As anyone in the bicycle community knows, injuries are a part of the hobby sometimes. These injuries range from tricky branches catching you to total wipeouts. Some accidents that involve vehicles result in even worse injuries.
To an avid cyclist, injuries are just another hurdle between cycling trips and so it makes sense that the first instinct when you fall down is to get right back up. But understanding the severity of your injury and what recovery may help most is important when it comes to long-term cycling.
Physical therapy after an accident
As the Mount Prospect Health Center describes, your physical therapy needs depend on a variety of factors.
Sometimes putting your feet up for a few days is enough time between bruises and cuts to get back on your bicycle. Other times, physical therapy is a tool that helps over weeks and months to alleviate pain and help you recover sooner. There come costs with that though — in time and money — when considering physical therapy.
Injuries and timelines
Whiplash might sound like a car collision situation but cyclists experience it as well. Some whiplash cases may take three months to recover. Broken bones generally take eight weeks to heal. Soft tissue injuries may take six to eight weeks in physical therapy.
One unseen risk involves previous injuries. These may play a role in how severe your new injuries are and how they affect your need and timeline for physical therapy. Physical therapy now may help prevent those injuries impacting future accidents.
If you are not sure whether you need physical therapy, consulting with your doctor may help you answer that question. If your accident was the result of negligence or your insurance is holding out, you may have options to help compensate for those physical therapy costs.