#23 like Beckham. That’s me!

I’ve been having ankle issues for about a year and a half now. I can’t even tell you when it all started. I just know that I was playing soccer (whether it be indoor or outdoor) and another girl and I kicked the ball at the exact same time and my ankle must have been on the ball at a weird ankle, because I sure don’t have weak ankles (hello climbing!). It twisted and I immediately called for a substitution to replace me on the field. I haven’t been 100% since then, and it’s very irritating to me to have this in the back of my mind and trying to give 110% at soccer and thinking in the back of my mind during every game “I hope we don’t collide!” I shouldn’t be sub-consciously thinking of this!

I was visiting my Chiropractor on a regular basis, and he’s been adjusting the talus bone in my ankle for quite some time. Yeah, it feels good when he adjusts it and it may stay in place and I don’t get hurt for a few weeks, but last night was so brutal I thought my ankle was broke. I don’t know what a broken bone feels like as I’ve never had any break on me. But I collided with a defender on the other team and I started hopping on my left foot as soon as it happened (to my right ankle).

In indoor you can sub whenever you want, so even if I was only on the field for all 28 seconds I came off my 4 minute shift and sat down and my tears just welled up. Thankfully nobody noticed ;) but I sat down for a few minutes and decided to try and stand up. I couldn’t put any weight on the heel part at all — which was strange because usually it’s the front of my ankle that got hurt in the past. Being as stubborn as I am, I forced myself to hobble/walk around the sideline until my name was called 4 minutes later for a sub. Guess that may have been irrational of me, but I enjoy soccer and I’m not giving up. I ended up stretching it while jogging on the field, and I could play the last half of the game without troubles, I just played on the left hand side instead of my regular right wing.

There’s a girl that plays on our outdoor league, and we nick name each other “name twin” because her name is insanely close to mine — first and last. She works at a Sports Medicine place here in the city, so I e-mailed her last night to get the office’s phone number off her. I think she works in the massage therapy part of it, but recommended that I see one of the Doctor’s. I called this morning, and I have an appointment for next Monday afternoon. Ugh! As morbid as it sounds, I’m going to try and go hard next Sunday and hopefully it will be sore so I can show the Doctor exactly what is going on inside my ankle.

What’s weird is that it doesn’t hurt to touch it, it doesn’t hurt to walk or maneuver it around. It’s the inside that hurts, and I can’t explain it very well. My Chiropractor had to really sit down and listen to me while I was explaining it (and obviously I’m not going to him anymore, because he hasn’t been fixing it — though, he has done well with my neck and lower back problems, but that’s another story). My Chiro was telling me “This is where it hurts, right?” and I’m like “nope, not at all”… so I had him all “hmming and hawwing” about the situation. It’s very difficult, and I know it’s going to be a tough one to fix. Ankle sprains (if that’s what it is) do not go away easy. There isn’t going to be a magical twist and a rub, and it’s 100% better.

I just want my ankle to be top notch again, without taking much time off soccer. You’d think the transition between outdoor and in, and vice versa would be enough. I didn’t play much outdoor just this summer past to try and heal it so to speak, and the break from outdoor to in was 9 weeks for me. Sufficient time, you would think. I thought I was healed for the longest time, and then BANG it snaps (okay, it doesn’t “snap” or make a noise — that’s just for exaggeration I suppose ha!) again, causing me distress and anger that it has happened again.

I was so happy, before soccer. Look at that face! lol Maybe I should just quit soccer again and stick to climbing. :(