Philadelphia Bicycle Accident Treatment

Bike accidents are some of the worst kinds of crashes that you can be involved in, especially if you are cycling and get hit by a motor vehicle in Philadelphia. These types of accidents frequently end with serious, life-altering, or even fatal injuries for bikers in the region. The treatment for these bike injuries is often expensive enough to also put your financial well-being into doubt.

Having a personal injury attorney to help you get the compensation you need from the person who deserves to pay it for their role in causing the bike crash can be the best way to protect your future. Reach out to the lawyers at the Philadelphia law office of Gilman & Bedigian.

Emergency Care After a Bike Accident

Chronologically, the first type of treatment that you are likely to need after a bike crash in Philadelphia is emergency care. While this type of medical attention comes in a variety of forms, all of these have one element in common: They are needed immediately, with no time to spare.

Some of the most common kinds of emergency care that you could need after a bike accident are:

• On-scene treatment from an emergency medical technician (EMT)
• Ambulance services
• Treatment in the emergency room
• Stitches or sutures
• Wound cleaning, especially for conditions like road rash
• The setting, splinting, or casting of broken bones and fractures suffered in the crash

The timely need for these types of treatment, unfortunately, also makes them much more expensive than they would have been, otherwise. The high price tag that comes with emergency care can be enough to threaten your financial well-being, so pursuing compensation from the person who caused the crash – and created the need for those services – is essential.

Surgeries

Many of the worst bike accidents that happen in Philadelphia require invasive medical procedures like surgeries to correct the injuries and complications that result from the crash. Unfortunately, depending on the severity of the crash and your injuries, these surgeries can be very complicated or can be necessary in the immediate aftermath of the crash.

Even minor bike accidents can require surgery for an injured biker. Frequently, these surgeries are required to fix wrist, hand, or arm injuries that the cyclist sustains when he or she is thrown from their bike. The natural instinct in these circumstances is to put your hand out to brace your fall. However, the force of your fall is often enough to severely damage the muscles, tendons, and bones in your hands or wrists. This can require one or more surgeries to completely fix.

For bikers, surgeries and their attendant complexities and recovery times are even more significant than for other people because bikers are known to live an active lifestyle. When they are going through the road to recovery after a bike accident and have to undergo one or more surgical procedures to heal, being sidelined from their outdoor activities can be even more difficult to cope with.

Plastic Surgeries

One of the types of surgery that an injured cyclist might need after a bike crash is a plastic surgery. These are non-emergency procedures that aim to correct a superficial condition.

While plastic surgeries have a reputation as being only for the vain, this is far from the case when it comes to bike accident victims. The injuries that you commonly suffer in a bike accident – like road rash – often come with long-lasting disfigurements that can serve as a continual reminder of the horrors of the crash. This can weigh heavily on your mind as you try to overcome the memory of the accident, causing significant amounts of emotional distress. Getting plastic surgery done to remove some of the outward signs of the accident can be a huge part of your recovery process.

Psychotherapy

Similarly, seeing a therapist can also help you deal with the memory or the pain and the terror of the bike accident you have been put through. Many bikers report seeing their life flash before their eyes in the instant before getting hit by a car in Philadelphia. Seeing a psychotherapist can help you deal with the emotional trauma that comes with such an experience and overcome the hardship.

Occupational and Physical Therapy

Therapy is not just for the mind, though. Your body can also use occupational and physical therapy to overcome the difficulties you will face on your road to recovery from a severe bike accident in Philadelphia. 

Occupational therapy is often reserved for victims of the most severe bike crashes in the region, as it is used to help accident victims recover basic motor skills and mobility in their injured extremities. Typically necessary to overcome head, neck, or spinal injuries after a bike crash that cause nerve damage or severe muscular problems, occupational therapy focuses on rebuilding the basic levels of dexterity that you need to perform the basic tasks necessary to live a normal life, like cleaning yourself, cooking, and tying your shoes.

Physical therapy, on the other hand, helps all kinds of bike accident victims rebuild their strength and mobility back to their normal levels. Often a part of the recovery process after a surgical procedure, physical therapy focuses on getting the strength and mobility of any affected body parts back to where they were, before the crash. For bikers who live an athletic lifestyle, physical therapy can be one of the most important aspects of the recovery process.

Philadelphia Bike Accident Lawyers at Gilman & Bedigian

Each and every one of these types of treatment can be expensive. None of them would have been necessary, though, were it not for the negligence or poor conduct of the person who ultimately caused your bike accident. Having them pay for the costs of your treatment and recovery, therefore, would only be fair.

That is where the personal injury attorneys at Gilman & Bedigian can help. By representing your interests in and out of the courtroom, we can fight for the compensation you deserve. Contact our Philadelphia law office online.