29 | Paralympic Gold Medalist Alana Nichols: Embracing New Identities
Release Date: 06/25/2020
141 | Pro Runner Millie Paladino: Climbing the Mountain of Recovery
The Injured Athletes Club
"Actionable goals build. It's a mountain—recovery is a mountain. Think about the stops on that mountain that you need to make to get to the top.” Millie Paladino had a successful, relatively injury-free collegiate career in running at West Virginia University and then Providence College, where she ran distances from 800 meters to 3,000 meters and was an all-American in the mile. She turned pro and joined Team New Balance, and in 2021, made the final in the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials in the 5,000 meters. But in the lead-up, a slowly developing injury began...
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140 | Coach Carrie Answers a Question from Ava: Coping with Loss and Confusion
The Injured Athletes Club
“ I tore my ACL last April; it’s been very challenging. Do you have any ideas on how to make the recovery process fun? Also, why do I feel so lost and confused without my sport—what should I do with this feeling? —Ava In season 8 of The Injured Athletes Club podcast, mental skills coach Carrie Jackson answers a question every other week about the mental side of overcoming injuries. This week, in response to Ava, she reiterates one of the key messages of The Injured Athletes Club: That you are still an athlete, and recovery is now your sport. And the first part of that recovery...
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139 | Professional Soccer Player Civana Kuhlmann: Strength in Vulnerability
The Injured Athletes Club
“ I don't really want to be who I was before I was injured. In a lot of ways, I'm thankful to a place that just completely broke me, just brought me to some really low points. That's when I was able to grasp my faith or what it was, which is my personal worth. It has absolutely nothing to do with a soccer field or anything of the sort. Just learning that my worth and my fulfillment comes solely through my faith has been something that will go so much farther through life than soccer ever could.” Civana Kuhlmann started playing soccer at a young age and quickly excelled,...
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138 | Coach Carrie Answers a Question from Josée: Managing Jealousy and Burnout
The Injured Athletes Club
“ I have had the worst luck in the last two years. I had a knee replacement in April 2022 for a left knee that had at least 6 scopes over a 10-year + period and it was finally ready to be redone. At last, I would be pain-free. I worked extremely hard to rehab so I could get back on my mountain bike and on the ice. I did, eventually, but with a constant nagging pain. It turns out I had a fungal infection in the joint from the first surgery and now I am facing two major surgeries and possibly another knee replacement after that. I know you have a bunch of podcasts out there with athletes and...
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137 | Gymnast and Personal Trainer Mia Lazarewicz: On Identity, Hope, and Humanity
The Injured Athletes Club
“ Anybody I've met since I got hurt, I feel like they don't know me and that they can't know me. For people that I've become really close to since I got hurt—it almost hurts me to know that this person won't actually ever know who I am or who I was. They're meeting an entirely different person … there's a before and after, and a massive wall that separates them.” As a seasoned personal trainer and co-owner of , a gym in Boston, is used to helping athletes and adult fitness enthusiasts on the road back from injury. However, little could prepare the lifelong athlete for her own...
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136 | Coach Carrie Answers a Question from Olivia: Supporting Your Team While Healing
The Injured Athletes Club
“I am a soccer player, and I tore my labrum in my right hip. After trying physical therapy for 4 months, I ended up needing surgery. I am a couple months post-op, feeling much better now, and can see that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, however I am still having trouble being around soccer. Every time I go to support my team, it doesn’t even feel like mine anymore. I’m very excited to play again, but I’m scared that I will have been left behind and scared I'm not going to be the player I was before. How can I cope with the fact that I’m most likely not going to be able to...
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135 | Triathlete Lynn Rogers: Beyond the Finish Line
The Injured Athletes Club
“ I never lost my ability to breathe. I never lost completely my ability to swallow. We had to adjust things for a little while. But I am a huge believer that being as fit at that moment as I was going to be all year—I needed that to get through what I got through and to be able to get up and moving again so quickly.” Lynn Rogers had completed one IRONMAN triathlon and was training for another when her hands started to go numb. Next, it was her feet and her tongue. In the end, she’d be paralyzed from the chest down—the consequence of a progressive, chronic autoimmune...
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134 | Coach Carrie Answers a Question from Laura: Juggling Work and Recovery
The Injured Athletes Club
“ My injuries led to major surgery, a hip replacement. I have really struggled with being on my feet all day, fatigue, and not feeling even close to 80 percent at work. I just learned I will have two unrelated surgeries, and the thought of healing all over again in my stressful and physically demanding job has caused me to 100 percent regret coming back early from hip surgery. It seems hard to believe that being on my feet all day is harder than advanced physical therapy. Have you heard of athletes with this experience?” —Laura In season 8 of The Injured Athletes...
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133 | Olympic Beach Volleyball Player Casey Patterson: New Ways to Win
The Injured Athletes Club
" Now I have to take this as a challenge: How do I have this elite-level B game that is almost indestructible, where I know I can get the job done in a maybe a different way, but just as efficient … and that's where athletes get the most gain in their mental capacity and their ability to win and their consistency is understanding that they can have that elite-level B game. They can beat anyone without having to feel 100%. And so that's kind of where I would go." Casey Patterson's journey through professional beach volleyball was marked by persistent injuries, most notably a left...
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132 | Coach Carrie Answers a Question: Bec’s Rebound
The Injured Athletes Club
“ How does one find self-compassion when you’ve been through this too many times and understand the importance of the beginning phase while also itching to get out of it and back to the activities that bring me joy? I know all the usual tactics: time with friends, using other activities (music, podcast, drawing), resting, lifting upper body and moving in whatever way I can that doesn’t jeopardize the surgical area, reframing, CBT, DBT, etc. But I still feel a bit lost.” —Bec It’s our very last episode of the season—and a fitting Q&A to end on, as Coach Carrie...
info_outlineBasketball, ski racing, sprint kayaking, surfing—Alana Nichols’ athletic career has brought her to the highest levels of a wide range of sports. Still, she tells us on this week’s show, as a Paralympian she often struggled to get the same care for her injuries as her able-bodied peers.
But fight she did, and her advocacy has carried over into her newer roles as president of the Women’s Sports Foundation and mother of baby Gunnar, who turns one year old in July (and whose dad is previous guest Roy Tuscany). For Alana, it all began when she came to terms with reality and set small goals. Eventually, they took her farther than she would have imagined, within sports and beyond them.
A huge thank you to Fluid Running H2GO, the only app-based deep-water running system in the world, for sponsoring this season of the Injured Athletes Club. CLICK HERE and use code IAC 30 to take $30 off the full system or the digital bundle.
In this episode, we discuss:
- How injuries are viewed in Paralympic sports and the added obstacles adaptive athletes face (5:42)
- How that connects to a bigger movement for access and equality (9:03)
- The way her initial spinal cord injury influenced the way she coped with subsequent injuries (10:15)
- How sports helped her through the process of adjusting to disability (13:38)
- Becoming a new mom, and how that required her to readjust to her identity all over again (16:26)
- Her last major injury, which led to her retirement from ski racing (19:18)
- Vicarious trauma and how that factored into her life and decision to retire (28:47)
- How lessons learned from injuries are helping her navigate the pandemic
- Her work with the Women’s Sports Foundation, and the way it’s transformed her even as she’s aiming to transform the world (36:44)
- The challenges women’s sports face in the wake of the pandemic and how they’re hoping to address them (42:15)
You can subscribe to The Injured Athletes Club on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts, and if you like what you hear, please leave us a rating or a review in Apple podcasts. That helps other injured athletes find the show.
Resources/links we mention:
- Alana’s website, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook page
- The Women’s Sports Foundation website
To access more resources for injured athletes:
- Join The Injured Athletes Club mailing list, for weekly news and updates
- Join The Injured Athletes Club Facebook group, for support and camaraderie
- Email us at [email protected] with questions, guest suggestions, or other feedback
DISCLAIMER: This content is for educational & informational use only and & does not constitute medical advice. Do not disregard, avoid or delay obtaining medical or health related advice from your health-care professional because of something you may have heard in an episode of this podcast. You should not rely on this information as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please consult with a qualified medical professional for proper evaluation & treatment. Guests who speak on this podcast express their own opinions, experiences, and conclusions, and The Injured Athletes Club podcast hosts nor any company providing financial support endorses or opposes any particular treatment option discussed in the episodes of this podcast and are not responsible for any actions or inactions of listeners based on the information presented. The use of any information provided is solely at your own risk.