I meant that metaphorically. Pain is certainly not the key point here.Sandpiper, I forgot to mention that pain, however severe, may not be the worst outcome. If she pushes herself too much, she could become disabled either now or in the future. I suspect this concern is what motivated the specialists' advice. I am not arguing with you, we agree on practically everything. I left this thread for several days because I didn't want to read more bleak reports on her mental or physical condition. She has given us good reason to be concerned, and you know Yulia--she never tells us everything.
Yulia should indeed weigh the severity of her injuries with her desire to continue competing. I don't have enough medical knowledge to say one way or the other... Many athletes have come back from devastating injuries, to great success (Hongbo Zhao, Elena Berezhnaya, Tatiana Totmianina). I won't lie, I will be sad if Yulia retires... with her abilities and talent, I'd hoped to see her win a World/GPF title at the very least. But at the same time, we don't know what further competition will bring, both in terms of results and (more importantly) her health.


hwell:
My point is they too push the limits.