I was out running in a park, on a warm July morning. A gentle breeze cooled me down with each stride. All of a sudden a surge of pain shoots through my left knee. Strange. I just keep running. When I stop, the pain is excruciating.
I had just made micro tears in my knee tendons. Patella Tendonitis. And boy did it hurt.
My season had just finished 4 days earlier. A loss in the Semi-Final at Henley Royal Regatta. I was only running to maintain my fitness, something I would never usually do. I’m not a huge fan of running.
I made a couple of mistakes with my injury. Firstly I thought nothing of it. I thought that with rest it would heal. Secondly I didn’t get an assessment until after I got back into a rowing boat. The first time I was back in a boat was one of the most painful and soul destroying days I’ve ever had. I knew deep down this could be game over.
As I had a severe case it was going to be 6 months of rehab.
All those dreams I had as an athlete for the new season. Evaporated. Over those 6 months I was going to lose most of my fitness and have to build it up again over the following 6. Effectively my season was over.
Many athletes go through similar challenges post injury. Dreams are destroyed. Motivation and morale is an all time low. And you’re on your own. In my case, whilst I was rehabbing the team was out training, having fun, making strides forward. Whilst I was alone with my inner demons.
That was 12 years ago. Today I am here at Reflex Health and we are building tools to help individuals recover from injuries. In our eyes;
anyone doing physical activity regularly is an athlete. You’re striving to improve yourself physically.
Many of these feelings I had during injury rehab can be solved with technology today. Hence why we are excited about what we are building at Reflex Health. We know the pain of being away from your favourite activity and we want to help you get back to the field, bike, court, boat, treadmill as soon as possible. So you can continue your dreams.
We’re developing tools to help injured people across the globe recover faster from injury. You can download Reflex Health on the App Store.
If you’ve struggled with injuries, we’d love to share your story with our community. Please email stories@reflexhealth.co so we can help inspire others.
