04 August 2009

Bike Accident - For Real This Time

So, earlier this summer I was involved in a "hit and run" of sorts with a Boston cab driver (Boston Cab Associates, for the record - one of their hybrid cars). On the [very busy] Mass Ave. bridge, the cab had "stopped" [for me], but when I took my right of way he decided to go instead. He just hit my back wheel, and I managed to keep control of my bike and more importantly, I stayed on. It all seemed so scary at the time, but it really wasn't. I wasn't even hurt—just shaken.

But I survived it. I survived my first "accident." I felt victory as an urban rider.

Well, I spoke too soon, because on July 25th, I was thrown from my bike here. It was actually kind of funny because there were no cars involved in the accident part of my accident. I was too busy paying attention to the cab (go figure) that had cut me off, and my wheel got stuck in the train tracks, locked, and then I was thrown.

I lost a little bit of blood, but mostly I felt stupid. I felt stupid because it didn't occur to me that coming parallel at the tracks would catch my tire and that it would lock when I tried to turn.

Anyway, I had a lovely array of injuries:

One more of the ankle Ouch Hand

I also had a pain in my shoulder. I couldn't move all day Sunday, but I laid on an ice pack for hours and then went to bed with one, and I felt fine on Monday. Again, I was grateful. Again, I had avoided a "real" accident. Yeah, I fell off my bike, because I'm stupid. I wasn't thrown in traffic. I wasn't hit by a car.

Well, I had my laughs about it, but I'm not laughing today. Mostly because it HURTS to laugh. It hurts to cough. It hurts like HELL to sneeze. I think I have a rotary cuff injury.

Has anyone experienced something like this? Is physical therapy the way to go? I'm running out of Ibuprofen and also the hope that this will heal itself. I thought it was a bruise, but I know I'm not qualified to diagnose my insides.

1 comment:

*A* said...

Oh gosh, I hope it's not a rotator cuff injury. Those SUCK. My boyfriend injured his in a rugby game and he said it was ages before it was feeling normal again. He went to a physical therapist for a while and she basically did a lot of (painful, unfortunately) massage on it and gave him exercises to do at home to strengthen it.
It took him a long time to regain his full range of motion. In fact, his injury happened before I even met him and now almost two years later it still gets sore easily (he often complains about pain after he overdoes it on weight lifting) and it feels weird when I massage it. Kind of...squishy.
He was told that he could have surgery on it, but the first "cure" is a lot of physical therapy (part of his problem with recurring pain is he rarely does the strengthening exercises his therapist suggested). So far his pain is occasional enough that he doesn't feel the surgery is necessary, but it's definitely an injury that sticks around.
To summarize my ridiculously long comment: don't take it lightly. Get a diagnosis and get to a therapist ASAP if it really is a rotator cuff issue. And hopefully if it is a rotator cuff injury you'll respond well to the physical therapy and feel better soon.
I hope it's not so serious. Good luck!!