Injuries part 1
Clint Esposito
Injuries part 1
Ok you just broke yourself off, heres what to expect.
No one likes to get hurt or talk about getting hurt. However if you ride dirt bikes its going to happen. If you get bitten by the moto bug you are most likely going to ride again and get hurt again. It’s a real bummer but its reality.
DISCLAIMER: I am not a Doctor, a Physical Therapist or even a Trainer. I am not here to tell you how to treat or care for your injury. All injuries are different and should be treated as such. With that being said you may be asking yourself why should I continue reading any further or listen to anything you have to say?? Experience my friend experience. I am a believer in real life knowledge. I have ridden dirt bikes for 27 years and payed my bills with it for 16 years.
Unfortunately I have broken my,
Femur, wrist, thumb, pinky twice, collarbone, ankle, T 5 Vertebrae, Jaw and my Left Tib/Fib twice.
Plus 3rd degree separated shoulder, torn meniscus, two bulging disks and one herniated in my neck, popped barsel sack in my elbow, torn rotator cuff and detached rear deltoid at the same time, plus sprains bruised muscles/cartilage. Not to mention about 10 to 15 concussions.
X Ray of my left Tib Fib March 19 2016.
Man that really looks bad down on paper. I figured it out one time and I have spend approximately 2 to 3 years of my life healing from injury. So you could say I have dealt with the process a few times and here is what I learned.
So you just crashed, when the dust settles you realize your leg is pointed in the wrong direction. First and most important REMAIN CALM and BREATH! You will be amazed how much concentrating on breathing can help you cope with a terrible situation. Never and I mean never has screaming and getting upset helped anyone. I like to trip out the EMS and doctors when they take blood pressure and its normal even in a situation like that. If you’re in enough pain you’ll go into shock by the way. (How to tell if you’re in shock. if your leg is pointed in the wrong direction and it really doesn’t hurt that bad, you are in shock. You can thank your body later for protecting you from dealing with that.)
Next EMS is going to come and assess the damage, they are going to ask you what hurts. After you tell them they will try and put you in a neck brace and strap you to the stretcher no matter what you said hurts. The EMS personal are just fallowing protocol however it seems their protocol includes convincing you to take the ambulance. Maybe even scaring you into taking the ambulance. In the case of my last injury I took the ambulance. I actually requested it, only because of the situation I was in. However I have argued with EMS many times that I was not taking their expensive ride to the hospital. (Ambulance rides are expensive and insurance doesn’t cover it a lot of times) In these situations I knew what was wrong with me and I knew I didn’t need EMS to stabilize my injury.
Now you have reached the emergency by whichever method you choose. Again the health professionals will fallow protocol. They will X-ray what you said hurts and almost everything around it if you let them. Again X-rays are a necessary part of the process however I feel like they are way too eager to run up your bill with expensive pictures. Once they figure out whats wrong with you they will move into the fixing stage of the process, this may include surgery.
Available in Store
If you take anything away from this article it should be this. If you have a bad injury get a good doctor and get it fixed right away. The longer injuries sit the harder it is to get them back to 100%. You may not get 100% movement and or strength back anyway but getting it fixed fast is your best chance. Having a good DR increases those odds. In the case of my last accident I already have a DR I have dealt with and like so I told the ER staff I was not getting surgery there. You should have seen the look on their faces. I’m pretty sure they have never had someone with a compound Tib Fib tell them they were leaving without surgery. I had already been on the phone with my DR he told me to have them wash out the hole and splint it. Once again it was a 30 min conversation about how I shouldn't leave without getting it fixed. I was told I could get a bone infection ext, once again I feel like scare tactics were being used to get me to have surgery there. After the hole where the bone came out was washed and they put a splint on it I was sent home with a prescription for 15 Tylenol 3’s… You read that right, notsure if I should have been screaming about how painful it was or if it was a parting shot from the DR for not getting it fixed there. I know the EMT’s, ER staff and Doctors all want to help. Maybe I’m jaded or have been through this too many times but I feel like the business side of things is ever present even in cases of your health. Ultimately the decision is yours, no one can force you get have anything done, that doesn't mean they wont try to persuade you.
In the next part I will go over surgery and recovery.
Clint Esposito
