In the last two months I’ve hurt myself twice while playing. The kind of hurt that requires some attention, not the kind of hurt that comes from being hit by a racquetball.
The first time I ran to the back left corner of the court to get a ball that I knew was going to drop right into that corner. I hit the ball into the back wall (a shot hated by my sometime coach). After I hit the ball (which by the way was a good shot), when I tried to turn around to head back into the middle of the court, I could barely move as I had landed on the top of my foot
More recently the corner of my eye got in the way of a backhand. Actually it wasn’t my eye but the rec specs and then the bone at the edge of my eyebrow. I was wearing specs, of course. The blow to the specs caused them to push into my eye. I had a lovely black/purple eye for a week. Fortunately people asked about the eye if they noticed rather than making assumptions that could have reflected on my husband.
So two totally different injuries but I used one thing to help alleviate the pain and hasten the recovery – ice.
I’ve been fortunate in my checkered athletic career not to have many injuries. But I know from watching others and limited experience that ice is the first thing to grab.
I quit playing immediately both times I was injured.
I laid a bag of ice wrapped in a towel on top of the foot immediately. I sat for a while watching the others play. Eventually I hobbled my way to the locker room to shower and change. When I reached home I sat in a comfortable chair to read while icing my foot off and on. The incident happed Saturday and I was able to play Monday.
My black/purple eye also occurred on a Saturday. I didn’t realize when it happened that I would have such a spectacular shiner. I was more intent on the bruise developing above my eye.
I held ice in a towel on the area that felt bruised. I didn’t even think about the eye and I’m not at all sure how ice would be applied to an eye or around an eye without quickly becoming uncomfortable. I felt the bruise for several days and I had the black/purple eye. But it took only a few days to start healing.
Ice isn’t the answer to everything, but often it helps. I also took aspirin both times I was hurt but used it sparingly knowing aspirin can cause problems in one’s bod