The broken ends of my rugby season - October 28, 2008
In 13 years of rugby I've had lacerations that have required stitches, busted teeth and concussions. All of these are common and expected. In fact I've been lucky in that most of my teammates have dislocated or broken fingers at some point and that was a fate I've managed to so far avoid. Until last Thursday night that is.
We were doing a simple rucking drill during the last 10 minutes of practice using tackle pads. What could go wrong? So I took the ball into contact with picture perfect form, going to the ground only to hear and feel the telltale "snap" of bad news.
At first, I thought it was just my imagination. I'd taken hits in the past that had knocked me plenty loopy and I figured I was just feeling shit that wasn't there. After a few seconds of cussing, I looked down expecting to see my hand as normal, maybe with a little mild swelling from being stepped on with steel cleats (another common rugby malady). What I didn't expect to see was my pinky finger pointing away from my hand at a 45 degree angle at a point between the first and second knuckle. God didn't intended your fingers to bend that way.
I quickly snapped my finger back into place, hoping that that would somehow fix it and stepped off the side of the drill to consult with 'Cros', a former Navy Corpsman. But after hearing the distinct sound of my bone breaking, a sound like frozen plastic being snapped, my visit was one of desperation. We only had one regular season match left before the playoffs, we were currently undefeated and this was supposed to be the crown jewel in my long rugby career. The thought that I might not get to play was more sickening than the sound of my bone snapping.
I got home that evening and immediately iced my finger. Despite feeling a sharp shard of bone protruding out of the side, I still held hope that I was just being a vag. After a few beers and countless attempts at finding a less painful position in which to hold my hand, I decided that a good tape job was in order. I buddy taped my gimp pinky finger to my healthy ring finger, and went to bed. I figured there was no reason to over react if it wasn't serious, and Urgent Care is really damn expensive. I decided that I'd go into the doc in the morning if I still thought it was serious.
When I woke up on Friday morning, there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to the doctor to get my finger checked out. I figured they'd x-ray it to make sure nothing really serious had happened, give me a splint, and then tell me to not play rugby for X number of weeks (something I fully intended to disobey). After seeing my x-rays and finding out that I had an oblique fracture of the proximal flange on my pinky finger, I told the doctor up front that I fully intended to disobey her orders and remove the splint on game days and tape it up to play. My bravado was met with a chuckle as the doctor explained to me that my kind of break didn't require a puny little splint, but rather a full blown cast!
Everything she said after that went in one ear and out the other as I came to the realization that I wouldn't be able to be on the field to help my team in the playoffs. I also started to realize that something as wimpy as a stupid broken pinky was going to prevent me from deadlifting, pressing, and probably squatting, considering that I wouldn't be able to grasp the bar with my clunky cast. What if it never heals properly, causing my grip to go to hell? Then I could never deadlift, do farmers walk, or even stones. I was certainly starting to overreact and I snapped myself out of it in time to hear her tell me to schedule another appointment after getting casted.
Since having this stupid club on my paw, I've had some time to research and think about what types of training I'll be able to do in the next few weeks, and I've come up with some pretty interesting methods. Some of them are standard exercises that I won't have to change one bit, like sprints and agility work. Others are adaptations of practical exercises like squats and deadlifts. But either way, I'm figuring out a way to stay in the gym and keep my strength up.
No matter what I'm able to do or have to modify while the cast is on, one thing's for sure: What I do will be well documented in my training journal on the forum to help others who my be unlucky enough to find themselves in my situation some day.
And here is my adapted training log
Posted by Ben Hanson at 7:58 AM
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