The injury came at a time when Aitken’s career was very much on the up – she had just reached a career high of 21 in the world ranking.
The Montrose athlete admits she found the mental torment during the gruelling battle back tougher than the physical fight.
Aitken highlighted dealing with “the grieving process around losing your identity for a period of time, losing your career, your job, your salary”.
She added: “When you are an athlete your name is very much associated with the player, with the competitor and that was gone.
“Not knowing when that was going to come back, if that was going to comeback was really tough. Going through the thoughts of: ‘Who am I?’ ‘What is my purpose now?’ ‘What do I do if I can’t get back?’
“I have a couple of psychologists I work with and I am very grateful for them. Had I not had them I probably wouldn’t be returning to the sport at all.
“The physical pain you can handle, it is the mental challenges that bring it – not making money, not knowing who you are and if you are going to be able to get that back.”
While thrilled to be back in action, Aitken believes “it is going to be apparent very quickly whether I am going to be able to compete at the level I am used to or not”.
“I will know within about six to eight months,” she explained. “I will be very honest, if I am not feeling like I can compete at a level I am happy with, I will call it a day.
“I have goals of being the Scottish number one again. We have the Commonwealth Games in two years’ time, hopefully squash can be included in Glasgow.
“Then, not beating around the bush, we have been included in the Olympics for the first time in LA ’28.
“I will be 38, that is a very long shot of a target but so long as I am healthy and if the season goes well this year, that may become a target for me.
“I was out in my mid-20s for two-and-a-half years with the effects of Dengue fever and I have now been out for a couple of years with this knee injury, so I feel like even though I am 34, I have years in the bank that are unused.”
Source Agencies
