This is a question that I am frequently asked by adolescents and teenagers who have some vague fascination with medical professions. It’s really a good thought exercise because it makes me think back to some of the patients that I’ve treated over the years that have had life-altering experiences related to some major injury or diagnosis. My inner adolescent is awakened, and the grossest injuries come to mind immediately: victims of motorcycle accidents who were put together with external fixators (think Erector Set on the outside of a leg, bolted through the skin to the bone) or a halo (same thing, bolted to the skull). I also think about the injuries that have cost professional athletes their livelihoods – NFL and MLB guys who have had the necessity for one more surgery than their careers could sustain. Never far from my mind is the combat wounded US Marine who left Iraq with a spinal cord injury paralyzing him from the waist down. Any of these would certainly qualify as among ‘the worst’ injuries I’ve ever seen, but I’m not sure any of these is the right answer to the question.
None of these particular injuries is the worst because the patients that come to mind didn’t waste the opportunity that the injury presented them. For people with this mindset, facing an injury is like facing a workout; you do something hard with the expectation that going through it will make you better. This is a conversation that I recently had with a young dancer who sustained a tibial plateau fracture (could also be in the running for ‘the worst’ considering the restrictions required for healing…BRUTAL). I discussed with her how injuries present us with the opportunity to come back better than before and I even recommended Drew Brees’s book on the subject, Coming Back Stronger. I’m so pleased to see her embracing the concept and making the most of her time in recovery. No matter how bad they seem, I can’t call these major, life-changing injuries ‘the worst’ because I’ve seen the people who overcome them and they are almost always better because of their struggle.
The worst injuries that I’ve seen are always the ones that the patient lets define them. It could be as simple as a twisted ankle or a jammed finger. If someone allows the injury to get the best of them, they find themselves in a rut of self-pity and a bad situation is made worse. My advice is always to embrace the challenge and learn from the experience. With that in mind it doesn’t matter how gross the injury may be, adapting and overcoming will make you better.
