Carolina, goodbye to pain

It seemed like a simple victory (21-14 and 21-13), but Carolina Marín burst into tears as she had never done in the entire tournament. After defeating Neslihan Yigitthe tears were justified: he reached his sixth European final in a row, eleven months after destroying his left knee (torn anterior cruciate ligament and internal and external menisci). and, in addition, she was at home, in a Gallur Municipal Sports Center (Madrid) dedicated to her Olympic champion. But there was more. “He played an incredible, perfect game, but no one knows that he played with a swollen knee, that he couldn’t fully stretch it. We were able to fix that for you the final and he won it very well”, reveals one of the Huelva physiotherapists, Carlos de Santos, in conversation with this newspaper. “During the Europeans (April 2022), the months before and after, I felt a lot of pain. I never stopped training, but I did do it with a lot of discomfort due to the inflammation that was generated in me ”, Carolina herself expandswho this week will compete again in the capital, in a Madrid Spain Masters (he makes his debut on Wednesday, against Line Kjaersfeldt) in which he starts as the first seed.

The entire team went to work. “In the absence of a healthy knee, we were able to use a privileged mind and a very well-developed game plan so that he did not suffer so much,” Marín’s coach, Fernando Rivas, details about that semifinal. In the psychological field, an attentional work was developed. “There was medical certainty that the knee was not at risk. On this basis, we work with cognitive resources so that the mind does not visualize dangerous situations. If fears are unleashed, thinking that the knee can limit you, the body performs movements and motor control designed to protect the supposed element at risk. The work consisted of directing attention and emotions only to the game”, explains the sports psychologist of the three-time world champion, María Martínez. Carlos, specifically, in addition to using oral anti-inflammatories, performed drainage work to release all the fluid that the knee accumulates with the intention of protecting itself. The process was repeated for several more months.

During the injury, Carolina was forced to infiltrate with hyaluronic acid and growth factors (PRP). “With this, it is intended to create a film to achieve stability and for the knee to feel that protection,” De Santos develops. On the return to competition, however, the pain did not stop. “The only one he complained to was me, because I have to know those things, but he has never complained in public,” extols Marín’s physio. “Carolina has competed, I know, with a lot of pain. In the three or four months after the Europeans, especially. I don’t know how much, because that depends on the threshold of each person, but he did it ”, he confirms. Until December. “My knee is still touched,” warns Carolina, qualifying the joy, but she is also emphatic. “Finally, I have put the pain aside”, he does not hesitate to affirm. “The internal meniscus is still touched and you have to take care of it a lot, but, at least, we have been able to remove the pain. It was between the end of last year and the beginning of this. That makes the way of facing training sessions and enduring loads much better”, he celebrates. And with her, the whole team. “Now, the knee is practically a bad memory,” says Fernando.

A change of templates, key

“We have touched many keys”, Carolina anticipates. In addition to continuing with the infiltrations and removing fluid, a change in the insoles for the feet was key on the path to pain-free. “Two or three times,” she points out, counting the tests until she finds the right ones. In the process, Manoli, the doctor from the Higher Sports Council, was vital at Huelva’s side since she was 15 years old. “He was right,” thanks the coach of the gold medal in Rio de Janeiro, who distributes the credits. “Guille (Guillermo Sánchez, physical trainer), Carlos… they have all hit the nail on the head. On a mental level, we were also suffering a lot ”, he expands. That’s where María came in, who structures the psychological work of the last few months on three axes: the development of patience, control of frustration and self-knowledge of the body. “I know myself much better and I express emotions that I previously contained. I have also developed a lot of patience levels. One wants to advance more than normal and can’t because the knee prevents it. Sometimes it’s worse to run, because that makes you take steps backwards,” says Marín, evidencing that María’s work has borne fruit.

“The stages of overcoming have more to do with objectives met than with times. Carolina had to wait for her body to recover on a physical and physiological level. There have been stages of living with a lot of pain. She has overcome them all and, finally, she can face badminton freed of any physical tension”, the sports psychologist breaks down. That idea, that way of understanding the course of the processes, has been vital during the recovery, but it was also vital before, with a reappearance that was delayed longer than desired. The utopian thing was to return for ‘his’ World Cups in Huelvain December 2021. And they were not that far away. “In a crusader rehabilitation, the minimum time is six months. Then, there are studies that indicate a minimum term of eight. It was very fair. That week that he was in Huelva he trained very well, we even thought that he could have competed, but it was more illusion than anything else ”, recalls Carlos. The World Cups left as the Tokyo Games had already done, the great blow. “Those Games were not for me”, Carolina has repeated on many occasions, already thinking of Paris 2024. “Sometimes, we get out of situations holding on to an idea that connects us, that lights the way for us. ‘They weren’t for me’ works like a lifesaver”, explains Maríagiving meaning to the sentence.

A new Carolina… at 90%

Since December, the training has completely changed. “There was always a small pain that had to be allocated a lot of resources. Now, those resources can be used for other things”, says Fernando, with a new Carolina under construction. In the Europeans, he assured that the Huelva’s “toolbox” had been filled after the injury. In recent months, she has continued to do so. “We have worked on a different type of attack, which has never been done before and which is completely out of its comfort zone, which requires a lot of confidence and a lot of mental resources. And we have accompanied it with some skills in the network, a point of the game that we have improved and put into practice in recent months ”, he details. In Madrid, he also assured that his pupil I was only 60 or 70%. Now, he claims that she even aimed too high. “That’s what I thought. In the past, I think he was even less, ”she admits. And now? “To the all england he reached 90% of his physical and mental possibilities”, he does not hesitate to affirm.

On British soil, a flu process (which is still intuited with a specific cough and runny nose) stopped the rise. “It seems that they have cast an evil eye on us,” laments Fernando, trying to downplay the matter. “In January, I felt much better in terms of level of play and sensations. In the physical aspect, I noticed a deficit, because I needed that little point more What I lack against the players who are currently in the world top-3. In preparation for the all englandHowever, we had handled it very well. Unfortunately, then, the flu arrived”, Carolina develops. During the Asian tour she made to start the year, Rivas saw her at her best since the injury. “It was very positive. She won the ones she had to win, with difficult draws, and lost with the ones she could lose., understanding this as they were the ones that are now stronger. At a competitive level, we are where we need to be. Details of those players ”, celebrates the coach. Goodbye pain, hello Carolina.