How do you keep from sketching yourself out about injuries

fries

fries

Active member
I'm 18, I've never broken any bones or had any major season-ender injuries. Every time that ski season is approaching, my mind goes through this death spiral - I think about how much could go wrong within one whole season, and how something really shitty or painful could happen this time around. This mindset almost just defeats me and makes me want to stop skiing altogether (though of course I'd never actually follow through with it).

Overall, I ski within my comfort zone and push myself reasonably. I'm not reckless. But I do know that injuries can happen from the most simple things. I just moved to Bozeman so this is going to be my first full ski season actually having a place to ski within reasonable driving distance. It's something that seems too good to be true for me, which fuels my fear of it being taken away for whatever reason. Do you guys have any tips on how you stop from psyching yourself out?
 
Secret formula: Balls>Brains

fr tho injury is an inherent risk when you’re skiing. Decide rationally how great you want that risk to be, and ski accordingly. I broke my knee skiing like 5 years ago and I’m sending harder than ever.
 
don't stop worrying about it - you're doing a high-risk sport where there's actually a very good chance you'll break a bone or have a season-ending injury. you need to be considering, with everything you do, what the risk of injury is, whether sending it is worth a hospital trip or worse. if you decide the risk is low enough, go for it, but if it's not worth it, don't do it.

the skill to learn isn't "how do i stop being worried about being injured," it's "how do i go through with it even if i am worried, because i've decided based on conditions, my personal ability, and other factors that the risk is low enough."

**This post was edited on Oct 22nd 2019 at 7:39:55pm
 
14068940:jackj said:
don't stop worrying about it - you're doing a high-risk sport where there's actually a very good chance you'll break a bone or have a season-ending injury. you need to be considering, with everything you do, what the risk of injury is, whether sending it is worth a hospital trip or worse. if you decide the risk is low enough, go for it, but if it's not worth it, don't do it.

the skill to learn isn't "how do i stop being worried about being injured," it's "how do i go through with it even if i am worried, because i've decided based on conditions, my personal ability, and other factors that the risk is low enough."

**This post was edited on Oct 22nd 2019 at 7:39:55pm
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Great post.

The most important thing is to be honest about your ability, and be aware of how external (current snow conditions, visibility, crowding, maybe even equipment condition) and internal factors (fatigue level, small injuries, mindset) come into play or change the equation.

The reality is that if you devote a significant portion of your life to skiing hard and progressing and challenging yourself, a relatively “serious” injury is almost a given at some point. Especially if we are talking about skiing 100 days a year for a decade or something. I think understanding the risks and doing what you can within reason to minimize them, is all you can really do.
 
personally, I just know an injury is somewhere in the future, and just accept it will happen.

this chills me out enough to ski loose and prevent overthinking

I think of injury as paying my dues
 
if it ain’t gonna kill ya and you wanna do it, go for it. Most of us have missed are fair share of seasons, i missed a whole season for an injury on my first run of the second day of the season. Tbh i would rather miss some skiing then go through an entire season and having regret after wards about not doing things...
 
The best way is to channel this fear into something constructive. Off season training is your best bet for injury prevention during the ski season. Your best bet is to get some dumbbells and do a set of power cleans every other day with them. That and get a yoga DVD like the Rodney Yee series and do it every day. The Yoga for beginners one is really good and do the active one before you head out the door for the slopes and the restoration one when you get back home. Thisway instead of sketching yourself out you are actually preparing your body for the unique stresses and forces that skiing puts you under.
 
Me and my friends since the beginning of summer have been trying to "shut off brain function." So far the season has not started and we already have a broken foot two sprained ankles that have reoccured and a knee with an unknown issue.
 
Dude I feel you. I go through a similar mindset before big ski trips every year. Starting to think about it now actually. I worry about getting too wild on a day trip and hurting myself and not being able to go on an awesome vacation I have planned.

I've been thinking about it a lot this off season and tbh, fuck it. If it's your time, it's your time. Ski like every day is your last. Because before you know it, the season will be over and you'll have wasted days being too cautious. Progress is never made without risk, so measure that risk and determine what you deem is worth it.

Definitely knowing you're prepared physically, mentally, and in your gear can help ease your mind and keep you safer. A free mind skiing is safer than a timid mind.
 
And op for my previous post, I have held myself back subconsciously. Last year I realized this fact and made a conscious effort to not let it affect my skiing. I progressed more in last year than ever before. Sure I thought about getting injured, but once I was out there it didn't even cross my mind. Sure I almost wrecked myself but I came out alright
 
14069059:DummyBears said:
Me and my friends since the beginning of summer have been trying to "shut off brain function." So far the season has not started and we already have a broken foot two sprained ankles that have reoccured and a knee with an unknown issue.
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I've been trying to "shut off my brain function" ever since my friend showed me weed in high school
 
14069068:Fogdart said:
And op for my previous post, I have held myself back subconsciously. Last year I realized this fact and made a conscious effort to not let it affect my skiing. I progressed more in last year than ever before. Sure I thought about getting injured, but once I was out there it didn't even cross my mind. Sure I almost wrecked myself but I came out alright
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Related:

I believe if you are constantly paranoid about injury it will infect your psyche. By consciously worrying about it gets imprinted in your subconscious. And then fear becomes inescapable increasing your chance of injury.

Look at this way, when you hit a cliff, you look at the soft powder not the rocks to the right. If fear is imprinted in your psyche it will manifest into your everyday activity, thus causing you to "look at the rocks"

To get around this utilise positive self talk, however don't be delusional and just huck it off a 100ft cliff
 
Like you guys already said, ski within your abilities and watch the conditions. If you feel safe about trying something new. Go for it and try it. Even step by step learning helps.

I for myself just dislocated my shoulder couple of weeks ago. Not skiing but biking. It was a wet day and I knew the trail. Had a really unfortunate fall and that was it.

It mostly happens in normal situations and not in the extreme ones, cause you're not aware of the risk.

But I will definitely go back biking next season. Learning from fails is key!

Just go out and enjoy it! As soon as you are on those skis you'll forget about it. Don't freak yourself out now, because when the chairlifts open, everything will be gone.

Enjoy your winter kid!
 
You can't let fear control your life plain and simple. This sounds pathetic but I didn't learn rails till 3 years ago. I'm 27 and I have been able to flip since I was 9. I refused to learn all because I got hurt when I was 11 trying them on a wakeboard. I wasted over a decade of not having one of the most simple and fun tricks in my bag all because I was scared to learn.
 
You are going to get hurt fucking around... not when you are being serious and focused on the manuver you are attempting.

Wait until you are in your late 20s and no longer able to jump up after taking a fall.
 
14069059:DummyBears said:
Me and my friends since the beginning of summer have been trying to "shut off brain function." So far the season has not started and we already have a broken foot two sprained ankles that have reoccured and a knee with an unknown issue.
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hmm i'm no doctor but it sounds like y'all might wanna try flipping that brain function back on for a while? just spitballing here
 
I find myself in that mindset more than I'd like and definitely held myself back more than I care to admit.

I have found that once I do try some stuff and end up falling, I remember that eating shit doesn't hurt too bad and then start getting more sendy and that's when I actually start progressing. Just gotta know when to call it quits, getting too fatigued is when things start going south.
 
14069175:SofaKingSick said:
hmm i'm no doctor but it sounds like y'all might wanna try flipping that brain function back on for a while? just spitballing here
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It’s on some off the time but when it’s send time I turn it off.
 
Have a routine to start of your day. I spend 30 minutes stretching before I even think about putting my gear on. Once you’re on the hill you should have a routine set of tricks that you do for the first hour to get your legs and body calibrated. Every time I’ve broken a bone it was because I had just gotten to the park and started doing big ass tricks already without a proper warmup. It’s not like I was trying shit I had never done before either. I was doing tricks that I had landed many times.

But injuries still happen no matter the amount of precautions you take. Don’t get me wrong, they absolutely fucking suck, but they’re really not much to sweat over. I always feel like I’m gonna regress and forget all my tricks when I’m injured, and while it does take a few weeks to make a full comeback, I still find that muscle memory is a huge help and relearning tricks comes pretty easily. I missed skating from April till August. Now it’s October and I feel better than I did before April.
 
Just play Children of the Grave by Black Sabbath in your headphones all day, you won’t fear shit.

But nah I think it’s about towing the line between reasonable levels of caution and anxiety. Caution protects, anxiety cripples. Recognizing your own limits, and pushing those throughout the year at a reasonable pace. I’ve always struggled with doing that properly. We all have I think. But I think I’ve always progressed the most when I’ve thrown caution to the wind (balls>brains)
 
If you feel a doubt about something, don't do it, also just be sensible. You know your limits and your goals in the sport, so follow those. Remember too that most people ignore the life threatening risks they take day in and out. You could end up worse off on your commute to work or even your commute to the mountain than you ever may while actually skiing there. Driving a car is insanely risky and dangerous but it's so mainstream that we don't think about it.
 
You can literally die from drinking too much water (only approx. 1.5 gallons of it in one sitting) but nobody is going to sit there and deliberately drink enough to kill themselves.
 
topic:fries said:
I'm 18, I've never broken any bones or had any major season-ender injuries. Every time that ski season is approaching, my mind goes through this death spiral - I think about how much could go wrong within one whole season, and how something really shitty or painful could happen this time around. This mindset almost just defeats me and makes me want to stop skiing altogether (though of course I'd never actually follow through with it).

Overall, I ski within my comfort zone and push myself reasonably. I'm not reckless. But I do know that injuries can happen from the most simple things. I just moved to Bozeman so this is going to be my first full ski season actually having a place to ski within reasonable driving distance. It's something that seems too good to be true for me, which fuels my fear of it being taken away for whatever reason. Do you guys have any tips on how you stop from psyching yourself out?
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I feel you fries. I've been injured many times. I used to jump. Then this happened. I lost an entire season.

I'm back now for a long time, but it took me seven years to hit a jump again. Last season I pussed out on hitting a jump. I need my body to earn money to ski so it a tough one. You are young. Go for it, but not like an idiot and you will survive. Have insurance because medical bills will kill you even more!

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Honestly your best bet is to break a bone and just get it out of the way since it’ll probably happen at some point no matter what??
 
Just make sure that you're being responsible (wearing a helmet, progressing safely, not disappearing into glades alone, ski with a buddy) and relax knowing that you're doing as much as you can to prevent injuries.

I definitely have felt similar things but skiing is so relaxing for me that the stoke overrules the fear, ya know?
 
14069448:DominatorJacques said:
I feel you fries. I've been injured many times. I used to jump. Then this happened. I lost an entire season.

I'm back now for a long time, but it took me seven years to hit a jump again. Last season I pussed out on hitting a jump. I need my body to earn money to ski so it a tough one. You are young. Go for it, but not like an idiot and you will survive. Have insurance because medical bills will kill you even more!

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Fuck how did you get that sort of break? Don't tell me you landed backseat and your bone snapped..
 
I feel this. My sophomore year of hs, second day at my local moment I landed on my back and snapped my collar bone. I started skiing about two months later in mid February. March comes around and I take a trip to Breck. Last day there I broke my same collar bone in a different spot. My best advice from this is to follow what everyone says about mindset, but also treat your body right. Stretch, eat healthy, do some exercise. Injuries happen and that’s just that. Don’t let it stop you from trying something knew but don’t go and try a double cork when you can’t even cork. Fear allows us to learn some great things, take baby steps.
 
14069682:Fogdart said:
Fuck how did you get that sort of break? Don't tell me you landed backseat and your bone snapped..
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Complex tibial plateau fracture.

I was moving pretty good. A man made snow cannon was pointed downward. It made a huge pile of "snow". I hit the pile and it was like hitting the brakes hard. I went into a superman. One of my ski tips hit the surface. DIN setting 7. That was that.

No weight bearing for like 12 weeks. It took over three years to feel strong again. Part of the joint surface on the tibia was punched into the marrow. They went into the clam shell opening and pushed it back, then put in donor bone. Now I have a mean bone in my body. Never did before.

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**This post was edited on Oct 25th 2019 at 10:05:54am
 
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