Any athletes getting back in the game after an injury?

Hey all...so I was playing rugby this summer when I basically destroyed my ankle (dislocated ankle, fractured fibula, torn ligament between my tibia/fibula...9 screws & a plate...not fun seeing your ankle about 90 degrees from where it should be haha) This happened on July 19th and I won't be able to run or really do anything involving my legs until this coming February 2009. I was pretty athletic during highschool captaining my lacrosse and soccer teams but then fell in love with rugby my first year in college. I was in arguably the best shape of my life this summer because I was training to try and walk on to my college lacrosse team in the fall (rugby is still better, but the dream of playing for an actual D.1 college team got the best of me). I'm a 5'11 male and was 182lbs with about 11% bodyfat at the time of the injury. 3 months of being an inactive cripple piece of crap later and I was up to 206lbs and 20% bodyfat. 24 pounds and 9% bodyfat in 3 months (wow). I guess my jock diet got the best of me haha. I've been (finally) off crutches for the past month or so and have been desperately trying to get my old self back. With the help of some good peer pressure by a fit friend or two I've been getting to the gym 3-4 times a week and have been able to shed about 8 pounds so far! The calorie counter has also been great to help me feel like a sh*thead enough to stop binge eating like usual...I was just wondering if there was anyone else out there who had or had/has an injury they've overcome/are overcoming to get back to their peak physical condition. I know my girlfriend will thank you almost as much as I will for the added motivation in your success stories. Thanks everyone!

P.S.

Here's a quote I've found great inspiration in when I've wanted to quit during a workout session. I hope you can all find that same extra kick it's given me during those hard times.

When the sun began to die and we finished for the day, I looked myself over. I was filthy, scraped, and bruised. My hands were blistered and my back was stiff and aching. And I felt absolutely wonderful.
-William Altimari's Legion

I feel your pain.  I ran track and cross country in college and played a stupid pick up game of 5 on 5 soccer one day AND dislocated my ankle.  I fractured a few little bones but luckily did not need surgery.  However, I was on crutches for 2 months and couldn't do anything! I gained like 15 pounds.  It was horrible.  Like you said, my athletic eating schedule got the best of me.  Once I was able to put pressure on it, I started doing some stationary bike so I would get my heart rate up and going again before I started putting my full weight on it.  Needless to say, the season was over before I recovered and what sucked more was that it was my senior year. I graduated, moved to another city, and work at a desk all day. This happened a year ago and I started running off and on but was too inconsistent to lost the weight.  I finally got a personal trainer about a month ago...  I am starting to train for road races (5K, 10k, half marathons).  Everytime I don't feel like going to the gym now... I just remember how miserable I was when all I could do was sit at home!  

Your injury seems worse than mine so expect a very tight ankle and make sure you do not ride off any pain.  I had to go back and get physical therapy a couple months ago because my range of motion was still limited.  I still get bruising when I work out a lot.  My injury happened exactly one year ago.  

Im glad you aren't waiting as long as I did to finally get back to normal!  Keep it up! 

Always happy to help a fellow rugby player -- I played for close to 10 years before taking an elbow in the mouth and destroying my front two teeth. At just shy of 30 years old and 3 months before my wedding, I figured it may be time to quit. In terms of injuries and getting back to peak condition, I've never had anything as destructive as your injury, but I have had 5 operations in the last 5 years if you count two C-sections and each time I've been able to get myself back in performance shape. I'm currently dealing with a leg injury but it seems to be responding well to the shots (10 at a time) that they're injecting.

In terms of motivation, there are a couple of things I've learned. The first is that you need to give your body the time to heal -- especially as you get older. In college I would be back at it within days or at most weeks of being injured. Now that I'm older my body takes more time to heal.  The second is that I was really concerned about the time off two surgeries ago both because of weight gain and losing strength. I had to stay inactive for about a month and a half. When I did heal and started lifting again, I found that I came back stronger than I before the break. It was tough at first, but within a few weeks I was lifting heavy weights and running 30-40 miles a week.

SO: you're doing great by giving your body the time it needs to heal; you can and WILL get back in shape; good nutrition and a positive attitude are the best things you can do to get yourself back on track.  GOOD LUCK!

Well it's not my story, buy my bf used to be about 50 lbs over weight and out of shape after having one of the disks in his back removed. About 6 years ago he saw a friend running on a treadmill and though to himself 'I could do that'. Now he's an ultra-marathoner - last summer he ran 3 100km+ races including the Canadian Death Race (solo) which is 125km over 3 mountains. After every ultra he looses some toe nails and swears never again ... until the next morning when he professes ... just one more ;)

He had been running ultras for a few years and wanted a new challenge this year, so he decided it was about time to try a triathelon ... not just any tri though, he had to do the Ironman. Just one problem ... he didn't know how to swim. So he registered for the Ironman and signed up for some swimming lesson. His teacher actually told him he was the worst swimmer he had ever seen - lol. Six months later he finished the Ironman (while I prayed that he didn't dround in the swim!)

Hopefully that motivates you a bit ... I know he motivates me!!