Dealing with Injuries

One thing every athlete has to deal with at some point is injuries. For better or worse when you're pushing your body hard for months on end, something is going to break down. It may be from wear and tear or it could be a collision. You never know what will happen, especially when you're a boardercross racer.

So far Whitney has been generally healthy. She hasn't had any major collisions with other competitors or the snow but she's still had wear and tear. When you're in Maine the season gets long by the end of February and there's still all of March to go. While there still may be snow around in April the competition season is over.

The good thing is that we have a great chiropractor here. It doesn't do Whitney much good in Maine but she always gets adjustments when she's home. Right now Whitney is getting very familiar with the trainers at college. Her knee has been hurting for a while and a trainer is treating her several times a week. She needs to be feeling better for USCSA Nationals next week, then USASA Nationals at the end of March.

One of the best ways to prevent injuries is proper protection. Will it stop every injury? Nope, but it will help lessen them. Most important is a helmet. If you're racing in USASA it's required. No helmet, you can't compete, no exceptions. I don't know what the USCSA or USSA rules are but it's just foolish to compete, or even just ride, without a helmet. It's too easy to slip on the snow and hit your head. It doesn't take a hard hit to get a concussion and be out of competing for a while.

Another piece of protection is body armor. Whitney has just decided, now that she's moving up to a more competitive level, that it's time to get some body armor. She's got some upper body protection on order and should have it later this week. I'll be interested to see what she thinks of it when it comes in and she can ride with it. She's going to see how what she's getting works and decide if she's going to need to get more. I honestly don't know what "more" is but I'm sure she does.

It's getting near the end of the season, her body is starting to hurt, but it's time to push through what she can, rest what she needs to and make it to the end of the season. She'll have plenty of time to rest up after April 3 before she starts working at camp.