# Do I really need to see a doctor?



## beau159 (Oct 4, 2010)

Don't be silly. 

Go see a doctor! Or at the very least, a chiropractor. 

Your health is more important than riding horses. Besides, you don't even know that you _wouldn't_ be able to ride.


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## Mulefeather (Feb 22, 2014)

Health comes first. Ignoring health issues might mean the difference between not being able to ride for a few weeks, and not being able to ride ever again.


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## Overread (Mar 7, 2015)

Go to the doctor.

If you ignore it then what could be a minor problem can increase into a major one; what might be a week or a few weeks taking things slow could turn into taking it slow for the rest of your life. Crippling yourself is not something you want to do; it will close doors and make life a bigger challenge. 

Go to the doctor - get checked out - do what the doctor says to get better! 


You'l recover quicker and better. Forcing yourself to do things that might or will cause you further injury will only lead to problems. A few weeks not riding; heck even a few months won't be the end of things. Crippling your hip though, that can end things. 




Remember it might not be anything at all; you might be totally fine; but if you don't go to the doctor you will worry about it and stress and worry will fatigue you and put your immune system down. Furthermore it can distract your thinking which might mean you do something stupid and end up falling off again and injuring yourself properly


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

I can think of very few times when someone has asked "should I go to the doctor?" and the answer isn't yes.


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

As someone who ignored a shattered kneecap, a broken femur, two broken ribs and a couple broken fingers because "What if the doctor says I can't ride??" - GO TO THE DOCTOR.

I literally trail rode with an open joint shattered kneecap for two days after it happened. I convinced myself I was fine, wrapped it up to stop the bleeding, and carried on. Do you have any idea what could have happened if my family hadn't of made me go? I would have been ruined for life, and never been able to ride again. Yeah I had to take 10 weeks off - So what? It was a year and a half ago and I have a scar but I made a full recovery and now I'm back to riding multiple horses every day. 

Go to the doctor. They will probably tell you it's nothing to worry about, but at least then you'll know. If they tell you not to ride, don't ride - Take the time off. It sounds like you are still in high school - trust me, this will be such a small part of your life, you will hardly even remember it in the next few years even if you do have to take some time off. You have a whole life ahead of you and trust me, you don't want to deal with a poorly healed hip that will hurt you for the next 60 or so years.

My first job was for a man who is in the NRCHA hall of fame. His lives work was horses. He was older. When I knew him, he couldn't lope a horse anymore because of an old injury in his hip. He couldn't get on without the mounting block because of a knee injury. He had a hard time gripping things because he broke his arm getting kicked. Yes, it's the nature of the sport but you need to do everything you can to prevent long term damage, so maybe when you're 70-something you will still be riding a horse instead of a rocking chair.


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## livelovelaughride (Sep 13, 2011)

Or a physical therapist who can do orthopedic assessments and has tools to help with healing. Or if you live in an area that has osteopaths - the UK trained ones are amazing.


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## Prairie (May 13, 2016)

Go to a MD, not a chiropractor or a physical therapist! The MD is the one who has the training to evaluate your injuries and give you the best advice for what you can and cannot do. Physical therapists, at least here, won't touch a patient without a doctor's orders since it's too easy to cause further injury if you don't know what the issue is. A chiro can easily misdiagnose an issue since they do not have the training that an MD does!


Jingles that you find out this is really a non-issue and time is all you need to be back to normal without pain!


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## karliejaye (Nov 19, 2011)

If your horse had a little something that wasn't quite right and a few days of rest didn't fix, would you take her to the vet? Probably. 


We would all benefit by treating ourselves as well as we treat our animals!


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## Jan1975 (Sep 7, 2015)

I did the same thing w/ a running injury once...I kept postponing going to the dr. because I knew she'd say not to run. It took a LONG time and a LOT of osteopathic adjustments to get well. I'd say it was a year before I was better. Had I gone in right away, I probably could've been fixed up in a week. GO TO THE DR.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

at the very least, stop riding for a few days. a week.


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