injured take a knee and get some help.
I am happy to report now that I can demo those skills on the ice that I couldn't earlier. I had to go get some help from a physical therapist. I had to acknowledge that there was an injury there, and today I practice daily in keeping that strong. It can be a true dichotomy wondering whether it is time to tough it out or a time to get help. I think the key is not hesitating to get a second opinion. Talk to someone you trust...and trust the person in the mirror. If you ask that person for honesty...I am learning that you will usually get it in my experience. It's kinda hard to get one by that person.
Off to do a few lunges now...there is no way I am letting those kids beat me on the ice.