February 18, 2010: It's our third game at the Olympic Games in Vancouver. I'm flying through the neutral zone with the puck, like I have a million times before, when suddenly I'm soaring through the air. Crash. Pop. Lightning down my legs. I don't know it at that moment, but this is the start of what will be the most challenging 15 months of my athletic career.
Imaging revealed an L5/S1 ruptured disc. But this was the Olympics. So, I was on crutches for 2 days, in the training room 24/7, and then, only 4 days after the injury, I was back on the ice for our semifinal game against Sweden with a modified brace over my sacroiliac joint. I skated in the gold medal game 2 days later. We came home with a silver.
Later that summer, after physical therapy that did not yield desired results and after multiple ineffective epidurals, I underwent an L5/S1 microdiscectomy—surgery to remove part of the herniated disc. The lessons I'd learn in the ensuing months would shape who I am as a person and how I now practice as a physical therapist.
