Kerry’s I’m Back Story: Broken Ankle from Roller Derby

For Kerry, roller derby is more than a way to stay active; it is a welcoming community and an opportunity to set an example for her three daughters. So, when she broke her ankle during an intense practice in her first season, she was determined to recover and get back on the track. After being referred to OSMS and undergoing ankle surgery, Kerry is now back to doing what she loves: playing roller derby!

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Kerry plays roller derby, which is an intense, full contact sport. One day at roller derby practice, Kerry was practicing as the jammer – the person who scores the points. As she was coming in for a big hit, her wheel slipped in a way she did not expect. Kerry landed with all her weight coming down on her ankle.

“We decided to go to the emergency room, and we got there and they immediately told me that it was a break, not one, I had broken all of them, all three bones,” Kerry explained.

They reset Kerry’s ankle, put her in a splint and sent her home with a referral to OSMS. When Kerry got the call from OSMS, she got in right away.

“I got to OSMS and at my appointment Dr. Seiler actually took my splint off and realized that it had been extremely swollen and the splint had been too tight,” Kerry described. “So that swelling hadn’t had a chance to come down, and he needed to redo the splint, and we needed to wait another two weeks for surgery because he could not operate while it was still that swollen.”

Before and after surgery, Kerry expressed that Dr. Seiler was always there for her. She mentioned, “I felt like I was his only patient that day, which I absolutely know I was not.”

In the time after her surgery, Kerry hear a lot from OSMS, Dr. Seiler, and her nurses. They were checking in on her, making sure she was doing well.

“I just was very grateful that I felt like I knew exactly how to heal, how to get through this and make it as painless as possible,” clarified Kerry.

Unfortunately, it was Kerry’s first season when she had this injury. Kerry explained that she received a lot of feedback from people wondering why she would go back to the sport after such an injury.

“It’s such a cool group of people, and people who play this sport love this sport,” Kerry expressed. “It’s such a lifestyle. And it was really important to me to show – I have three young girls – and to show them that your life’s not over if you get hurt, you get back up and you try it again. And I didn’t want them to see me get hurt and just never go back.”

Kerry is back to doing everything she could before her injury. She stated, “It healed up really nicely. I can skate and I can move. There’s no part of it that I feel like I can’t do, and it’s been great. I don’t feel like it holds me back at all!”

Kerry’s roller derby season started in January. Before her first bout in her next season, Kerry was able to be on skates, cleared for contact, and able to play.

Thanks to OSMS, Kerry is back!

The post Kerry’s I’m Back Story: Broken Ankle from Roller Derby appeared first on Orthopedic Sports Medicine Specialists (OSMS).