Starting 2020 with getting hit by a car on my bike. . . and the true lesson revealed.
Hey gang.
Yep, I was riding across a crosswalk — at ‘pedestrian speed’ and with the walk signal ON- in the pouring rain this past Sunday, when a car hit me while trying to turn left. It all happened so fast, and when the car hit my bike, I got tossed onto my side, landing awkwardly on my right shoulder and hip.
Oof.
A crowd of people came to my rescue, and 3–4 witnesses said he was definitely at fault.
To make a long story short, aside from a little abrasion on my bar tape and saddle, the bike was 100% untouched. Like not even a scratch. My shoulder, however, was notably sore, and as I gathered information from the driver and talked to witnesses, I knew it was going to bother me for probably a couple weeks before a full recovery.
Sigh. But, it could’ve been worse.
The driver was obviously shaken up and wanted to help. . . But after getting his number and information, he later texted me, telling me: #1) He has no car insurance, #2) His wife had recently lost her job, and #3) his house was currently in Foreclosure.
Yep. His life was literally a soon-to-be-released hit country song… And deep down, I felt bad for the guy. — And yes, I know this guy could’ve been lying through his teeth, but alas.
Ultimately, I felt lucky.
Lucky that I wasn’t run over.
Lucky the bike was fine.
Lucky that I didn’t hit my head.
And I felt especially lucky to be a Physical Therapist with an injury, who knows how to rest, recover, modify my movements, and what things I should avoid, things I should be doing, and eventually how to rehab myself back into shape.
Deep down, I know I’m going to make a full recovery.
I really started to dwell on that last point.
As someone who has worked in the healthcare space now for nearly 2 decades, I’ve heard of many, many stories of accidents (both car and bike), weird falls, and unfortunate crashes. And, in many of these longstanding, unresolving, painful injury cases- the primary reason that folks do not recover is strongly correlated to:
- The lack of knowledge on how to initially manage symptoms
- Doing things that unknowingly aggravate and exacerbate the pain
- A deepening sense of helplessness, victimization, blame, and depression — This really slows the process down, as physical pain worsens when we become more angry, frustrated and anxious about our bodies when they hurt . . And especially an injury that will take a few weeks (or even months) to get back to 100%.
The lesson that I’m slowly trying to peel out of this unfortunate experience is that knowledge- about an injury, what structures have been damaged, and the knowledge of what to do, what not to do, and what to expect for recovery is very valuable information.
Without it, we have no direction on recovery, and can easily become depressed, experience more pain, and delay our ability to get back to the activities we love to do..
Can you relate?
Have you ever had an injury (or currently suffering form an injury) that didn’t recover?
Did anyone ever tell you what was actually wrong?
Tell you what to do, and what NOT to do?
What to expect with recovery?
It’s weird. Having this unfortunate injury has actually stoked my fire even more to help people recover from acute and chronic injuries alike — I’m a firm believer that recovery IS ALWAYS possible — you just have to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to create the proper environment to actually allow healing — both internally and externally — to take place.
Together, let’s make 2020 your very best year yet..
I think starting the year out like this for me
. . . well, it’s only up from here!
Kevin
Kevin Schmidt, PT — PDX — Pedal PT : Teaching Academy. : The Portland’r
