Insight: Australia’s basketball GOAT Lauren Jackson on injury, the comebacks and her secret pain

Having soared to the very top of her sport while still playing professionally at age 42, Australian basketball royalty Lauren Jackson has very few regrets in life - but one sticks out.

I never set out to be a poster girl for – how shall we put it – the more mature athletes in my second basketball career.

When I first made the decision to get back out on court, it was just to have fun and enjoy spending time with my teammates at home in Albury.

For me, it was never about getting back to playing at the elite level.

I had put on about 30kg after I had my two sons. Emotionally, I was in a great place with my young family, so I thought it would be great if I could get my body back as well.

It started off with just an hour of training each morning with my long time trainer Shannon at Lonedog in Albury, a few days a week.

But once the competitive juices started to flow again, one thing led to another and, before you know it, I was back playing for the Opals at the World Cup and in the WNBL.

Lauren Jackson and son Harry in 2017

Jackson made a mighty comeback for the Opals in 2022. Picture: Getty

I certainly never set out to be playing at the highest level again, or to still be playing top-level basketball at the age of 42.

People have asked me what the key to my longevity has been and, this time around, it has just come down to persistence, trusting the process and doing things the right way.

My body has been through a lot throughout my basketball career and earlier in my playing days, I’m the first to admit I was young and stupid. I did things a lot of young people do and probably didn’t look after my body as well as I do now.

Jackson dealt with, and often played through, many injuries during her career.

But I also feel if you commit to a goal and you have got the support around you, you can really achieve it – it doesn’t matter how old you are or what you have been through.

Physically, our bodies are capable of so much if we do things right.

To be honest, I have been amazed at what my body has been able to do at my age.

The last 12 months have been the hardest I have ever faced as a basketballer.

After the double surgery to my foot and Achilles in February 2023, I thought it was all over.

When I initially hurt my foot, I was told it was arthritis, so in my head I was thinking ‘This is a pain you are going to have to live with if you want to keep playing basketball’.

Jackson managed to find a way to push through the pain.

I had managed to flick a switch in my head to push through it. But when I found out that it was actually broken, I thought, ‘Oh, you’ve done it again. You’ve been playing through something that should have been operated on straight away’.

That was surprisingly really hard for me to mentally manage.

Then there was the flow-on effect. My Achilles got pretty sore, pretty quickly because I was compensating so much for the injured foot and then it snapped.

My body just said ‘Sorry mate, you are too old to do that. I can’t do that anymore’.

The recovery from simultaneous twin surgeries was brutal, especially the first two months.

I was in a wheelchair for four weeks post-surgery, crutches for another four to five weeks and then a couple of moon boots.

I remember I would leave the gym when I started the rehab process, just feeling so deflated, thinking that it was never going to get better because it was so painful in both my feet.

Jackson has made a remarkable comeback again this year with the Southside Flyers. Picture: Getty

It was tough trying to push through it. But then my surgeon said you will hit a point where you break through the pain and then you’ll turn a corner – and he was right.

Regardless of what I was going through physically, the hardest part of the recovery was my kids having to see me like that. It was really hard for them.

I had to go to my eldest son’s school for parent-teacher interviews in April – once I had finally gotten out of the moon boots. The teacher told me that when I was laid out in the wheelchair, my son was going to school everyday complaining of a sick tummy.

She figured out pretty quickly it was because I was in hospital and dealing with the aftermath of my surgeries. But he has never had a response like that.

It wasn’t until she said that to me that I thought, ‘Oh my god, my poor kids, what have they been through?’

Jackson with her two young sons in 2022.

Jackson back in action for the Flyers. Picture: Getty

That’s why, in these last six to eight months, I thought I am just going to get as strong as I can for them and whatever happens, happens.

I wasn’t planning on playing again, but the way my body responded, I never anticipated it.

Leading into the start of this WNBL season, I have felt as fit as I ever had.

In terms of the training and work I have done, I have probably put in more than ever.

I have to manage everything just because of my age and what I have been through, but I feel like I have got the right people around me to help me do that right now – I have got a great physio and support staff with the Southside Flyers.

Southside helped me rehab properly and they put all the resources around me just to make sure I was right whether I played or not, which was amazing.

I have definitely become smarter at doing rehab as I got older.

And there has certainly been plenty of practice at it.

I have almost lost count of the amount of surgeries I’ve had across the course of my career, but it’s upwards of 30.

There have been a few main injuries, obviously my knee, which I have had a lot of surgeries on over the years.

But there have also been injuries to my shoulder, hip, ankles and, most recently, my Achilles and foot. There are not many parts of my body that haven’t experienced the surgeon’s knife.

On top of all the playing injuries, I also suffered from bad endometriosis my whole career. I probably had about seven laparoscopies for that, as well as a hysterectomy, but not many people know about all those things I went through.

Jackson has given her all – and much of her body – for Australian basketball. Picture: AAP

I think I was only about 20 when I had my first surgery, which would have been my shoulder and from there it was my ankles, feet and hips.

The troubles with my knee started when I tore the meniscus out of the root of my bone at the back and a small bit of bone chipped off. Then I later re-did the injury and the meniscus degraded pretty quickly and it was just surgery after surgery.

At the end of it, I did my ACL and that was it. That was the end of my (first) career and I had a half knee replacement.

I reckon I had about 15 operations on the one knee and no matter what I did, it just wasn’t getting better.

Then after I did my ACL, I went and got a leg-wax and I got a staph infection in my knee and I was in hospital for another week or two and a couple more clean outs to fix the graft.

In hindsight, I could have done things differently. In my career, I have had a lot of advice that has been completely wrong about my body and I should have trusted my instinct and then here were times where I have gone against good advice and pushed through things I should have never pushed through in my life and hence what happened last year. There is no doubt I’ve made mistakes along the way but looking at things retrospectively is really hard because I would not be where I am today if I knew all of the things I know now earlier in my career and I am so happy with my life.

All of those experiences have shaped the person I am today and I feel I am very grateful and so lucky to be in this situation and still playing. I wouldn’t actually change anything for the world.

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Originally published as Insight: Australia’s basketball GOAT Lauren Jackson on injury, the comebacks and her secret pain