Oh, the Things That Can Happen!!😳

The theme for this week …

Physical activity in the outdoors is so amazing for our well-being, but there are so many opportunities for something to happen.

I didn’t set out to be a case study, but that’s just what happened. A biker ran into me. Yes, accidents do happen, and Bridging® can be a vital part of returning me (and you!) to an active life.

This is the last in is a series about benefits of being active outdoors, and how to keep pain or balance issues from limiting you. You can find the others here.

When it comes to longevity, the unexpected can be a powerful factor too.

For the past year I’ve written about the relationship of being active and strong to your health and longevity. Most recently the focus has been about the added benefits of being outdoors.

Personally, I follow a number of medical and fitness professionals who share their insights on being proactive about fitness, health, and longevity.

Two have written about another side of the longevity equation — the role of an unexpected accident or injury.

The role of surprise events on our well-being is no stranger to me. This surfaces daily in the history of people I meet who come to the Bridging® Institute for help.

To me, this is the important role of Bridging® — being able to erase the effects of these physical traumas which can inhibit your ability to be active and strong.

Here are the two columns about the impact of accidents and risks in life on longevity.

From Peter Attia, MD, host of The Drive podcast and author of the book “Outlive”

The first article,“The loss of a rising marathoner is a tragic reminder of the toll of motor accidents,” is from Peter Attia, MD, known for writing highly scientific insights on various health factors. His February 2024 writing was startlingly different — reflecting upon the untimely death of world record holder and 2023 Chicago Marathon winner Kelvin Kiptum. The article features a discussion about the role on accidents and injuries to longevity.

From Paddy Barrett, MD: Blogger and author of the book “Heart: an Owner’s Guide”

The second article, “Why your time here may be shorter than you think,” is from Dr. Paddy Barrett, a cardiologist who writes about being proactive in preventing and managing cardiovascular disease. A week ago, he used his column to write about life’s risks. As much as we want to live our best life, sometimes we really don’t know what’s coming our way.

Both of these articles acknowledge the impact of accidents upon longevity. What we know from our Bridging® work is that often injuries inhibit being active which becomes the start of a downward spiral.

What role does Bridging® play when unexpected events occur?

The impact and trauma of accidents and injuries can significantly affect your ease and ability to be active and strong. Sometimes there are little traumas which add up over the years, and sometimes there is a single big event.

We also find that injuries often have multiple sub-traumas to them. For example, you are very aware of your broken arm, but didn’t realize there was also an impact to your shoulder and twist to the core which happened in the fall.

These sub-traumas are the ones which bother you months later and seem to have no explanation, let alone solution.

How Bridging® is able to help

Help for your pain, coordination and balance comes from two unique parts of our solution:

• Problem-solving: The Bridging® process assesses basic movements to identify the micromovement flows and transitions that have been affected.
• Muscle reset process: The gentle rocking and stretching motion of Bridging® resets the identified muscle coordination allowing you to instantly move more easily and confidently.

The whole goal is to enable you to be back out doing what is important to you!

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Insight of the week from Cara

Did I jinx myself?

My plans for writing this outdoor exercise series did not include becoming a case study. However, I ended up becoming a textbook example of real life events which sideline us from being active.

Bike versus Cara

I was out for an evening walk on the nearby forest preserve trail when suddenly I was flying through the air. A teen biker who was racing his friends plowed into me from behind.

I lay sprawled out on the ground, taking inventory of what was hurting and what seemed to be ok. As I walked the six blocks home, more aches and pains surfaced.

Thank goodness I’ve been taking my own strength training advice!

In the past two weeks since the accident, I’ve realized how the strength and functional movement work I’ve been doing kept me from getting hurt worse.

• Lunges for a controlled fall. To build my major muscles I do a lot of weighted squats and lunges, including weighted walking lunges. These improve my ability to decelerate (slow down) movement. This deceleration kept me from hitting the ground so hard, given the bike hit me going pretty fast.
• Muscle volume. Having built up muscle mass, my leg muscles absorbed most of the ground force, not my bones. Yes, the muscles are bruised, but my osteoporotic hip was not broken.
• Active habits. In the following days I still got out to walk my 5 miles per day, albeit slowly. This helped my legs recover by supporting circulation and lymphatic system function for healing. I had daily habits to draw upon!

And I needed Bridging® help!

The worst injury was at my ribs and diaphragm. The bike handlebar solidly caught me mid-back which didn’t break any ribs but took the wind out of my sail.

Thankfully I had access to my team of Bridging® Specialists. Restoring muscle function is not possible via exercise and doesn’t show up on a CT or MRI.

Bridging® was just the thing to help! In the video you can see how Becki Logan worked with me to reset the muscles disturbed by the injury. OMG I was able to breathe again!

Two things to note

The recorded session was four days after the incident. Even for me, my body needed a few days to calm down, so the muscles were available to change.

I did need additional Bridging® which was not shown in the video. There were other aspects of the injuries which needed to be restored that day. A week later my ribs calmed enough to begin reintegrating their movement and interconnection to the arms.

Update two weeks after the event

Two weeks later I was able to return to the gym for a weight training workout, although I had to dial it back a little. And I was able to gingerly run a little. I think I’m 95% back now. Yes, healing still takes time and patience.