Hi, my name is Christian Vieira. I am a men's soccer player. I'm playing soccer since I was four, so for 18 years now.

 I am a graduate student at the University of Texas Dallas.

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Explain details on how your injuries happened.

 

I've dislocated my shoulder 6 times and I've had 5 concussions. I was going into my senior year of high school and I dislocated my shoulder. From there I dislocated my shoulder, two more times. The third time was when I was a freshman playing soccer here for men's soccer team. And then after that, I ended up getting surgery, and then continued to play soccer and experienced three more dislocations down the road. So now I'm at a total of six shoulder dislocations all the same shoulder, my right one.

On top of my shoulder issues that I've had in the past, I've also had several concussions, a couple of them were pretty severe and then the other ones were just mild and my most recent concussion was my fifth concussion that I had and it was a pretty severe one It also happened while I was here playing for UTD, and it took me out of the game for about a month and a half. It took me a lot longer to recover from this one due to the severity of that, as well as being the fifth concussion that I've had in my soccer career.

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How long did the shoulder dislocation recoveries take?

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During the first three dislocations, it took me about two to three months of recovery time before I was able to play. After that third time during my freshman year, I got surgery and it took me a total of nine and a half months to recover from that before I was fully cleared in soccer again.

 

How many hours a day did you have to rehab after that shoulder surgery?

 

Following that surgery, during that nine and a half months timespan, I did rehab five times a week for about two hours a day with the physical trainers here at UTD.

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What was your reaction immediately following each of the injuries?

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I think my very first dislocation I ever got it was more of a shock because it's never happened to me before, and I didn't know what was wrong I knew something was wrong but I wasn't sure what or what to do. Then once I experienced that the first time,I wasn't shocked as much the other two times. And I knew that it was more likely to happen due to my condition, but the third time it happened whenever I was during the game here on campus. I was more upset about it because I was a freshman who just started playing for the school, and I was getting minutes was doing well and everything was going well for me and then this injury came out of nowhere. It kind of derailed what my life looked like at that point in time.

 

How would you assess your mental health throughout the journey of recovery?

 

So, mainly looking into that third dislocation that I needed to do surgery, I would say the first two weeks after the initial injury, I was optimistic about it. I had a plan going forward and I knew that I was going to get surgery. Then I knew I would do the therapy and come back for an extra redshirt year and continue to play once I got back. However, once the reality set in after the surgery, I would say probably between one to one and a half months later, I started to go through a different phase where I started to get a little more -not necessarily depressed, but something was missing and obviously that thing was soccer, because I couldn't play anymore. Even though I was around the team, it just wasn't the same being on the sidelines instead of being out there on the field.

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What's the biggest mental roadblock you encountered?

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The biggest frustration for me was seeing the teammate that kind of took my place on the team that first year and seeing what he was doing and the opportunities that he was getting with the team. I knew that that would have been me if I was healthy and able to play so I was happy for him and he was my buddy and he did well, but there was a part of me that wished it was me out there instead. In reality, I was in a sling on the sideline just cheering on my team.

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One of the biggest roadblocks for me was finding something to do besides soccer to fill my time and void that I was looking for. So it was finding friends on campus to do stuff with or going somewhere fun on the weekends, just to take my mind off of the fact that I wasn't traveling with the team and I wasn't playing anymore. I wouldn't say I found another passion to replace soccer, it was just more spending time with my friends on campus and visiting other friends or on different campuses like every other weekend, since I now have more time on my hands on what to expect in my freshman year.

 

How mentally prepared were you for this injury?

 

I was ready for the physical part of recovery and putting in the hours of rehab and

pushing my body through all the exercises to get to where I needed to go. I could

take the pain because I knew with my end goal, it would all be worth it in the end.

I think the biggest problem was at the very end once I was almost done with my

recovery when I was finally able to start playing again. It was that fear in the back

of my mind that I was going to dislocate it again and something wrong was going

to happen. I was holding back and I wasn't the same player that I was before I got

injured.

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Does your injury affect your quality of life to this day?

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I would say affect my quality of life is fine, but there are things that I can't do as well as before, for instance I can't throw a baseball or football as hard or as far as I used to. I don't have full range of motion on my shoulder anymore. It's nothing major that has affected my life, but I would say it's just the little things that every now and then.

It was frustrating at first but now, 2 years later down the road, I've just kind of gotten used to it and now I know my limits of what I can and can't do. It's just something that I know I can't change, so there's no point in getting frustrated with it. It's just something I have to deal with.

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Now that you've overcome your injury, would have changed anything in the process if you could go back?

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The thing I would have done differently was finding something to do sooner, because it was probably 2 to 3 months of doing nothing and I wasn't myself, and I knew I wasn't myself, but I still didn't do anything about it. I think I was happy with what I did and going to see other friends, but I just wish I would have done that sooner. 

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What's something positive that emerge from your experience?

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I mean there's always a silver lining for for everything. That's what I believe in.

I think one of the biggest positives was the relationships that I made, especially with the training staff. One of the trainers that I did my rehab with became one of my best friends.

I think the biggest lesson for me is knowing I was able to get through nine months of rehab, and do all this and recover from it. So when life has setbacks, obviously and it's not all going to be gung-ho and daisies and you know there's going to be hard times on everyone. It's just a matter of embracing and meeting that obstacle head on and then moving forward to become better person.

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Top 3 Recovery Tips

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1. Utilize the people around you and the friends and family that you have, and don't take it all on your own. That's probably one of the hardest things to do is to bear such a burden like that, that you're already dealing with physically, and to put that mental stress on you at the same time can be very overwhelming.

Just talk to someone, physical trainer, parents, your best friend, your dog your cat, just reach out. It's hard to do it all on your own. We're not made to do things on our own, so don't try to be a Superman.

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2. Try to find a silver lining. I always try to find the bright side and everything and even though it may be hard at first, initially after an injury, there always is something to take from it.There's always something coming around the corner, you just don't know yet and you just got to keep your head up and keep working towards your goal whatever they may be.

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3. Don't be downer just because this happened to you. I understand the frustration that you're going through and what you're feeling. But, you're an athlete. You're a competitor. You have that drive and there's a reason why you do what you do. And so keep doing it. Take this injury how you take on your sport: head on with everything you got and then you'll definitely become a better person on the other side of it once you're fully recovered and playing again.

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And just on a final note, I just wish you the best of luck in your recovery and your journey ahead, and hope it all works out. Good luck!