Thursday, January 24, 2008

The woes of sprained ankles.

I have some odd "reminders" and "anniversaries" that I keep on my smartphone. By far, the oddest is my annual note for January 23: "Call Jeremy re: sprained ankle." Want an explanation? Keep reading.

Five years ago yesterday, my friend Jeremy Anderson and I were playing racquetball down in Turlock. We had been playing regularly, but this would be a monumental day because I sprained during this particular session. Through that whole experience, I learned several important lessons:

1. When you're injured, don't hop around on your own. Use your friend's shoulder to balance yourself as you go out to the car. Otherwise you might fall down and hurt yourself.

2. If you must climb steps with an injured ankle, remember to NOT use the injured ankle on the second step. Otherwise you might fall down and hit your head against the front door of your house.

3. When you get ready to stretch out on a couch, make sure you're careful as you rest your head. Otherwise you might bonk the back of your head against the wooden armrest of the couch.

4. For you Pentecostal/Charistmatic types... If you're speaking in tongues while your body is in shock, be aware of how loudly you're speaking. Otherwise the health club employee may give you a weird look.

I've only played racquetball a few times since that injury in 2003. If you have a choice of breaking or spraining, I'd quickly pick the broken bone because the healing time is faster. It took me a long time to feel truly comfortable on my ankle after that sprain!

No comments: