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Chris Cracknell: The Road to Recovery

Last week I went under the knife to have my ACL rebuilt.

Painful enough that the operation itself may be, it’s mentally hard to walk into the operating room, climb on the bed, have all manner of drugs pumped in to your blood stream (que talking gibberish and a sense of falling in to the softest pillow ever) and then before you know it waking up hours later, unable to walk, not knowing your own name, having most certainly lost you dignity (and your paper pants, which seemed so novel at the start of the day) and wearing just a gown and a large bandage.

Yes, it was definitely a change to the normal Wednesday.

Getting injured is zero fun. Neither is the process of having that injury fixed but dealing with the mental challenges, which is often the biggest challenge of all!

The road ahead is long. Rep after a rep of rehabilitation movement and session after session of alternative training lie ahead. Swimming and biking will undoubtedly be my cardiovascular conditioning hurdles.

It wasn’t that long ago I was in this position before coming back from a routine operation, and over the summer I spent many hours doing what I will need to do once more, but I’m hoping that a new set of challenges present themselves this time around for some variety!

So, the rehab will take care of itself but mentally well…winter lies ahead, so the weather will no doubt add to the challenge of keeping myself motivated for a start. I know that there will be times when I will be training on my own and where the days will feel like ground hog day!

Painting a bleak picture? This much is intended. I could look at it like this and no doubt it will be like this from the outside, but I view this as a new challenge, a time to get better and come back fitter and stronger. And why not challenge myself off the field?

If you can relate, post your comments below!

Crackers


About Chris Cracknell

Chris was the first England sevens player to be offered a professional contact, and has now captained the England Sevens team on a number of occasions. He was signed to Premiership club Worcester Warriors until the end of the 2009-10 campaign before taking up an England Sevens contract. He had previously represented England U19 and U21, having captained the South West U18 side in 2005-06. His club rugby experience has spanned Harlequins, Cornish Pirates, Newbury Blues, Bath and Worcester Warriors. View all posts by Chris Cracknell

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