ubringliten

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=ZfD0sHWUGv4

Hi there,

I just want to share this wonderful video. Like the title said, what a sweet video! These kids will grow up very well-adjusted.

Happy Cycling!

Artkansas 

I've done that, ride my bike to and from school with a cast on my foot and no helmet.

It's not the most efficient way to pedal, unless the doctor makes the cast clipless.

Roody

cooker

They're riding in a pretty tame environment, compared to us.

ubringliten

Sorry, my message was unclear. I meant a girl at that age being that independent even with a broken leg rides her bike to school. Without helmet was just an added bonus to the whole thing. You don't see that here in the US. If I had a daughter, she would be it.

Dahon.Steve

I think that was the Netherlands if I'm not correct. I'm sorry but there is plenty of public transit options in the Netherlands. A broken leg is very serious and needs time to heal. No reason to take risks especially with an abundance of public transit options. She's too young to realize that another fall could mean permanent damage to the bone.

gerv 

This really ring true to me. I don't know how this works for a 9-year-old, but for a 58-year-old, it's so true. I just broke 4 ribs in yet another encounter with a car (my second accident in 10 months...).

The doctor said healed in 6 weeks and after 3 weeks I'm still in no mood to ride a bicycle. Too painful.

I thank my stars that I'm situated on the best bus route in town. Bus every 15 minutes and I've obtained a good monthly pass. If it wan't for public transit as a backup, I have no idea how I'd get to work.

That's why you'll frequently hear me recommend to newbies that they think thru a good Plan B for their transportation.

B. Carfree

First of all, the odds of a fall from a bike are ridiculously low, probably lower than the odds of mis-stepping off the bus/trolley and being re-injured. Secondly, consider the speed at which this kid is likely riding. She isn't adding much more energy to her unlikely fall than she would be by walking. Also, did you notice that she was walking on that cast? Just think of her bike as a wheelchair without the training wheels.

It's really not that big a deal to ride with a broken bone or two. I was riding within days of having my then-42-year-old leg screwed back together with the full blessing of my surgeon. We heal and exercise helps the healing process.

DX-MAN

OK, at the risk of being told, "Wow, you're bragging about doing what a 9-y-o GIRL can do? REALLY?", I'm going to relate to this.

Dec. 2009, during really icy conditions, I stubbornly decided to ride to work. Halfway there, I rolled over a large patch of glare ice, which cuase my rear wheel to slide out. I put a foot down to catch it, before I landed HARD on the ice.

SNAP! Heard it and felt it -- my left ankle, on the inner anklebone. The bone broke, and immediately went back in place, like a small wood split. Amid much pain and cursing, I slowly pedaled the rest of the way to work. Couldn't work, though, wound up at the VA for x-rays (to all appearances, negative -- I SAW them later!). Given a straplike brace, told to pop pain pills and go easy for about 10 weeks(!).

I missed 3 days of riding. After 7 weeks and NO improvement, I went back, argued for and got another x-ray; since the radiologist wasn't in that morning, I was sent back home with the 'assurance' that I'd be called if anything showed up.

Five minutes in the house, I was answering the phone. There was indeed a break, and there was an aircast waiting at the VA for me, could I please return and get it ASAP. Five more weeks.... I still rode every day, and put the cast on at work!

I'm not trying to minimize what this tough little girl did, I'd be a PROUD DAD; I did what I did in the barely bike-friendly USA, though.

This isn't the first time I wished I was in the Netherlands, simply so I could witness casual dismissal of things that would 'bedride' the average American!

Roody

I don't know. I had a broken wrist that required surgery. I asked the doctor (afunny guy with a great Brooklyn accent) if I could ride while the cast was still on. He said "Riding the bike is not the issue; falling off the bike is the problem." When I pressed him, he added, "Go ahead and ride your bike. Try not to fall, but if you do fall try to land on the other side so you don't mess up the great work I did on your wrist."

Artkansas 

When I was riding to school and back with the cast on, the biggest problem was that the cast was significantly wider than a foot and so the rubber pad on the bottom tended to perch just on the outer part of the pedal.

As far as falling, well, the foot is already protected by a pretty hard cast, its not likely that one is going to forget they have the cast on and try to do any thing much beyond some pretty mild pedaling.

gerv 

I'm sort of picturing this and it isn't looking good. I'd be tempted to be really cautious.

You'd hope so. I'd jbet even a small amount of mashing would be really painful.

Sir Lunch-a-lot

Not that I would do this myself (I'd be taking a more cautious route), but you could always take off the pedal on the side where your leg is broken and pedal strictly with your good leg (like this one legged rider I saw in the city the other day).

Artkansas 

Its no different that walking with a cast on; easier really. For the first week or two you might want to go easy, but once you get a walking cast like the girl had, as it's healing the exercise is a good thing. You want blood circulation. As I recall, at first I put the crutches in my Wald baskets on the other side from my books, later I didn't need the crutches.

ubringliten

You guys are hilarious. Are you guys even parents? I posted the thread on the level of safety and independence of children in Netherlands. Parents in the US would never ever let a "9 year old" girl ride a bike to school let alone with a broken leg. The US parents would coddle the child to death.

Artkansas 

I have to agree with you. In the video it's obvious that the girl has a walking cast, so her foot is past the worst and the danger from exercising it is minimal and indeed, exercise will help the bones knit. So as the apparently only one who rode to school with a cast during childhood, to me what she is doing seems perfectly natural. And no I am not a parent, nor have I ever been one.

wahoonc

I rode to school with a broken arm...broke it stunt riding my brother's bike

I am a parent and have let my two do quite a few things that brought me visits from the meddlers at social services.

Aaron

Roody

True, American parents do coddle a bit. but also the roads here are usually not very safe for kids to ride in any more.

kookaburra1701

I think I broke my right foot in the third grade - a horse stepped on it, and I could feel/hear the snap-crackle-pop. It swelled up (fortunately I was in lace-up boots so we didn't have to cut them off) and my toes were all at funny angles. My dad looked at it, and basically told me I had two options - he would take me to the doctor, and I would get shots and likely be in a cast for "months" and be unable to ride or run or do anything fun. Or he could wrap it up really good, give me some ice and ibuprofen, and I could do whatever I felt capable of doing, and besides, "Let's face it kid, you are never going to be the next Flo Jo." I chose the second option.

My right foot is still slightly out-of-true, but perfectly serviceable.

Then again, this was the same man who used a mixture of gin and Everclear to "cure" any dental ailment under the sun.

Now I work in an ER, and the things people bring their children (and themselves) for boggles my mind.

Roody

Drew Eckhardt 

My surgeon (chief of the Stanford Orthopedic Trauma Service) said indoors only for six weeks after by last operation.

alhedges

It really depends on the kind of break - some you can hobble around on almost immediately; others require weeks of no weight at all.