I wrecked my bike last week. Coming around a corner on my way home from work. Less than a block from my house.

The details are as boring as they are stupid. This is the hardest I’ve crashed since my racing days and easily just as bad as anything I did then.

The damage is both knees and both elbows and one hip. Also a tweaked arm and a few scrapes on the chest. The worst was that I took most of the impact with my face and ended up with stitches in my chin and some other scrapes on my face. My chin took so much of the impact that my helmet didn’t have a scratch on it. Tmj pain and sore eardrums too. Also two chipped teeth.

I’ll live.

So here’s where it gets interesting. For the last 6 months or more, I’ve been having terrible
low back pain. To the point where I couldn’t sleep well and it takes me a long time to get moving in the morning. Chiropractic sort of helped temporarily, stretching and strengthening maybe a little bit, but not too much.

Since this wreck, my back has felt much better. I’m more mobile, I’m sleeping better, I’m walking better, and the shooting pains down my legs have gone away.

I’m sure that I cracked my back, forced myself into a range of motion that pain was preventing me from reaching otherwise. I’ll attempt to keep my back mobility up now that it’s moving again.

I’m thinking about starting a business where I randomly push people off their bikes for their health.

I too crashed my bike last week, or more specifically, I was taken out in a racing incident. However, my experience has been far from therapeutic.

I crash weekly. Dirt related thought. Being old and on blood thinners I bruise easily.




OP. Hang in there.

Life is funny like that sometimes, and our point of view makes a huge difference as often as not.
Sounds like you're focused on the positive.
So... glad to hear it?

[QUOTE=Fahrenheit531;23519601]Life is funny like that sometimes, and our point of view makes a huge difference as often as not.
Sounds like you're focused on the positive.
So... glad to hear it? [/QU

Positives the way to go at my advanced age. My wife wouldn’t tolerate negative

You probably had a pinched nerve that got some of the calcium chipped away. I've dealt with that my whole life from a multitude of injuries. The best one was a neck injury that hurt for the longest time until I slipped on wet grass and landed on my arse. As I got older they found an undiagnosed fracture there. Heal well.

What’s your INR range supposed to be? I started taking Warfarin in 1990 after I got my first mechanical heart valve (aortic). Had my mitral valve and part of my ascending aorta replaced at the beginning of 2023. I’m supposed to be between 2.5 and 3.5. Fortunately, at 60 I still have thick skin.

It's the drugs talking?

Initially, I took some diclofenac but I haven’t taken anything for a few days. Also, the soreness from the scabs is pretty minimal unless you poke them. So it’s not distraction.

I legit must have cracked something in a very good way. I’ve never been quite so pleased with a crash.

Or, possibly, your wreck distracted your brain enough to stop focusing on your lower back for your life stresses. As a life long sufferer of lower back BS, I discovered Dr. Sarno and TMS and it changed my life. Lower back pain gone. It’s been years since I’ve had a flare up.

I think it may be less painful and expensive if you just land not on your feet at a trampoline park.

Serendipity. Akin to walking away from a high speed rollover auto accident without a scratch.
You can pick my lottery numbers.
.

It reminds me of the 3 Stooges. Where someone gets hit in the head and gets amnesia, so they hit him on the head again to bring his memory back

Don’t know. My test results don’t show that I’ve taken that test.

My blood thinners a bit more modern than yours. Plavis and baby aspirin. So far I’ve only had 3 stents

That’s rather the opposite to what happened in my last crash, which involved a bus and a truck, and left me looking a little bit like Barnes from “Platoon.” After that wreck I had shooting neck pain and awful headaches. Fortunately, I found a magician of a chiropractor. My treatment sounded a bit like a truck driving slowly over a bag of walnuts, but afterwards the pain and headaches were gone. I still have the scars though.

l crashed on May 28th of last year. I guess I could call it a therapeutic crash as I have been going to physical therapy for most of the last 10 months. The infamous "it could have been a lot worse" is true, but, 3 fractured cervical vertebrae, 2 broken ribs, and a separated ac joint along with a full tear of the rotator cuff of the right shoulder was certainly serious. I had my last pt session for rehabbing the shoulder last week.
The ribs healed pretty quickly, the neck fractures healed quite slowly, the shoulder is still pretty screwed up, with this being the second time it has been surgically repaired. A lot of scar tissue, weakened ligaments, and the ac joint separation has widened a couple of millimeters. I have an appointment coming in mid June, and will further discuss options at that time.
I am riding, albeit with limited miles and time in the saddle, using riser stem and handlebar, and no aggressive riding. The shoulder is ok with the arm at any position less than 90 degrees in relation to the body. It actually usually feels loosened up after a ride. I am also doing workouts with various light weight dumbbells to keep strong what I can. Ibuprofen and ice packs help ease swelling and pain, especially the ice packs. I do those numerous times most days.
I have a history of being a fast healer with good results. My 72 year old body has definitely slowed down.
As an afterthought, 67 years of riding bicycles before having a crash that resulted in needing professional medical help is a fairly long stretch of time. However many miles and hours I have left to do on a bike, I'd like to do them crash free. The last year has been quite challenging.

I was suffering from diabetic frozen shoulder - one of the most painful things I've ever dealt with, and I've broken my back before, this pain was right up there... it would just simply light me up if I moved ever so slightly in the wrong direction.

Crash - broken shoulder and collarbone.

Fixed, 100% fixed the frozen shoulder. What would have been years of painful PT, where I would essentially be slowly ripping apart the frozen bits and bobs - all over in 1 second. And I had no pain from the broken bones, and both breaks were not in critical locations. No casts or surgery required, not even a sling was needed.

Win win across the board.

Ouch! Guess it could have been worse. But I don't think I'll be attempting that solution for my off and on back pain!

Oh. My understanding is that you don't need routine monitoring with Plavix. I am pretty regular with Warfarin, so I get tested only monthly. Plavix is not for people with artificial valves.

Related, slightly: about 15 years ago, we were in a horrific auto accident: got rear-ended by a large sedan that was travelling about 45 mph. Anyone who saw our car afterwards couldn't believe that we survived. My C3,4,5 vertebrae were all damaged. Lots of nerve issues, tingly/numb arms, some leg issues, etc. Lots of doctor appointments and PT. At some point, I mentioned to the neurologist that I am a cyclist, and he remarked that it probably really hurt to be stretched out over the handlebar. "No," I replied. "That's about the only time I feel okay."

"Then you should ride more," he said.

Advice followed.

Riding helps my lower back issues. I have heard other people on this forum say the same thing.

Hope I never need one. The stents cost enough.

I remember seeing an interview with a military fighter pilot. His story was he was having really bad back pain, the type that would get you grounded if you told anyone. He had a routine training flight and something happened that forced him to eject from the aircraft.

He said the ejection cured his back pain.

Extremely unlikely. You do not get calcium buildup around the nerves of the lumbar spine, but you may have arthritic changes causing impingement or stenosis. A calcium deposit more commonly occurs along the posterior longitudinal ligament. Also, he did not previously claim radiculopathy.

This reminds me of the guy who says his right knee hurts. So you kick him in the left knee. Now the right knee doesn't hurt so bad. Your other injuries may keep you from focusing on your back pain.