Your Medical Care

Medical Care After a Bicycle Accident

Seeking quality medical care and following your providers’ advice is the best path to emotional, physical, and financial recovery.

Here are a few suggestions that may help:

• Do not assume, or hope, that your injuries will resolve “on their own” or “over time” without any medical treatment.
• Seek medical treatment as soon as possible after an accident. The longer you wait, the more difficult it is to attribute your injuries to the accident.
• Seek your initial treatment at a hospital Emergency Room – not an Urgent Care facility. Smaller “Urgent Care” locations often do not have physicians (MD’s) or advanced medical equipment on-site, such as an MRI machine, to adequately treat an accident victim. A hospital, however, will have the staff and facilities to provide appropriate care.
• Get your care from physicians (MD’s), instead of a non-physicians, such as physician assistants (PA’s), registered nurses (RN’s), chiropractors, naturopaths, acupuncturists, etc.



• Follow up after your ER visit with your primary care physician. Your primary care physician can coordinate your treatment by specialists and oversee your overall care.
• Establish care with a specialist. If you have a specific injury, you should seek treatment from a specialist. For example, if you have an injured knee, you should be treating with an orthopedist, or if you are having cognitive issues, you should be evaluated by a neurologist.
• Follow your providers’ advice. If your primary care physician refers you to a specialist, schedule your initial appointment immediately. If your provider refers you to physical therapy, locate a therapist close to your home or work and begin your therapy program as soon as possible. Following your providers’ advice can increase your chances of a full recovery, and demonstrate that you are trying to resolve, or “mitigate” your injuries.
• Do not have gaps in your treatment. For example, if your primary care physician refers you to a specialist, find a specialist that can see you within a week or two. Gaps in treatment of even a few weeks can reduce your chances of a full recovery, and can make it seem that you are not injured.

Medical care can be a complex issue, and unfortunately, our healthcare system puts up many roadblocks. Getting the right care, from the right providers, can be daunting, but the effort will pay off in your recovery. At BikeGuardians, we understand that quality medical treatment is key to your recovery, and we can help you navigate through these medical issues.