Burn Units Rider

Last year Austrian burn unit Werni Stock had a major setback with a serious injury, breaking his anterior cruciate ligament, putting his snow season to bed. The recovery hasn't been straightforward, with many complications and surgeries on the way.

He's on the road to recovery now though, and we caught up with him to hear about his injury and the challenges of getting over it and back on the board.

B. Hey Werni, we heard you just got back from Mexico what were you up to down there?
W. Vacation. Just me and my girl. We had such a great time. It was my first time in Mexico and it was such a blast! We've been chilling, eating, snorkeling...[check the pix on our Flickr]

B. How's the leg doing?
W. It's running perfect. I have really serious and strong work out nearly every day. But it's worth it.I can go back on board in not even 14 days. Yes, I'm just so stoked to get back to the board. I'm already counting down the days.

B. Can you tell us a bit about what happened?
W. I got injured while practicing for the EU X-Games back home in Mayrhofen. I did my Tech Tricks as always and suddenly on a FS 1080 doublecork something went wrong.Went too far, flipped not far enough...A really bad situation. After that slam I knew that something was wrong in my knee.

B. You realised how bad it was straight away?
W. I knew that there was something wrong. But I didn't think that it was a broken ACL.Broken ACL sucks super bad. You have to get surgery and then a long long period of rehab and work outs.

B. What kind of training did you do in rehab?
W. I did all kind of training like, coordiantion, stability, lifting weights, pistols, hamstring exercises, bike. I'm really stoked how everything came together. I am feeling really strong now.

B. What's been keeping you focused during your recovery?
W. My love of snowboarding.

B. Has this been the worst injury you've faced in your career?
W. This ACL injury was by far the worst. I mean the injury itself was not that bad.But all that complications made it a really hard time. I had five surgeries in two months. That was quite a hard time. Now, I'm super stoked that everything is done and I'm feeling better than ever.

B. So what did you get up to during the enforced time off?
W. My Girl, family, friends, Facebook,... has been backing me up. Really I got so much support. Thank you all.

B. When will you be back on the board?
W. In about 2 weeks :) I'm so ready. Hell yeah, it's gonna be ssssooo great.

B. Wheres the first place you're going to shred once you're back on it?
W. Probably back home in Hintertux. It's such a good place with lot of slopes, perfect park...

B. Do you have any events or projects coming up?
W. Pretty soon me and my friends gonna build up our own Railpark (Ruama Park) with some new top secret features. And besides that I just want to snowboard to get better and stronger to be ready for the upcoming season. For sure I'll get ready for Air&Style in Innsbruck.

B. Looking forward. Thanks Werni

Check out more blog updates from Werni on his official website and see more injury and recovery photos on our Flickr.

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