The first time was on Saturday. When I pushed myself off the lift chair, somehow my left thumb got caught on the edge of the chair and it hurt! It was the beginning of the day and I was already injured. It wasn't fun, because the rest of the day I fell many times on my arms or my butt, and I needed to be careful not to hurt my thumb any more.
It was definitely a workout. Since I haven't gone snowboarding for two years, I started to realize what I "missed". In this regard, I much prefer kiteboarding, as in kiting, I fall into water. Not that kiteboarding didn't have its moments.
That day when we got back to our hotel, both of us were so exhausted we didn't want to move a muscle. Jack told me I should ice my thumb to see if it helped. I was like: "Do I really have to?"
"For all I know, you might have broken your thumb." The scare tactic works on me every time.
Reluctantly I dragged my aching body out of bed and went to get ice from the ice maker on the other end of the building. I put some ice in a towel, and wrapped it around my left thumb.
"How long does it take?" I asked.
"Until your hand freezes." Jack said.
"Oh bugger. My hand is already freezing after 1 minute." I grumbled.
"Then hold it for 7 minutes and rest, then do it again."
It actually worked!! I was totally amazed how this simple, annoying treatment worked like magic.
The second day we went back to the mountain. Toward the end of our day when we got off the last chair lift to go back to the gondola, I fell on my left thumb again, ouch! I boarded down the mild slope and got out of my snowboard. This time I just picked up some snow and put it around my twice injured thumb. One the way down the mountain, I was relieved to feel that I survive this snowboarding trip, and I very much enjoyed the view of Lake Tahoe from the gondola.
The next morning we got up early to pack for home. Jack slipped on the ice by the car and he screamed. He hit his shine on the car while balancing himself on it. We got back to the room, and put some ice on his shine for 10 minutes.
In fact, everyone should always remember the rule of thumb for treating muscle injuries: ice within 48 hours and heat therapy thereafter.
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