by Lance Hester

In the legal business, we use the word “damages” to talk about the bad stuff our clients go through.  There are two kinds of damages. 

            The first is what we refer to interchangeably as “special” damages or “economic” damages.  The second is called “general” damages.  Here’s the basic idea:  The expenses of getting hurt are the “special” or “economic” damages.  For example, injured cyclists, pedestrians, swimmers, and drivers incur expenses that add up quickly – ambulance rides, hospital bills, doctor bills, physical therapy, and lost wages.

            “General damages” is the more subjective number associated with the pain, suffering, recovery time, and hassle involved in recovering from being injured.
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            Here’s a very general guide to the resources available when you’ve been injured by another’s negligence, and ways to protect yourself when the bad driver doesn’t have enough to cover your costs.
 
            All too many drivers carry only the minimum required coverage of $25,000 to cover the special and general damages involved in these kinds of cases.  As you can imagine, even a minor collision can exceed $25,000 in medical bills during an ER.  On behalf of our clients we have to examine whether other sources exist that can help their claims.  These include the following:  UIM/UM Coverage (Un or Under-insured motorist coverage), PIP (Personal Injury Protection)  and Homeowners coverage.

            Ensuring medical expenses are covered is the most important initial objective after a collision. Every cyclist is well advised to have good health insurance and Personal Injury Protection (PIP coverage).  PIP can cover medical expenses, but unlike health insurance it can cover services and lost wages. In Washington PIP coverage is optional coverage on your automobile policy, but we always recommend electing as much PIP as you can afford.  If you are in a cycling accident caused by an automobile driver, there is a chance that the driver’s PIP coverage and your own PIP coverage can be combined for double the coverage.  The point is that a bad injury may leave you needing lost wages and services covered.  And if you don’t need those services, the PIP coverage will cover your medical expenses before your health insurance is tapped.  PIP coverage is available while the case is pending.  While a case normally settles once and for all at the end of the healing time, PIP is accessible in the interim, which is particularly helpful for those who, perhaps, lack health insurance.

            UM/UIM coverage is something every cyclist should carry. Every day we see cases with substantial injuries and ultimately learn that the at-fault driver carried only $25,000 in insurance (or worse, was uninsured).  This is your chance to be prepared for the worst.  Further, if you carry the maximum amount your carrier offers, some carriers offer umbrella UM/UIM coverage which can give you and the rest of your household the most confidence you’ll be made closer to whole when the whole case concludes. 

            Homeowners coverage is a frequently used when other specific policies don’t apply.  Homeowners is not likely to help when there is a vehicle involved.  But it is available in the unusual, but not unheard-of, scenario of a cyclist causing another cyclist or a pedestrian’s injuries.  And, as mentioned, if you have enough bodily injury coverage on your homeowners, you’ll be eligible to own an umbrella, which will raise all of your coverage amounts to the amount of your umbrella, usually $1 million or $2 million. 

            Because injuries are expensive, and because it’s hard to put a value on pain and recovery, cycling, pedestrian/runner, and automobile injury claims take a lot of capital to cover.  At times we have to explore everything possible available to help make our clients whole.  And sometimes it means tapping into their own insurance policies.  You never know whether the people who might cause you pain will be adequately insured.  The best way you can be prepared is to have the most PIP, UM/UIM, and Homeowners coverage you can afford.  I haven’t begun to address what to do if the government, for example, might be responsible for things like failing to replace a drain cover or cracks in the sidewalk.  One of us will cover that in a future article.

By Holly Pennington, PT, DPT/Outpatient Physical Therapy
 
            You went to the doctor for your knee pain (finally!) After a clinical exam, x-rays and an MRI, she concluded your symptoms are due to the arthritic changes in your knee. You recall your doctor using phrases like “wear-and-tear” and “bone-on-bone” as she explained how the cushioning between your knee bones has thinned and is now unable to absorb the shock it once did. Her diagnosis of knee osteoarthritis (OA) validates your symptoms - the stiffness you feel in the morning, pain with running, and the creaking sound when you bend and straighten your knee. When she pointed to the thin gray line denoting the barely-there space between the joints on your x-ray, then contrasted it with the thick black space of a “normal” knee, your fear of never being able to run again set in.

            Now, it’s a month later. You have been taking the Naproxen your doctor prescribed and you’ve upped your stretching game. You’re trying more cycling and less running. You are living in that confusing space where your pain isn’t “bad enough” for surgery or another visit to the doctor, but - if you’re honest with yourself – your knee symptoms are not improving.

            Now what?
            Before I answer that, let’s clear up common misconceptions about osteoarthritis (OA) that might be doing you more harm than good.  Most importantly, you can stop blaming yourself: those years of carrying extra weight around, the miles you’ve been logging despite your knee pain. They didn’t cause your OA. In fact, you can thank three things you can’t control for your knee pain: your relatives, gender and age. Knee OA is more common in women than men, and cartilage loses its ability to heal with age. Your genes shaped your bones and cartilage in ways that make them susceptible to arthritis – or resistant to it – without your permission.

             Now that you can be nice to yourself, let’s talk about what steps you can take to help that nagging knee pain. Surgery is not your only - or best - option. In fact, numerous recent studies report that surgical outcomes for knee OA are not better than placebo or nonsurgical treatments. Throw in the fact that high percentages of incidental findings on imaging studies such as CT scans, x-rays and MRI’s are incorrectly correlated to symptoms, and you can stop worrying about your surgical insurance coverage right now.

            Your best course of action? Exercise. I know, I know. Your eyes are rolling. You’re a triathlete. Exercise is in your blood. You were hoping for something more progressive and exciting. But, experts repetitively conclude that exercise is the best non-drug treatment for OA. In fact, in a study including over 2,600 participants there was no significant difference in the prevalence of symptomatic knee OA in runners compared to nonrunners.

            So, what about the fact that running hurts? Aren’t you going to cause more damage to the joint? Surprisingly, the answer is “no.” Stronger muscles will do the work that your thinning cartilage can’t: shock absorption. For exercise to reduce your knee pain, you must do more than swim, bike and run. An effective OA exercise treatment program must include strengthening.  Stronger quads, hamstrings and hip muscles will result in less stress on what’s left of the cartilage in your knee. All that aerobic exercise keeps you fit, but it’s not building muscle strength.
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            Your OA diagnosis does not mean surgery, no more running, or the end of your triathlon career. Your Physical Therapist can help you make important, intentional changes to your training program to put you in charge of your symptoms for the long haul, and return to racing pain free.
 
With 7 convenient locations including Kent, Covington, Maple Valley, Auburn and Puyallup, Physical Therapists at Outpatient PT can keep you racing by prescribing a safe and effective strengthening program for arthritis. Schedule a free consult at the location nearest you: www.outpatientpt.com

Why do I Tri? Because I can. I want to be a good role model for my daughter. The challenges inspire me to be my best. The people I have met doing triathlon inspire me every day, touch my heart and also happen to be some of the best people I have ever known. Because of RTB. I could end here, but I am guessing when Kathy asked me to do it she was expecting more of a story. So here it goes…

It’s funny, over the course of the last several years I have asked myself Why I Tri and I keep adding reasons. As mom of a 2 year old at the age of 39, I did my first sprint at the Subaru all women’s triathlon at Steele Lake in 2006. I had no idea what I was doing! The first friend I met when I moved to WA in 1997 from a local running group had started doing triathlons and she talked me into giving it a go. Why not? I had a 2 year old now and I probably needed to try something new. “Training" consisted of her having me set up a transition area with all the borrowed items in my driveway and pretending to transition! I was very weary of all the steps to triathlon (versus a marathon and just running)… and sometimes that is true still to this day! A day after I finished, another good running friend reminded me that she had convinced me to sign up to do the Black Diamond sprint - I thought I must have been crazy because two in two weeks when I didn't know what I was doing was just too much! Then and to this day, friends are the secret sauce that make it happen. I did have my helmet on backwards for that Black Diamond bike leg, and oh my it took a long time to live that down! In 2006 my husband also did his first triathlon, except he chose to do Ironman CDA - and after training with 4 OWS, he was swimming, and completed it in 11:01, narrowly missing a Kona spot. Totally different approaches to trying a triathlon!