{"id":5677,"date":"2019-06-04T12:02:06","date_gmt":"2019-06-04T20:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/watermanatwork.com\/blog\/?p=5677"},"modified":"2019-06-04T12:02:08","modified_gmt":"2019-06-04T20:02:08","slug":"desert-rehab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/watermanatwork.com\/blog\/desert-rehab\/","title":{"rendered":"Desert Rehab"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ever since being involved in a serious vehicle accident<\/a> where I was hit from behind by a 40 ton semi doing 50mph while stopped for a construction zone flagman, my physical activities have been limited due to injuries sustained in the wreck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you might imagine, being hit by a semi truck is quite a shot. An NFL player is out for the season after being hit by a 290 pound guy running 5mph, I was hit by 80,000 pounds moving 50 mph! I suffered a concussion when I was knocked out by the impact and a number of injuries to my neck, back, hips and legs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To make matters worse, much worse, both my insurance company, Progressive Insurance and the truck driver’s insurance company, Starr Indemnity & Liability Company, refused to pay for any medical expenses or damage resulting from the accident. You can see more details about the accident here<\/a>, but the accident left me injured and essentially bankrupt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, back to the biking. Injured, broke and winter arriving in the Columbia River Gorge, I headed to the Arizona desert to try and regain my health without any money for medical treatment of any kind. I needed decent weather so I could rehab my injuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For about a month following the accident, I could not do much of anything. I was in pain all the time with only OTC ibuprofen to take the edge off. I could only sleep a few hours a night because of the pain. It took everything I had to retain a positive attitude after what had happened to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a couple months, I was able to start walking. Slowly at first, the first couple weeks I was only able to walk about a quarter mile or so. Since I was able to walk more than twenty miles before the accident, seeing how badly I was injured was pretty depressing. All I could do was get up in the morning and put one foot in front of the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"One<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Slowly, I was able to increase the distance I was able to walk. Exercise during the day meant pain at night, but I did not have many options. Getting up in the morning was very painful. It took about an hour just to loosen up to move around. A couple times, I lost all feeling from my lower back down. I had to go to the ER, they told me there wasn’t much they could do. That was very scary, not being able to feel my legs. All I could do was keep walking and hope for the best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Walking<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In addition to walking, I also included stretching and strength training to the rehab regimen. Stretching, especially for my lower back, hips and legs, was a daily routine. Push ups, jumping jacks and low weight, high repetition exercises; all part of the program. It worked for the Marines, I was sure it would work for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Exercise<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

After seven long months, I am able to ride a bike again. Bike riding is a big part of my life and this is a very important step on the comeback trail. I estimate that I am about 30% of what I was before the accident. All the doctors said it would be a long recovery, they were right. At least I’m back in the saddle and back on the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ever since being involved in a serious vehicle accident where I was hit from behind by a 40 ton semi doing 50mph while stopped for a construction zone flagman, my physical activities have been limited due to injuries sustained in the wreck. As you might imagine, being hit by a semi truck is quite a … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cycling"],"yoast_head":"\nDesert Rehab<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Desert rehab for injuries sustained when hit from behind by semi truck doing 50mph\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/watermanatwork.com\/blog\/desert-rehab\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Desert Rehab\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Desert rehab for injuries sustained 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