Suspension Therapy

Hello to all,

It's been a long time. As a few of you had mentioned, crashed in practice at the first Oregon Enduro late May 2012. Suffered a concussion and whiplash.
(The interesting thing is, this later mishap was due to an earlier dismount in March, where I tagged the back of my helmet on a stump. On crash scale of 1-10, this first one barely made it to 0.5. The impact was just "right" however to affect the structure of my cervical spine and as a result my balance. At the time, this was only apparent when I greatly elevated my heart rate (racing). I pieced this together in retrospect, almost a year later.) In late May and thereafter, most of the attention was directed towards my brain and the concussion. Rest was the only option for recovery. I slept 18+ hours a day for the first seven weeks. The more I rested the worse symptoms became.

It turns out I was misguided through nine months of my "treatment" as the multiple specialists I had seen saw my brain as being the culprit. It turns out my neck was the cause of my symptoms for the past ten months (as I figured out on my own). My concussion likely healed within the month or two after my crash, as I have no history of concussions. It's been an extremely challenging path to recovery as I spent ten months in a dark room, with only a few minutes of interaction with others, no books, screens and very limited audiobook time, mind numbing head aches, failing vision, very high light and sound sensitivity, facial numbness and burning sensations, strong left body side pain, locking jaw, developed complete sleep deprivation and very high levels of anxiety. At first I was living in someone else's body, and with time, in someone else's mind as well.

More recent months have been much brighter: have been going through rehabilitation for my neck (and soul) over the past three months. Improvements have been measured in leaps and bounds. Back to my normal weight (had lost 15 lbs), stronger than ever in the gym, and back on a cycling program. I've ventured on the mountain bike, but my treatments involve changing the muscular and bone structure of my cervical spine, greatly affecting my balance. Until my body has adapted, and regained its abilities, I will spend most my cycling time between the trainer and the road bike. Will be back on trails this summer: what is a few weeks after having waited this long.

Suspension Therapy will be back up and running starting Monday, June 10.

For next week, the booking system will be available to the wait-list only. I want to make sure that those who have been waiting for months have an early bird opportunity to pick their time-slots at their convenience. I hope everyone understands. Suspension Therapy will be sharing space with Marx Conditioning: 1439 Hunter St, North Vancouver. Conveniently located next door to Suspension Werx.

Warm thank you's to those who have expressed your support and concern over the past months. Knowing that a community was behind me helped more than one can imagine when things were grim. I am greatly looking forward to getting everyone set-up as quickly as possible; ready for the next race, event, bike park lap, or ride.

If you have any questions, email is always a great way to get a hold of me: [email protected]

See you on the trails soon,

Arthur

Always an ambassador of smiles and stoke.

Glad you're on the mend.

That was very inspirational…. glad to see you are back on the road to good health and happiness… best of luck moving forward.

Interesting about the neck. My wife has been off work for 6 years from a concussion skiing. She has been rehabbing neck and back, and hips and and and constantly since then. My physio had mentioned this to me a few years back. That sometimes concussion symptoms emanate from a neck injury. She has balance issues because she is deaf in one ear. She avoids ladders and such. She stepped off our garage mezzanine a few months ago and fortunately only sprained her ankle. Six feet down. We have since put in a safety door. Even with one ear though she managed to ski race up to the National Alpine Ski team.

Sounds like you are getting back into the swing of things which is great to hear. Success and healing feels so good eh.

Hello to all,

It's been a long time. As a few of you had mentioned, crashed in practice at the first Oregon Enduro late May 2012. Suffered a concussion and whiplash.
(The interesting thing is, this later mishap was due to an earlier dismount in March, where I tagged the back of my helmet on a stump. On crash scale of 1-10, this first one barely made it to 0.5. The impact was just "right" however to affect the structure of my cervical spine and as a result my balance. At the time, this was only apparent when I greatly elevated my heart rate (racing). I pieced this together in retrospect, almost a year later.) In late May and thereafter, most of the attention was directed towards my brain and the concussion. Rest was the only option for recovery. I slept 18+ hours a day for the first seven weeks. The more I rested the worse symptoms became.

It turns out I was misguided through nine months of my "treatment" as the multiple specialists I had seen saw my brain as being the culprit. It turns out my neck was the cause of my symptoms for the past ten months (as I figured out on my own). My concussion likely healed within the month or two after my crash, as I have no history of concussions. It's been an extremely challenging path to recovery as I spent ten months in a dark room, with only a few minutes of interaction with others, no books, screens and very limited audiobook time, mind numbing head aches, failing vision, very high light and sound sensitivity, facial numbness and burning sensations, strong left body side pain, locking jaw, developed complete sleep deprivation and very high levels of anxiety. At first I was living in someone else's body, and with time, in someone else's mind as well.

More recent months have been much brighter: have been going through rehabilitation for my neck (and soul) over the past three months. Improvements have been measured in leaps and bounds. Back to my normal weight (had lost 15 lbs), stronger than ever in the gym, and back on a cycling program. I've ventured on the mountain bike, but my treatments involve changing the muscular and bone structure of my cervical spine, greatly affecting my balance. Until my body has adapted, and regained its abilities, I will spend most my cycling time between the trainer and the road bike. Will be back on trails this summer: what is a few weeks after having waited this long.

Suspension Therapy will be back up and running starting Monday, June 10.

For next week, the booking system will be available to the wait-list only. I want to make sure that those who have been waiting for months have an early bird opportunity to pick their time-slots at their convenience. I hope everyone understands. Suspension Therapy will be sharing space with Marx Conditioning: 1439 Hunter St, North Vancouver. Conveniently located next door to Suspension Werx.

Warm thank you's to those who have expressed your support and concern over the past months. Knowing that a community was behind me helped more than one can imagine when things were grim. I am greatly looking forward to getting everyone set-up as quickly as possible; ready for the next race, event, bike park lap, or ride.

If you have any questions, email is always a great way to get a hold of me: [email protected]

See you on the trails soon,

Arthur

I had no idea you got hurt, and bummed to hear you've had such a difficult recovery. I couldn't think of a less deserving person to go through such a crappy situation. However stoked to here you getting better and can't wait to see you out on the trails with that infectious smile.