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How I Blew Out My Knee and Came Back to Win a National Championship

February 1st, 2011 | Gymnastics, psychology, safety, vault

An essay by Jason Shen

… This story is for every anyone (athlete or not) who’s struggled with an injury – yeah it sucks big time, but do ALL your physical therapy and be unreasonably optimistic. Things can and will get better. …

On January 19th, 2007, while competing for Stanford Men’s Gymnastics at the UC Berkeley, I suffered a total knee dislocation while performing a double-twisting Yurchenko. My ACL, PCL, MCL, LCL and meniscus were instantly torn. It hurt a lot.

I underwent multiple surgeries, required the use of crutches for months and spent a couple hundred hour in physical therapy. One year later, I was back in the arena as an active competitor. In my final season, I was elected a team captain and helped lead our team to win the 2009 NCAA Team Championship – our first victory in over 14 years. …

Part 1 of 3

Part 2 of 3

Part 3 is yet to come.

You might want to bookmark it as an inspirational read for anyone trying to come back from injury.

Thanks Jason.

6 comments ↓

#1 Jane on 02.01.11 at 8:36 am

It’s Shen, not Chen.

#2 coach Rick on 02.01.11 at 8:44 am

Thanks Jane. I’ll fix that.

#3 Kylie on 02.01.11 at 8:51 am

I did something similar to my knee. dislocated my femur tore acl, lcl, pcl, menisuc, and some other stuff.

#4 Jason Shen on 02.03.11 at 1:57 am

Hey guys – thanks so much for sharing my posts – I’ve loved being a gymnast and I just wanted to share my struggles with injury and the journey I went through to come back. It’s a tough road but competing again is so worth it.

#5 Jason Shen on 02.04.11 at 4:38 pm

Hey guys, the final post is up here: http://www.jasonshen.com/2011/part-3-blew-out-knee-win-national-championship/

#6 coach Rick on 02.04.11 at 4:54 pm

Thanks Jason.

It’s great. Will link next week when more people are online to see it.

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