We rugby players are a determined and competitive lot, which makes injury quite frustrating when it strikes. You find your own way through it.

I ruptured my ACL last year at the National Championships and experienced everything the researchers predict: feelings of isolation, sadness, grief, blah, blah, blah. There were hours when I didn’t want to get up from the floor.

It is a kind of grief, and you get through it in your own way. I helped myself by making a 13-month periodised rehab and training plan and by buying myself an indoor bike trainer. This gave me a good amount of control over my situation, because I knew I could still reach my fitness goals in time for the 2010 season.

So, alas, why did I lose the plot *after* returning to the field? I played 7s with the Brumbies on Saturday and went to club training on Tuesday. The drills were great, I was so excited by them that I continued to train even though I knew I had an effusion and should stop. Like the proverbial bull at a gate. I’ve probably set myself back another three weeks at precisely the wrong time.

Lucy Zelic from the University of Canberra has posted an interesting article on coping with the emotional effects of injury, in which she states that 44% of athletes accept their injury at the start of rehab, but this number drops off to 39% at the end of the rehabilitation period, “indicating that symptoms of depression and emotional distress increased with time.”

For me, I have to say, it was not depression, it was a combination of frustration and excitement. Primarily, over-excitement – I just wanted to tackle people! Like a lunatic, I definitely had a brain-snap.

I’m not sure if anything can be done about this sort of thing, short of putting people like me in some type of restraining device or straightjacket. The Brumbies Women’s coach was a bit more subtle, saying “Maybe rest it over the weekend & don’t play in the Uni-Norths 7’s??” Yes, I think I did need the two question marks.

It’s easy to talk loftily about keeping the end goal in mind and what-not – sometimes your emotions sneak up on you and disrupt the best-laid plans. We all know that. But looking at it rationally, we always do have a choice about our behaviour, and something as simple as preparing properly for the session would help avoid silly mistakes like the one I made. For now, it’s ice, ice, baby.

injury, Rugby Training