- Joined
- Mar 7, 2011
Any skater can have a rough landing on a jump, but how many skaters have you heard of who dislocated a hip during a club competition? I know I haven't heard of any, except Alissa Czisny.
So because she's the only one it's happened to, that means she should stop skating, while all the other skaters (lots of them) who have had hip surgeries can continue on with their careers.
I don't think the dislocation was a fluke: she dislocated the same hip on which she'd had surgery 7 months previously. She may have felt as if she had healed, but obviously her hip was still in a delicate condition, and it took a second surgery to repair the damage.
Alissa also had claimed she didn't feel pain during the period leading up to Worlds 2012, when she had a bad performance at a "B" event, followed by a disastrous pair of performances at Worlds 2012. She only knew that her jumps weren't working. So it doesn't seem as if Alissa's mind is in tune with her body.
It doesn't seem that way, because you can't feel pain with the torn labrum until it's already torn. Cartilage has no nerves, only the bone. It could have been tearing slowly the entire season until coming to a head at Worlds. Once bone touches bone is when you start to feel pain. Michelle Kwan and Tara Lipinski have made similar statements about their torn labrums. They felt something wrong but couldn't figure out what. There are times of no pain and times of intense pain. They recovered just fine and continued to skate, even if it was at the end of their amateur careers. Tara also didn't listen to her body as she got on the ice within a week of surgery, and skated through intense pain, against doctor's orders, just to make the SOI rehearsals.
This particular issue is frequently misdiagnosed and only starting to be recognized by doctors who aren't hip specialists. Skaters may feel confused if they are getting inadequate medical opinions. It may have taken Alissa a few doctors until she found one who figured out the problem. Then after healing, by seven months you will feel great. There is no reason to believe that after seven months Alissa was skating in terrible pain and should have known better that her hip would be dislocated. The success rate for this surgery is something like 95%. Alissa's doctor is one of the top surgeons in the world. He deals with pro athletes constantly. He would not let her skate if there was a huge risk of hip dislocation.
In other words... Give her a break!