Plastered!

August 15th, 2010

Another month, another year, and yet another injury! I guess i need to start listening to my body and look seriously at injury prevention! I have lost count of the amount of months i have spent side lined out of the water in the past four years. It seems that i am regularly sporting crutches rather than a surfboard. Perhaps i can use crutches better than a surfboard, and somehow its a sign! This time it was the day the UK Pro Surf Tour left. Much the same as last year. They leave, i surf in an uncrowded line-up, a tad gung-ho, and ouch!

My 9′ 1″ Southpoint Bonga Perkins did the damage. Slammed onto the rail, my lower leg went numb, no movement, extreme pain and the thought of it being broken.

Plastered - Crutches on a Tropical Island

Fortunately not broken, but swollen to twice the size it should be and more. It was described as looking like a big tuna, and the plan was to BBQ it! The muscle damaged, as too were the ligaments. The pain more than i had ever experienced. The swelling that refused to go down, the skin so tight it felt like it would explode.
A collision of treatments commenced! A conflict of ideas! Natural medicine versus Western medicine. I lost the battle, gave into the pressures of those around me, and went down the natural route.
Who’s to know if it was the right decision. The four weeks without sleep, the days of constant pain, the two weeks of swelling, the feeling of imprisonment within a cabana, missing the sun and the surf.
Now, i can walk. I dont have the strength in the leg but slowly it is healing. no more crutches, and no more plaster casts, and no more trips to the hospital.
Sri Lanka, not the lazy, sun and surf filled holiday that so many think it is!

Entry Filed under: Sri Lanka 2010, Tim's Travels