37 | Former WNBA Player and Ph.D. Candidate ShaRae Mansfield: Coping with Chronic Pain
Release Date: 03/11/2021
The Injured Athletes Club
“ How can you deal with anxiety not of a specific reinjury, but a more generalized fear about your sport being taken away from you again? That fear does help me appreciate what I have now that I'm running again, but also makes disruptions to my training or race plans—whether from how I'm feeling physically, or work/life stress—harder to deal with. How can I cope?” In this episode of The Injured Athletes Club podcast, mental skills coach Carrie Jackson answers a question from Emily regarding handling the anxiety associated with the potential permanent loss of her sport due to...
info_outline 119 | Ultrarunner Aum Gandhi: Your Inner CoachThe Injured Athletes Club
“Instead of being mean to myself and saying, ‘You’ve got nothing else outside of running,’ I said, ‘Look at all the other multi-faceted things you are. You are a son, you are a brother, you're a business owner. Humans are multi-faceted; you have an identity outside this sport. The sport may have helped you find more of your authenticity, but you're not bound to this sport. It's only a piece of the puzzle, a part of your identity.” When Merrell Professional Athlete Aum Gandhi first started running six years ago, he barely went a quarter of a mile—and he describes it now as...
info_outline 118 | Coach Carrie Answers a Question: Cecile’s SituationThe Injured Athletes Club
“ How can you let go of the injury? Sometimes when you spend a long time with a chronic injury, it shapes how you move, plan, and think about life and your body. How do you let go when the time has come?” In the seventh season 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, Coach Carrie delves into the complex issue posed by listener Cecile on letting go of the identity formed around a chronic injury. She points out how this attachment can make the...
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info_outline 116 | Coach Carrie Answers a Question: Cassandra’s CocoonThe Injured Athletes Club
“ As someone in long-term recovery, likely 12 to 18 months before I'm running again, I've struggled a lot with the muscle loss and atrophy to the point it's causing identity struggles. I don't look or feel like an athlete anymore. My coach and I will have to literally rebuild my strength and my body. How can I cope?” In the seventh season 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, listener Cassandra is struggling with losing her athletic identity. Coach...
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“ How do I walk the fine line between being independent and self-reliant in recovery—a positive—and opting to go it alone, which can be a negative? Separately, I’d love to know more about managing an injury in the context of a chronic condition. For example, I have epilepsy but seizure meds are not great for bone density. Flip side, reducing meds is good for bones but bad for the brain. Doctors can offer guidance but making the decisions is ours alone.” In the seventh season of The Injured Athletes Club podcast, mental skills coach Carrie Jackson answers a question every...
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info_outline 111 | Ballet Dancer John Lam: Open to GrowthThe Injured Athletes Club
“Dancing on a high level is—you have to be open. You have to be open that you can get injured. You have to be open that you will have to face things that you don't want to face. Because if we are not open and instead are close-minded, we cannot grow.” In this week’s episode of The Injured Athletes Club, principal dancer at the Boston Ballet, John Lam, discusses his journey from a catastrophic injury back to the stage. He details the physical and mental struggles he encountered during his recovery, emphasizing the importance of patience, personal growth, having a...
info_outline“It was like being a part of a book and finally figuring out the cause of all the pain, the cause of the injuries. Everything started coming together. Just thinking back, I had to ask myself, how in the world did I continue to play?”
ShaRae Mansfield was a superstar on the court during her four years at Western Kentucky University. In 2001, she was a third-round draft pick for the WNBA’s Houston Comets.
All this success came despite the fact that ShaRae was in near-constant pain. By the time she graduated, she’d had six surgeries on her ACL. She loved the game, but her injuries eventually cut her career short, a development that sent her into what she calls a “basketball depression.”
Unsure of what to do next, she went back to finish her degree, then sought help from a psychologist. Little by little, she began to grasp the ways in which losing her athletic identity impacted her, and to work through it. Then—a decade later—a surprising medical diagnosis helped her comprehend all that had happened in her body.
Out of all this pain and challenge came a fierce determination to help others in similar situations. She’s now an advocate for people with chronic conditions (and leader of the Beautiful Warriors support group). And, as a Ph.D. candidate in psychology, ShaRae is studying the difficult transition period out of sports—aiming to smooth the path forward for the next generation of retiring athletes.
A huge thank you to our sponsors for this episode: Fluid Running and 2Toms. Fluid Running makes it possible to maintain your peak physical fitness even when you're injured through the power of deep water running. And 2Toms provides advanced sweat proof, waterproof blister and chafing protection products that keep you moving. Listen for special discount codes in the episode!
In this episode, we discuss:
- How injuries are viewed in basketball—and the struggle not to see them as weaknesses (6:40)
- Her earliest experiences with injury and pain, and some of the red flags that popped up as early as elementary school (11:19)
- The biggest regret she has about her collegiate career (13:53)
- The huge high of being drafted into the WNBA, and why it was tempered by a feeling of uncertainty (19:15)
- The “soul-crushing” news that came after that (21:51)
- The challenges she faced when her career was truly over (30:48)
- The big revelation, a decade later, that finally explained her extensive injury history (36:58)
- What it felt like when she finally was able to move without pain (43:56)
- What she’s studying now, and how she hopes to help other athletes (54:34)
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Resources/links:
- ShaRae’s Beautiful Warriors support group for people with chronic conditions
- More of her story on the Arthritis Foundation website
To access more resources for injured athletes:
- Join The Injured Athletes Club mailing list, for news and updates
- Join The Injured Athletes Club Facebook group, for support and camaraderie
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