Ouch! You took a spill while riding your bike through Jacobsburg Park in Bushkill Township. You are not sure how it happened but before you knew it you were on the ground with your legs up by your face. You stand up and hobble back over to your bike. You have to finishing riding off of the trail, so you do. Your inner leg "sorta" hurts but you decide to finish the ride and push through the pain. That's what Advil is for, right ? :). You wake up the next day and get out of bed, realizing just now that you your right thigh feels like absolute rubber and weak and sore. Oh no, now what? Well you have to get to work so you rush through the morning and head into the office. During the day you stand up and attempt so foreign type of thai chi and yoga like stretches. You aren't sure what you are doing but its gotta be helping, right? At least your co-workers are enjoying the show. Now you start to question the bike fall at Jacobsburg and you try to recall exactly what happened. Did I tear my muscle?
HOLD ON! Before you go any further, call Velohealth. We are private pay physical therapists that will come help you determine if you have a muscle strain v. a muscle tear. We can see you before you even see your doctor at St Lukes. We can see you and help determine if you need an MRI or X-Ray. We will come to your home and look at your leg there. This is what we will look for:
Muscle Tear (grade 3, 4) - Severe weakness in the leg, unable to lift it in any of the 4 linear directions, extreme swelling with a bulge in the leg.
Muscle Strain or microtear - the leg is strong but painful with movement, you can move your leg in all 4 linear directions but it hurts to do so, the muscle area looks smooth.
Based on our physical therapy evaluation we will :
1. Send you to the doctor to get an MRI. BTW the cheapest MRI I found in the Lehigh Valley was through Coordinated Health. MRI's through the hospital networks (LVHN and St. Lukes were high unless you work for them)
2. Begin treatment that day - ice, appropriate stretching for your leg depending on which muscle is involved (hamstring, adductor, quadriceps etc), tips of what to do and what not to do.
We hope you never need to call us. But, just remember, if you are riding your bike and you hit the ground before you wait in line to see the doctor call Velohealth, we will come to you!
Safe Riding,
Velo
