Rangers, Broken Hips and Yoga
About six years ago Mike and I were having dinner with a good friend of ours that was also in 2nd Ranger Battalion at the time. After dinner I asked our friend what he was doing two weekends from now because I was planning a get-together for Mikes birthday. No sooner did I get that question out of my mouth, Mike was yelling “NOOOOOOO!!!...” At the same time our friend gets a shit-eating grin on his face saying “oh, really…?”
Note to self: apparently you don’t ever tell an Army Ranger when another Ranger buddy’s birthday is because they will lovingly tie them up, cut them, and beat them. Joking; not joking.
Mike goes on to share a story and show a scar from one of his ‘birthday gifts’ from a group of his buddies years ago. Apparently, they ‘accidently’ cut his arm with a knife when attempting to take the zip-tie off his wrists after a birthday torture session. This left a nice gash that should have been stitched up by a doctor, apparently normal shenanigans amongst friends. Anyhow, after Mike is done telling this bizarre story, I end up making our friend promise me he would not do anything weird to my husband on his birthday.
Fast forward a couple of weeks, I get a call from Mike the morning of his birthday telling me that his hip may be broken or fractured and that he was on his way to the hospital. Evidently, word got out and all the guys, our dinner guest being the ringleader, decided to jump Mike when he got done with PT. A birthday cake was supposed to be involved somewhere in there, but a hip fracture happened instead. Details aside, Mike’s Army Ranger career was pretty much over since the doctors were telling him he needed surgery and he’d be non-deployable for 6 months or so while he recovered.
I, just like my husband, am a driven individual and wasn’t going to let something like a broken hip defeat us or his future. This wasn’t the only thing to take place, but its the defining event that led me to pull the trigger on something I had been wanting to do for a while, yoga school.
Many hear the term ‘yoga’ and quickly envision a hairy legged woman, chanting away while eating granola. Let’s just say, that’s not me! I had a much different agenda, which was to educate myself enough where I could help rehabilitate my husband as well as other like minded individuals living with the same kinds of injuries and pain.
My yoga journey leads to many other health related discussions, which will be shared as we go along, but the main point of this specific story was to not let something broken defeat you. There’s always a solution to every problem and in this case, it was coming up with a rehabilitation plan that incorporated yoga in order to help save Mike's career, oh…and his hip.
To learn more about me and my yoga journey, please enjoy the following link and I’ll talk more on the subject next time Sarah Burke RYT 500. Until then, get after it and don’t let a little hip fracture defeat your life plans!
~Sarah N Burke
