PSA: Post-Wreck Injury Update

[eacmen]

Some if you may be aware that I was in a wreck in October 2019, about 120mph diagonally into tire wall. Front right side hit first.

Since then I’ve been struggling with Physical Therapy to regain full strength and mobility. This past week we had a minor breakthrough and I would like to share in hopes it may help others in the future.

After researching this topic to death I came across this article several times:

http://jaoa.org/article.aspx?articleid=2094465

The long and short of it is that after the crash it is now suspected that I experienced sacral torsion and was living with it since the crash until this week. After showing the article to my therapist he performed a manipulation of the sacrum and I felt instant relief. It was a night and day difference. I now realize The level of discomfort that I learned to live with was immense.

If you’ve had a wreck on the road or on track and have any of the following symptoms it might be worth investigating. This is a commonly overlooked diagnosis, none of the xrays, CT, or MRIs showed this torsion. These are the symptoms I had:

- difficulty standing erect after sitting
- severe asymmetric weakness in hip flexors
- lower back pain and spasm
- chronic hip misalignment

Its been a long struggle but I think i’m finally on the way to a track day in the new car in the near future.

Thanks for reading. I hope this helps someone accelerate a diagnosis in the future.

[r4dr]

I'm glad to hear you're doing better and looking to get back onto the track. PT can be a long, tough road.

[bigjae46]

Thanks for the heads up.

Curious, what kind of restraint were you using? I find it interesting that most are now 2” lap belt which used to be hard to find. They are supposed to more effectively restrain the pelvis vs a 3” belt.

I hate 3” lap belts...they rub and don’t get as tight.


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[eacmen]

Thanks for the heads up.

Curious, what kind of restraint were you using? I find it interesting that most are now 2” lap belt which used to be hard to find. They are supposed to more effectively restrain the pelvis vs a 3” belt.

I hate 3” lap belts...they rub and don’t get as tight.


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During the wreck I was wearing quick fit pro so 2”. I don’t think the QFP exacerbated the injury, but hard to know. Before going out that session I made sure the belts were *tight* since it was a wet session.

Have since upgraded to 6pt. I think they are 3” wide.

Right after the accident I was walking around hunched over. Should have been an indicator of the injury.

[bigjae46]

During the wreck I was wearing quick fit pro so 2”. I don’t think the QFP exacerbated the injury, but hard to know. Before going out that session I made sure the belts were *tight* since it was a wet session.

Have since upgraded to 6pt. I think they are 3” wide.

Right after the accident I was walking around hunched over. Should have been an indicator of the injury.

I didn't even know you were in an incident. Glad you're OK. Couldn't imagine getting seriously hurt but it became more real after I went into the wall on the inside of T19 exit at COTA at 70mph on impact. I was instructing so not my car. It was an F80 M3 with stock seats/belts. I normally wear a HANS which doesn't work with 3pt belts. Felt like crap the next day but was back to normal 3 days later. Now I wear a Hybrid device. Definitely shook my confidence as an instructor and driver.

[eacmen]

I didn't even know you were in an incident. Glad you're OK. Couldn't imagine getting seriously hurt but it became more real after I went into the wall on the inside of T19 exit at COTA at 70mph on impact. I was instructing so not my car. It was an F80 M3 with stock seats/belts. I normally wear a HANS which doesn't work with 3pt belts. Felt like crap the next day but was back to normal 3 days later. Now I wear a Hybrid device. Definitely shook my confidence as an instructor and driver.

Thanks. I would be lying if I said it hasn’t affected my driving. Even driving on normal roads in the rain was very stressful for 6 months afterwards.

I was wearing HANS with the QFP and had zero neck issues, no pain at all. It definitely did its job, and protects the more vulnerable part of your anatomy in that kind of situation. I’ll never go on track without the HANS anymore.

[S14]

Some if you may be aware that I was in a wreck in October 2019, about 120mph diagonally into tire wall. Front right side hit first.

Since then I’ve been struggling with Physical Therapy to regain full strength and mobility. This past week we had a minor breakthrough and I would like to share in hopes it may help others in the future.

After researching this topic to death I came across this article several times:

http://jaoa.org/article.aspx?articleid=2094465

The long and short of it is that after the crash it is now suspected that I experienced sacral torsion and was living with it since the crash until this week. After showing the article to my therapist he performed a manipulation of the sacrum and I felt instant relief. It was a night and day difference. I now realize The level of discomfort that I learned to live with was immense.

If you’ve had a wreck on the road or on track and have any of the following symptoms it might be worth investigating. This is a commonly overlooked diagnosis, none of the xrays, CT, or MRIs showed this torsion. These are the symptoms I had:

- difficulty standing erect after sitting
- severe asymmetric weakness in hip flexors
- lower back pain and spasm
- chronic hip misalignment

Its been a long struggle but I think i’m finally on the way to a track day in the new car in the near future.

Thanks for reading. I hope this helps someone accelerate a diagnosis in the future.

I have 3/4 of those issues all the time, and sometimes 4/4 (standing erect after sitting is intermittent). What did your doc do to give you relief?

[eacmen]

I have 3/4 of those issues all the time, and sometimes 4/4 (standing erect after sitting is intermittent). What did your doc do to give you relief?

If you link to the article I posted they mention OMT, which is a fancy word for manipulation like what a chiropractor would do to re-align structures to where they should be.

I can’t describe exactly what he did, but basically just forcing the sacrum back into position while I was laying face down. The exact nature of the manipulation is going to depend on your specific problem.

Any licensed physical therapist should be able to read that article and implement what is described.

All the doctors I saw missed this diagnosis. It is by no means a common issue, but worth considering when more traditional therapies dont yield results.

[elbert]

Holy crap. Glad to hear you were able to get some relief (and good job on being your own advocate to find a solution).
Hope to see you out there soon!

[eacmen]

Another update. Not great news unfortunately. My pain is not caused by sacral torsion. Instead I was recently diagnosed with an auto immune condition called Ankylosing Spondylitis. I would encourage anyone with unexplained chronic back pain and stiffness to seek the opinion of a rheumatologist ASAP.

[bigjae46]

Another update. Not great news unfortunately. My pain is not caused by sacral torsion. Instead I was recently diagnosed with an auto immune condition called Ankylosing Spondylitis. I would encourage anyone with unexplained chronic back pain and stiffness to seek the opinion of a rheumatologist ASAP.

Hopefully things get moving in the right direction finally.


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[Fresh1179]

Man, I just ran across this. I hope that things are working out for you right now. Autoimmune disease as a secondary or alternative diagnosis is a good thing in the long run because most are treatable. I know it’s certainly not fun to hear about it that way.

I played football for 12 years and had some knee pain recently. Turns out it is the onset of rheumatoid arthritis. That wasn’t a good day but it’s not something I can change.

I hope you are healing and feeling better. We all have the big one in the back of our mind when we are on the track and I’m glad to hear you are recovering.


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