{"id":20084,"date":"2019-01-02T08:00:07","date_gmt":"2019-01-02T15:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=20084"},"modified":"2023-06-23T10:53:07","modified_gmt":"2023-06-23T16:53:07","slug":"what-to-do-when-a-sudden-injury-sidelines-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/what-to-do-when-a-sudden-injury-sidelines-you\/","title":{"rendered":"What to do when a sudden injury sidelines you"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p>Dr. Heather Holmstrom has been a natural athlete her whole life and always could jump into any sports and other activities she fancied \u2013 from mountain biking, to soccer and hockey.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_20092\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20092\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-20092\" src=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/01\/01072305\/Dr.-Holmstrom-with-two-sons-sized.webp\" alt=\"Dr. Heather Holmstrom poses with her two sons at a triathalon. All three are wearing medals and they are posing outside after the race.\" width=\"640\" height=\"478\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/01\/01072305\/Dr.-Holmstrom-with-two-sons-sized.webp 1200w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/01\/01072305\/Dr.-Holmstrom-with-two-sons-sized-300x224.webp 300w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/01\/01072305\/Dr.-Holmstrom-with-two-sons-sized-1024x765.webp 1024w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/01\/01072305\/Dr.-Holmstrom-with-two-sons-sized-768x573.webp 768w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/01\/01072305\/Dr.-Holmstrom-with-two-sons-sized-150x112.webp 150w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/01\/01072305\/Dr.-Holmstrom-with-two-sons-sized-200x149.webp 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-20092\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Heather Holmstrom during a triathalon with her two sons, Grey Garrent, now 23, and Sage Garrett, now 19. Photo courtesy of Heather Holmstrom.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI ran, skied, skated, biked and did a ton of dog rescue, whatever I wanted without limitation,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/provider\/heather-holmstrom-md\/\">Holmstrom<\/a>, a family doctor at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/locations\/uchealth-family-medicine-boulder\/\">UCHealth Family Medicine Clinic in Boulder<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>She grew up riding horses and was part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/umich.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">University of Michigan\u2019s<\/a> equestrian team in college.<\/p>\n<div class=\"su-callout-box col-xs-6 col-sm-6 right\" style=\"background-color:#dce4e7; color:#2e3b44;\">\n<p><strong>How athletes can cope with tough injuries: Dr. Holmstrom&#8217;s RX<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Get moving as soon as possible again.<\/li>\n<li>After surgery, fight to stay fit.<\/li>\n<li>Swim as soon as possible after an injury.<\/li>\n<li>Try chair boxing if you can\u2019t stand up.<\/li>\n<li>Find a new way to enjoy your old sport (like coaching instead of skating yourself).<\/li>\n<li>Enlist friends and family to help you discover new passions like hiking.<\/li>\n<li>A bucket list helps lift your spirits. Write down your goals and celebrate your accomplishments as you achieve them.<\/li>\n<li>Try a variety of methods to handle your pain and your anguish. Meditation, yoga and physical therapy are all extraordinarily helpful.<\/li>\n<li>Think outside the box. Find new ways to work out and seek new sources of joy.<\/li>\n<li>Help others and you will heal faster.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Then, this easy-going athlete suffered an injury that shook up her routine and made her appreciate the struggles of patients who have to pause before heading out for a run or cruising down the slopes.<\/p>\n<p>One night back in 2010, Holmstrom was playing ice hockey for a different league than her normal one. An inexperienced skater darted in front of her and Holmstrom threw all her weight to one side to avoid hitting the other skater.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s when lousy luck spelled disaster.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn a moment, I hit a chip on the ice. I felt my fibula break over my skate,\u201d Holmstrom said.\u00a0 \u201cI flipped over on my back and when I came to a stop, everything inside my hockey skate was broken and jutting out to the side.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A single mom, Holmstrom called her own mom from the ambulance and asked if she could fly in to help.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy whole life had just changed,\u201d Holmstrom said.<\/p>\n<p>Holmstrom suffered from a terrible injury known as a trimalleolar fracture dislocation because she had breaks in three bones of the ankle called the malleoli, and had dislocated her ankle joint and also had a significant nerve injury.<\/p>\n<p>That one fall has led to six surgeries and Holmstrom knows all too well what it\u2019s like to be a patient.<\/p>\n<p>She now copes with chronic regional pain syndrome, lymphedema, chronic neuropathic pain and bad arthritis.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPretty much any complication you\u2019ve heard of has been part of my story,\u201d Holmstrom said. \u201cAt one point, I got a bad wound infection and had to have my then-14-year-old pack my wound every day. He did not feel that this was a \u2018normal\u2019 after school activity, but he helped me like a champ.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That son, Sage Garrett, is now 19 and a student at University of Colorado. Holmstrom has an older son, Grey Garrett, 23, who is a graduate student in engineering at CU. Both boys have been rocks of support, gamely helping with chores and encouraging Holmstrom to keep moving and keep healing.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_20093\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20093\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-20093\" src=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/01\/01072746\/Dr.-Holmstroms-son-practicing-in-the-wound-clinic-sized.webp\" alt=\"A teenage boy is dressed in scrubs and a mask. He's practicing to clean out his mom's wound after she suffered a bad hockey injury.\" width=\"300\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/01\/01072746\/Dr.-Holmstroms-son-practicing-in-the-wound-clinic-sized.webp 750w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/01\/01072746\/Dr.-Holmstroms-son-practicing-in-the-wound-clinic-sized-225x300.webp 225w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/01\/01072746\/Dr.-Holmstroms-son-practicing-in-the-wound-clinic-sized-113x150.webp 113w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/01\/01072746\/Dr.-Holmstroms-son-practicing-in-the-wound-clinic-sized-200x267.webp 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-20093\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sage Garrett suits up at the Wound Clinic to practice cleaning his mom&#8217;s wound. Dr. Holmstrom is a single mom and received great help from her mom and two sons after a bad hockey injury. Photo courtesy of Heather Holmstrom.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a family effort and I\u2019m so grateful for help from both of them,\u201d she said<\/p>\n<p>Holmstrom now knows all too well what it\u2019s like to cope with such bad pain that you can\u2019t sleep.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have literally spent months and months on crutches, sharing many of the same frustrations people with disabilities experience in terms of accessibility. I can empathize and sympathize with a lot of people. Thankfully, I am extremely sensitive to medication and narcotics cause violent vomiting, so I have been saved from the narcotic addition that can happen with this injury,\u201d Holmstrom said.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to all the pain, Holmstrom has had to cope with her new identity and her new reality. Athletes are used to being able to move and run easily. When Holmstrom was sidelined, she had to make peace with all sorts of limitations and new devices she needed just to get around.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have all the tools in the world: braces, pumps and orthotics,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Sadly, she can\u2019t put on a hockey skate or a ski boot without crying out in pain. (She suffers through the pain to ski, but no longer skates.) She can\u2019t feel much below the knee on her right foot.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t do so many things that I used to do, and I have to live with everything this ankle has contributed to my life. But, along the way I have used physical therapy, yoga, meditation, massage, resiliency books, conditioning, and a bunch of other tools to learn to live life the way it is now,\u201d Holmstrom said.<\/p>\n<p>She also learned to love hockey in a new way. She and Sage, the son who helped nurse her through her injury, teamed up to coach and support a sled hockey team for kids who can\u2019t play stand-up hockey. Holmstrom found joy in helping others enjoy competition on ice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am a big believer that even if you think life isn\u2019t fair, there are so many things you can do and so many ways to love, find joy and contribute to life.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_20091\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20091\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-20091\" src=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/01\/01072259\/Dr.-Holmstrom-riding-her-horse-back-in-college-sized.webp\" alt=\"A young woman jumps on her horse during an equestrian competition with mountains in the background.\" width=\"640\" height=\"508\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/01\/01072259\/Dr.-Holmstrom-riding-her-horse-back-in-college-sized.webp 1200w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/01\/01072259\/Dr.-Holmstrom-riding-her-horse-back-in-college-sized-300x238.webp 300w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/01\/01072259\/Dr.-Holmstrom-riding-her-horse-back-in-college-sized-1024x813.webp 1024w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/01\/01072259\/Dr.-Holmstrom-riding-her-horse-back-in-college-sized-768x610.webp 768w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/01\/01072259\/Dr.-Holmstrom-riding-her-horse-back-in-college-sized-150x119.webp 150w, https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/01\/01072259\/Dr.-Holmstrom-riding-her-horse-back-in-college-sized-200x159.webp 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-20091\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Heather Holmstrom rode for University of Michigan&#8217;s equestrian team back in college. Photo courtesy of Heather Holmstrom.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Holmstrom moved from Michigan to Boulder about a year ago, and she couldn\u2019t help but be inspired by the world-class athletes who live and train in Boulder. Many of them love to hike. For Holmstrom, hiking uphill is bearable, but heading back down is painful.<\/p>\n<p>Even so, in the spring, Holmstrom decided to try hiking Boulder\u2019s Mt. Sanitas.<\/p>\n<p>She was determined to go on one particular day. It had snowed recently and a work colleague scouted the trail to make sure Holmstrom would be safe.<\/p>\n<p>She decided to go for it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt took forever, but I did it!\u201d Holmstrom said.<\/p>\n<p>When she got home and was scrolling through Facebook, a memory popped up. It was a reminder that she had suffered her debilitating ankle injury exactly eight years earlier. The hike reminded Holmstrom that she has new joys to experience, new challenges to face and literally new hills to climb.<\/p>\n<p>While Holmstrom wishes she could erase the accident, she knows her experiences have made her a better doctor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy mantra is that I am willing to do anything to help patients realize they can do more than they think they can,\u201d Holmstrom said. \u201cI encourage people to push their therapists to help them do more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She learned the high cost of losing her conditioning after surgeries and worked hard to get back in shape as fast is possible. Swimming is great after an injury and Holmstrom encourages everyone with an injury to get in the water as soon as they get the go-ahead from their physical therapist or doctor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI also became an expert at chair boxing in the winter months so my core didn\u2019t get too weak and my upper body didn\u2019t get tendonitis from using the crutches,\u201d Holmstrom said.<\/p>\n<p>And,\u00a0she\u00a0learned to dismiss unhelpful comments from people, like when they said, \u201cIt could be worse.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSure, it could be worse. But that doesn\u2019t mean your situation isn\u2019t really hard. Sometimes, acknowledging that what you\u2019re facing is hard helps you assess and prioritize what could be better about it. Then you can try to make it better,\u201d Holmstrom said.<\/p>\n<p>Since she\u2019s a medical expert, Holmstrom knows her ankle will continue to get worse. So, she has reorganized her bucket list and is setting her sights on her biggest goals first.<\/p>\n<p>She\u2019s starting very big. Holmstrom has been hiking more and more and it\u2019s getting easier. So, in the spring, she plans to hike the Inca Trail in Peru to reach <a href=\"https:\/\/whc.unesco.org\/en\/list\/274\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Machu Picchu<\/a>, one of the world\u2019s most famous United Nations World Heritage sites.<\/p>\n<p>Both her sons plan to join her on the expedition.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have connected with a new orthopedist, physical therapist and orthoticist to support me so I can make this trip,\u201d Holmstrom said. \u201cI don\u2019t know how much longer I will be able to do something like this, so carpe diem!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She is grateful to live in Colorado where there is a great culture for getting outside and making the most of life, whatever your abilities.<\/p>\n<p>For others coping with injuries, Holmstrom encourages them to go ahead and mourn for what they\u2019ve lost, then get busy finding new sources of joy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThink outside the box,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dr. Heather Holmstrom has been a natural athlete her whole life and always could jump into any sports and other activities she fancied \u2013 from mountain biking, to soccer and hockey. \u201cI ran, skied, skated, biked and did a ton of dog rescue, whatever I wanted without limitation,\u201d said Holmstrom, a family doctor at UCHealth [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2123,"featured_media":20092,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3957,278,3958,351,9187,3956,1792],"class_list":["post-20084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthy-living","tag-athletes","tag-family-medicine","tag-hockey","tag-primary-care","tag-readysetco","tag-sudden-injury","tag-uchealth-family-medicine-center"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What to do when a sudden injury sidelines you - UCHealth Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What to do when a sudden injury sidelines you. 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