I found this thread and following a recent discussion we had
here I thought it might be good to write about my sim-racing injury.
It was a Friday night when I found an Assetto Corsa Key for something like 3 euros.
Downloaded, installed and launched the game without big expectations given it's age and the fact I was already playing ACC.
But the FFB of AC on my DD1 blew my mind!
The weekend that followed I had a lot of free time and I put something like 15 hours on the game.
Sunday night and just 10 minutes before shutting everything down and going to sleep, I drive a 911 GT3 and brake hard with my Sprints(only 30kg of brake force).
Suddenly,
and without any warning or the slightest annoyance, I push the brake and I have a cracking feeling in my left knee followed by extreme pain that obliged me to quit the game instantly(I was leading the race
)
For the next 2-3 days I could barely walk(strong pain, cracking sounds, slight sense of instability) and after 10 days of completely quiting any physical activity my knee was still in pain.
I decided to visit a doctor(he was laughing when I described him how the accident occured
) who examined me and found that my knee has liquid and a heavy inflammation as well.
He suggested complete stop of any sport or physical activity and prescribed me some anti-inflammatory pills.
Almost two months after the accident my knee was still in pain.
Definitely less, but enough to make me avoid every unnecessary walking.
And off course not even think of sim-racing.
The next step was an MRI which showed that I had a partial lesion of the medial ligament which does not need any kind of operation or intervention according my doctor.
He suggested to rest and do some physiotherapy sessions once the pain goes away.
Now we are on 3 months after the initial accident and my knee is still in pain.
I am able to do some 20 minutes walking sessions every second day and off course deal successfully with all my daily activities(driving, shopping etc.)
But I can feel that any sport or something that will put stress on my knee is forbidden. And I don't even want to think of touching this brake with my left foot.
I am a patient person and I will give my knee the necessary time to heal but I definitely plan to get a second opinion.
Till then I am doing some right foot braking cause I couldn't stay away from sim-racing anymore.
My new racing activities are not trouble free cause my right knee is not as strong as the injured left one.
It had a meniscus surgery 3 years ago and a permanent patella chondropathy.
So it 'does not like' the fact that now it has to do all the job(throttle+brake) so I have to be cautious.
Not doing long racing sessions and trying to be gentle on the pedals.
Dropped the resistance of my throttle to minimum and set my brake at 15kg.(I wish it had less!)
I also have to give it some days off but not long periods of inactivity as it has to be active to not 'loose the habit'.
As you can imagine, racing under these circumstances is not great but it still can be fun. And definitely better than nothing.
A chance to fine-tune my settings as well by doing some non competitive practice/hot lapping sessions.
But I couldn't never imagine that I can get injured playing video games. So while it's frustrating it also has an hilarious part.
