Originally Posted by jgas
My comment is a little off subject, but kinda fits: I have this theory that dirt bike riders in general are mentally tougher than the average Joe. Not that we don't feel pain like everyone else, but that we are willing to put up with it to do what we love doing. I bet that if you could somehow test dirt bike guys and girls and assign personality types, we would almost all be "Type A" personalites.
Type A"s tend to have more heart attacks. Tend to have more strokes. Tend to have more physical problems related to lifestyle choices which bear out our need to push ourselves and accomplish more.
But research also shows that Type A"s recover faster and more completely from health problems. We might kill ourselves trying to do something difficult, or different, or dangerous, but then we deal with the circumstances of our decisions better if we happen to survive.
On any bike related website you go on, you see amatuer competitors with serious injuries like many pro atheletes have, but yet most of us ain't gettin paid for it! Yet we do it anyway. We put more emphasis on living to live rather than living to merely exist? Try to get more out of life and deal with the complexities that arise?
Are there any behavioral health experts, like shrinks, reading this who can comment?
Anyway, back to the busted up knee: Some injuries can be overlooked, rushed with recovery, worked around. Knees kinda can't. Pushing yourself with a busted knee is kinda like trying to win a race with a flat. You'll probably just crash, or bust a rim, or both, and still not win. When it comes to knee injuries, just suck it up and be smart and patient. Try to not live out your usual hardcore attitude and be smart and conservative enough to get it fixed and let it heal. Then go ride hard and see if you can bust it up again.
One thing you can do; however, is seek out a sports medicine doc rather than a regular doc. Tell him you are willing to suffer through a sports medicine based rehab, which will certainly hurt more, but will get you riding quicker. From what I have read, most people do equally well after a sports med recovery program as with a regular program. They just get back in action faster. I have taken this route with several injuries and it is very painful but worth it. My attitude is that it is gonna hurt a little for a long time, or a lot for a shorter time, so I'd rather get it over with.
Any good doc won't give you advice that will result in a poor recovery. Some injuries only respond to slow rehab. Others benefit equally from fast rehab. Might as well ask?
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