Adaptive Swimmer

Pain didn’t stop Sophie Etheridge from falling back in love with swimming

In 2011, when I was hit by a car, my life totally changed. All the plans and hopes I had at that point felt a million miles away and, being honest, impossible. It took me years before I could swim again because the pain my complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) causes means that anything touching my legs and feet hurts – including water! At first, I would be in tears just having a shower. I couldn’t wear trousers, shoes or socks and even the wind would hurt my legs. I was like that for several years but after doing an intense course at the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases I learnt how to do things despite the pain. My goal for the end of the course was to wear a pair of trainers and socks for my final physiotherapy session. It was difficult and painful, but I managed it. I still use what I learnt in those sessions at the hospital today and without them I wouldn’t be able to swim.

Learning to mentally overcome the pain is the only way I manage to swim, and learning how to do it was probably one of the biggest challenges of my life. I started slowly by simply sitting on poolside with my legs in the water. As I was doing that I was focusing on the feel of the water, how it felt when someone swam past me and caused movement in the water around my legs. Even now, years later, the first thing I do when I get in the water is acknowledge my pain and tell myself it’s ok. Of course, at the time I was also imagining how it would feel to be swimming after five years out of the water. I felt quite self-conscious when I was just sitting on poolside teaching myself to accept the pain because no one else knew why I was just sitting on the poolside or what was going on in my head. I just had to tell myself that the pain I had was not harming me in any way, it was just Sophie learnt how to acknowledge her pain

my nervous system going into overdrive and that was ok and for me, it was normal. Eventually, after doing that three or four times, I entered the water. At that point, I didn’t even dream that I would ever get back to swimming long distances like I had before my accident, it simply hurt too much. But I did fall back in love with swimming.

The more I did it, the more I loved it and the longer and further I swam. It doesn’t mean it isn’t still painful – every time I swim it hurts – but I have learnt to accept that the benefits I get from it far outweigh the pain.

I am often asked what I love about swimming and why on earth would I put myself through so much pain when I don’t have to. The simplest answer is that I love it, I always have, and I always will.

“Learning to mentally overcome the pain is the only way I manage to swim, and learning how to do it was probably one of the biggest challenges of my life”