Health is a fragile thing. Your sense of well-being and security can vanish in just a few seconds, which is the amount of time it takes for you to be T-boned by an SUV running a red light, or for you to be hit by a pickup that refused to yield to pedestrians at a crosswalk. It doesn’t matter if you’re a 25-year-old who runs marathons or a 55-year-old with pre-existing health conditions, as an accident can damage our health regardless of how good or bad it might have been before. Traumatic injuries happen very quickly, but they usually take a long time to recover from. That includes your physical recovery as well as your mental and emotional one.
The recovery process
Chances are, physical therapy will be a part of your recovery process at some point. That may seem hard to imagine when you’re laid up in a hospital bed with wires and monitors, but physical therapy is a critical part of making you whole again. The exact type of therapy you’ll need varies wildly depending on your injury. It may feel uncomfortable or scary, but you have to trust that your physical therapist is working with your best interests in mind. Feel free to ask questions and talk about the process you’ll be going through. A good physical therapist will be glad to address any hesitations or misgivings you have. You may leave physical therapy feeling spent both emotionally and physically, but that’s part of the process. You’re trying to get your body working normally again, after all. Your body has taken a hit, and you have to work your way back up to where you used to be. When a professional athlete tears his or her ACL or ruptures a tendon, it takes weeks or months to get back on the football field or basketball court. If it takes world-class athletes time, then it’s going to take you a bit of time as well.
In some cases, you may not be able to get back to where you were before. If you were a half-marathon runner who suffered major knee damage, your doctor and physical therapist may advise you to switch to something like bicycling instead. It can be tough to hear something like that. Your body can do amazing things, but it’s not invincible. When you’re not in a doctor’s office or at physical therapy, feel free to do some research on your trouble spots. Sites like All About Knees can be a helpful source of information for people dealing with knee issues, and you should feel free to go back to your physical therapist with any questions you might have about what you see on the Internet. The Internet can be great, but sometimes you need to talk to a professional in-person to have him or her put what you’re reading into proper context.
Paying for it
In an ideal world, you would never have to worry about paying for your recovery. You would just have to worry about, you know, recovering. That’s not the world we’re living in. If you’re in a car accident where another party is at fault, then their car insurance may end up paying for many of your bills. That includes physical therapy. Dealing with car insurance can be frustrating when you’re hurt, and if you think that an insurance company isn’t playing fair, it may be advisable to contact a personal injury attorney. If you have a case, then you should let an attorney fight for you while you fight to regain your health.
