I am so pleased to be able to say that Mia Rose qualified for level 9 States in both floor and vault yesterday just 15 weeks after her lisfranc fracture/dislocation and ORIF surgery! Just being able to compete so soon was a huge accomplishment. At the start of the week we weren’t sure that she would be able to compete floor or vault as she had not yet flipped a vault or done a floor routine with tumbling and jumps in it since November 9th, so the fact that they were the events she qualified on is even more remarkable. Bars and beam were the first two events and unfortunately falls prevented her from qualifying on those, but regardless I am amazed by her drive and perseverance which paid off in the end.
I am immensely proud of and happy for my girl! She never stopped believing that she could come back from this injury in record time and she put in all of the incredibly hard work necessary to make that happen. She was in the gym training every single thing she could even while 100% non-weight bearing and never let the inevitable sadness and frustration that comes with this long recovery process deter her from her goals and what she needed to do to get there. She is wearing an ankle brace to help support her ankle as a precaution as she comes back from being immobilized for so long. Happily she has no pain in the area of the lisfranc repair, but all muscles in the foot and ankle that were immobilized in a cast and boot for 3.5 months get sore and she still has small limp when walking. Her surgeon and PT told her that some pain is unavoidable when returning to sports and that as
long as it doesn’t get above a 4/10 and doesn’t last more than 2 hours after she stops working out that she is fine to work through it. She generally ices after each practice as a matter of course and the pain is gone within 30 minutes or less…so all is well and each day she has a little less. We both look forward to the day when pain is no longer “normal and expected” but it is wonderful that it is not bad and not slowing her down.
It seems that periods of feeling really down and helpless are inevitable when traveling the long road to recovery from this injury…but having a specific goal in mind and writing down what she needed to do to get there really helped Mia Rose. Intentionally recognizing and appreciating even the tiny signs of progress seemed to help quite a bit especially as time wore on…progress is frustratingly slow with this injury compared to so many more common injuries so it can be hard to believe that you are really improving unless you intentionally notice and appreciate the little things. She still has a way to go before she is back to 100% but now it is easy to see how far she has come and there are big things to celebrate on a regular basis.
She heads back to the gym tomorrow to keep working in the hopes of improving her routines enough over the next 2 weeks to do well at States and qualify for Regionals.
A Gymnast's Lisfranc Recovery Journey 