In September 2021, Kristin was riding her mountain bike on a trail with her kids. She arrived at a dip in the path and underestimated the depth of the drop, was leaning too far forward and tumbled over the front of her handlebars. She landed completely vertical but upside down.
Kristin always rides with a helmet, no matter the distance, duration or route. Thankfully, her crucial safety habit prevented more serious, even life-threatening injury. Her helmet did exactly what it was meant to do: it absorbed the impact of the crash. The hard-plastic outer shell as well as the thick Styrofoam inner portion split completely in half. Had she not been wearing a helmet, the impact would have been remitted to her head resulting in a severe head injury, potential brain damage or worse.
Treatment
Kristin’s initial concern due to the head impact was a concussion. Fortunately, besides a 10/10 sore neck with no mobility, she had no concussion symptoms which was confirmed by a neurological concussion assessment from Dr. Roch. X-rays and an MRI showed no damage to the cervical spine. She has been receiving chiro, physio and massage treatments here at the clinic once or twice per week focusing on muscle mobilization, deep-tissue release and reconnecting the fasical system
Kristin is not yet 100 per cent recovered from the injury, but with the CFNPS team’s support, she is making great progress.
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P.S Here are some additional stats highlighting the importance of wearing a helmet while cycling
As reported by Manitoba public insurance. Every year in Manitoba, an average of four cyclists are killed and 78 are injured in collisions. In nearly 90 per cent of cases where cyclists were killed in a collision with a vehicle, the cyclist was not wearing a helmet.
We know now that the concussion risk is very real for cyclists. In 2013, The New York Times reported that cycling had the highest concussion rate among all sports, including American football.