“Keep Slapping My Face”- Lindsey Vonn Recalled the Most Horrifying Injury of Her Career

American skiing star Lindsey Vonn has seen many injuries in her career. Excelling in an extreme sport certainly comes with its physical costs. Torn ACLs, fractures, broken ankles, cut right thumb, and countless concussions. It hasn’t been an easy ride for Vonn.

But the worst of it all was when she broke her right arm in a training crash back in November 2016. Vonn opens up about her experience on that slope.

Lindsey Vonn explains her right arm injury

Training on the Copper Mountain in Colorado, Vonn crashed and broke the humerus of her right arm, sustaining nerve damage. The injury required delicate surgery to fix the fracture. Doctors inserted a plate and 18 screws meticulously in her right arm. 

In a segment with Women’s Health, Vonn shared her experience on the day of the injury. “There wasn’t enough snow to get us to the bottom. So I had to take a pickup truck on a dirt road with my nerve getting jammed the whole way down,” Vonn said. 

With her bone split in three, her physical therapist, Lindsay Winninger, had to keep her awake. “My physical therapist had to keep slapping my face to keep me from fainting because it was such intense pain,” she added. 

The Olympic champion often refers to this as the worst injury she suffered through in her career. If anything went wrong in the operation, she would have never been able to ski again.

READ MORE: “That Was a Big One’- Lindsey Vonn’s Physical Therapist Lindsay Winninger Recalls Her Most Horrific Injury

The aftermath of surgery and rehabilitation

Vonn explained that she couldn’t move her arm after the surgery. She claimed, “I woke up with no feeling in my hand; I struggled with that for a few months.” 

The skier underwent arduous physical therapy to regain feeling, motor control, and strength. “I couldn’t hold anything, I couldn’t pick anything up, I couldn’t write my name, I couldn’t brush my hair,” she added. It took eight weeks before the doctor gave her the green light to restart training.

While it was the most painful experience for her, the recovery time was still shorter than many of her knee injuries. Vonn has had six surgeries on just her right knee. When she came back to compete after the recovery of her right hand, she had taped a ski pole to her right glove to keep it stable.

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She retired in February 2019, as the extent of her injuries left her unable to continue competing. Still, Vonn left the sport with 82 World Cup titles.