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Another First Bike Accident Thread
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Yet another post about an injury. Did a lot of searching before posting this so sorry if I missed a previous post that addresses this. I was in a bike accident on my last training ride before my taper for IMCDA on 8/27 (3 weeks out). Complete fluke accident. I was coming up to a stop light 12 miles into a nice 100 mile ride. Beautiful morning. Best morning ever really. Coming up to a stop light I was paying attention to the cars and light and hit my brakes. Not sure if my front wheel dropped into a crack or what but it was like my bike hit a wall. It stopped and my body continued along with the back of my bike. Slammed me pretty hard but got up and was able to walk after I could breathe again. I thought I was fine other than missing some skin on my face and shoulder and some rib pain but started to get scared as my back hurt a lot on a checkup run the next day. Couldn't even make it a mile.

Needless to say after a couple x-rays and ct scans the radiologist and spine ortho specialist confirmed compression fractures in my T6 and T8. 15-20%. No Ironman. That is a kick in the seeds after feeling like I am in the best shape of my life and ready for the IM.

Anybody experience something similar and can you share your recovery procedure, activity level, and point at which you felt at/close to 100%? I am relatively pain free during the day sitting and walking around but sleep has been an issue. Haven't got a good nights sleep since. Might have some rib issues going on too but likely just muscle. Any advice is much appreciated.
Last edited by: Tri0014: Aug 12, 17 10:49
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Re: Another Bike Accident [Tri0014] [ In reply to ]
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Wow, sorry to hear that.
No personal experience, but I'd maybe get to a physio asap to find out what you should and shouldn't be doing.......don't f*ck with your back/spine! They might recommend wearing a brace for a short period of time to help healing? Google seems to indicate up to 10 weeks for healing?
Best of luck.
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Re: Another First Bike Accident Thread [Tri0014] [ In reply to ]
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I fractured C7 and had fusion surgery. My advice is to avoid getting surgery unless you have really bad neuro issues that go along with it. Follow the advice of your doctors about healing up and resuming activity. They'll have some good advice about easing back into things. My doc let me walk first, then start swimming, then run, and then do anything as long as it didn't hurt. Good luck on the recovery, and, Ironman can wait. There will almost certainly be an Ironman next year, and you'll have more hunger to jump back in after some forced time off.
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Re: Another First Bike Accident Thread [Tri0014] [ In reply to ]
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I had compression fractures in 3 vertebrae following a crash on a mountain descent going 38-40mph. I was super stiff for about 2-3 weeks and couldn't do much more than walk to the fridge from couch. The Dr said muscles had really contracted to protect neck and spine and would take a while to loosen up. Because of this was given Percocets for pain and Valium to relax muscles...so that was interesting. I missed IMLP. Was able to ride/run about 5-6 weeks out without a lot of pain. Swimming took a bit longer because of twisting motion of head neck. I crashed first week of June and was ready to compete in IM Lake Tahoe 3rd week of September (which was cancelled because of smoke) that I transferred entry too.

I do think I could have started riding a month out but was being cautious. Def caused a lot of mental issues while descending for about a year (excessive braking/flashbacks!!!).
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