Dealing with Physical Injuries on the Road
In the past couple of weeks, I took two nasty falls skiing. Each was about a week apart.
After the first fall on my face, I felt like I’d been in a car wreck and my neck and back were extremely sore and stiff. Fortunately and surprisingly, I bounced back within a few days.
But on the second fall, I felt my left arm’s tricep tear, and now I’m left with a swollen and bruised arm. I’m steadily gaining back mobility, but I’m worried about long-term consequences. I’m not young anymore!
But what does a ski injury have to do with van life?
Here are thoughts that come to mind when I injure myself on the road:
- Where can I go to seek immediate medical attention? Since I’m typically away from my “home” town, I have zero familiarity with urgent care and emergency room options.
- I hope I don’t need physical therapy! Anything that requires ongoing treatment can be problematic on the road. It means travel plans have to go on hold until treatment is complete. It’s not reasonable to bounce between different practitioners throughout the country.
- If I do need physical therapy, where will I find a physical therapist, and where can we stay in our van? If we can’t find a place to stay in our van, will we need to get a hotel room or vacation rental, or stay with family or friends?
- What if I need surgery? The same questions related to physical therapy apply. Where will I have surgery and where will we stay in or out of our van?
- How can I minimize the financial impact? Health insurance can be unnecessarily complicated. It takes a bit of research to make sure that I don’t end up with hefty bills.
Physical injuries are more challenging when moving about the country in a van. It’s definitely something to plan for before you decide to hit the road.
I’ll likely get my arm checked out and cross my fingers that I can rehabilitate it myself.
Speaking of not being young anymore…falls happen in skiing, but I feel like my recent injuries could’ve been prevented.
While Kyle and I get a lot of healthy movement in the outdoors, I think I’m lacking the right conditioning for activities like skiing and mountain biking right now.
I haven’t been incorporating weight lifting for building supportive muscles or stretching enough for injury prevention.
Before van life, I kept a CrossFit membership and participated in yoga classes regularly. But with constant travel, it’s costly to pay for drop-in classes instead of monthly or annual memberships. And it doesn’t help that I’m not into gym chains like 24 Hour Fitness, Planet Fitness, or Anytime Fitness.
I thrive when I sign up for a class and there are consequences to being a no show. I also appreciate trainer feedback to help me with proper weightlifting form. Working out with the same group of people is also hugely motivating.
We can’t keep a workout bench or weights in the van sufficient for working on deadlifts or bench presses. But we do keep pairs of 5-lb, 10-lb, and 20-lb dumbbells.
Frequent travel also means we lack consistent daily routines that prioritize exercise, as well as comfortable space for working out. Weather is often a deterrent, especially during ski season. You’re not going to see me rolling out a yoga mat on a sheet of ice.
However, during the pandemic, we were at an RV park for a few winter months. I’m proud to say that we committed to Shin Ohtake’s HIIT workouts most days. Workouts were tolerable as long as daytime temperatures reached 20 degrees Fahrenheit. We also had to make sure our site’s concrete pad was meticulously cleared of snow and ice.
Life is just different in a van, and even after 5 years, we’re still trying to figure out what works best for us.
My recent ski falls have encouraged me to reincorporate conditioning workouts that fit into our van life. I just need to figure out the right plan that I’ll stick with. Wish me luck!
