A Personal Update:
It's been a while since my last update. 2020 was a tough year for everyone, and our family was no exception. Fortunately since then I’ve successfully recovered from my car accident, and I’m back on track with getting back to exercise and conditioning, but more on that later…For today I thought I’d share some lessons I’ve learned about recovering from motor vehicle accidents (MVAs).
Like all injuries I’ve sustained during my athletic career, I have learned a lot after recovering from an MVA. Here’s a few highlights that I’ve integrated into my personal and professional life:
The speed and conditions of the accident won't likely predict your length of recovery. There are obvious exceptions involving catastrophic high speed accidents, but for the vast majority of MVA’s I highly doubt there’s a correlation between the variables of the accident, and a patient’s recovery. In some cases, very low impact accidents can result in long term challenges and persistent pain, while other seemingly higher intensity accidents can result in less disability and a faster recovery.
An individual's support team: their family, friends, neighbours, employers, and health care professionals are the greatest determinants of how a patient might recover from an injury. The social and psychological support system is such a critical component to a person’s recovery, and hugely influences their recovery. As a healthcare professional I believe that assessing someone's support system, and other social variables is an important part of assessing them following an MVA.
I recommend that people who are injured from a MVA use all of the support available. In BC our insurance provider offers quite a good support network that can include support from Physiotherapists, Kinesiologists, and Psychologists/Counsellors. Quite often these supports can be accessed immediately following an MVA. The sooner a person can establish a healthcare team, the sooner you can get back to doing what you want to be doing!
Lastly, it's important to remember that you will get better following an MVA. It can be easy to fall into despair with all the physical, social and psychological challenges that you might face following an MVA, however, your body has an amazing ability to recover from injury, and your symptoms will improve! I hope you can get the support you need, and get your team working to get you back doing what you love to do!