In the phase of recovery after a serious injurya holistic approach can make the difference between a quick recovery or a longer, more difficult journey. The US Army Captain Lars Nordangfollowing a serious accident that occurred during an off-piste snowboarding session, he lived this experience firsthand.
While enjoying his passion for sports in Colorado, Nordang found himself in the air without first making sure of the actual landing point. The completely flat surface it impacted caused devastating damage including injuries to the anterior cruciate ligamental medial collateral ligament et al right knee meniscus. An injury that could have marked the end of his sporting and professional career.
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In March 2023, Nordang has underwent surgeryfollowed by a long period in which he had to use crutches. The timing couldn’t be worse: Lars was attending his final semester of dental school under the scholarship program dell’U.S. Army Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP). When he showed up at the Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state as of July, Nordang had gained no military experience due to the weeks of total lockdown required to recover from his injury. With the knee still recovering the man should have complete a ten-week course in Texas.
RYAN GRAHAM
Captain Lars Nordang
In this terrible situation the turning point came, thanks to programma Holistic Health and Fitness (H2F) of the U.S. Army, a path that integrates physical, mental, nutritional, spiritual and sleep well-being to develop Soldier health, performance and readiness. As Nordang tells it: “Somehow I ended up in this program on the first day. I received a thorough evaluation from the H2F team members and from then on I was there every day.” The program, customized to his needs, allowed Nordang to follow a complete seven-month rehabilitation coursewith the aim of making it ready for official training by the set date.
The initial stages of the H2F program were not easy to navigate. “I was in terrible shape when I showed up,” admits Nordang. “I was still very far behind in my healing process because I had had a major surgery and wanted to rehabilitate my knee as soon as possible.” The first objective was to regain strength in the injured limb through daily two-hour training sessions that incorporated manual therapy and core workouts such as running and agility exercises.
Psychological support and attention to nutrition: this is how Lars Nordang rehabilitated himself
Another key pillar of the program was recovery of mental well-being. Nordang he periodically met with a sports psychologist to deal with the emotional impact of rehabilitation, finding fundamental support in overcoming moments of frustration and maintaining the right motivation: “I tend to be positive and don’t let anything stop me from achieving my goals”, he says, “but there are There were definitely some days where my body wasn’t cooperating the way I wanted it to.”
Even the part of the program dedicated to nutrition played a decisive role. Nordang, who calls himself a “skinny kid,” had lost about 30 pounds of muscle mass after surgery. “I wanted to reach 90 kilos, and I was almost there before the injury – then I had surgery and I was back to 60 kilos,” he says. Thanks to a protocol based on body measurement, nutritional counseling and monitoring of vitamin and electrolyte levelsNordang managed to regain his desired muscle mass, reaching over 90 kilos in just a few months.
At the beginning of 2024, when he was already well underway with knee rehabilitation, Nordang faced another challenge: he was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW)a congenital heart condition that causes episodes of abnormally increased heart rate. Luckily they were able to cure her and a week after recovering Lars took a vital test for the US Army, l’Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT, achieving a score of 530 out of 600 – an excellent result, then further improved in the following weeks.
Courtesy of Subject
In February 2024, Nordang finished the H2F program and officially began her four-year studies in Army Oral Maxillofacial Surgery.
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