Joelle King: injury update

Two months on from Joelle King rupturing her achilles tendon, we caught up with her to see how she's doing.

In our last catch-up with Joelle she had just had her operation and was settling in for long weeks of rest and elevating her injured leg.

Nearly two months on, she has made some giant strides of improvement!  As Joelle herself puts it "when you suffer such an horrific injury, the bright side is that you are able to make a lot of progress as you recover, and even the smallest steps of recovery feel great".  

In the past few weeks Joelle has been able to return to exercising, which has "done wonders" for her sanity.  Starting with swimming (using her arms only, with a flutterboard to immobilise her legs), Joelle has more recently progressed to the gym for workouts.  In the past few days she has also been given permission to use her legs more.  In the pool this has meant getting rid of the flutterboard and kicking, and in general life it has meant dispensing with the crutches that have been part of her life for so long.  Although she is still sporting a moonboot, even this should be off the scene in the next fortnight.

Starting with every second day, she has worked up to exercising daily.  According to Joelle, having the daily routine of exercise in her life has been really healthy for her.  Not only can she see regular signs of recovery, it also feels great to be active.

She has been watching a lot of squash - both her friends and rivals on the WSA tour in world tour events, and the Cambridge team she coached/managed at the B Grade Superchamps Nationals recently.  Watching squash hasn't been a trial for her as it for some injured players, who are jealous and anxious to get back on court themselves.  In fact, the only hardship about watching has been negotiating the stairs to talk to her players between games whilst on crutches!

All in all many positive signs for Joelle, none more so than the positive attitude she has maintained throughout the ordeal.  

For more regular progress updates, visit Joelle's facebook page.