The Fall
During my hike, one of my trekking poles started collapsing, and needed tightening. So on the way back I packed up both my poles and strapped them to my day pack. Rarely, I hike without my poles, because they make every hike easier, but this trail was relatively smooth dirt with little elevation gain. So I thought I would be fine. I was wrong. It wasn't long before my hiking boot struck a gnarly, solitary tree root, and I abruptly lost my balance. Without warning, momentum flung my body downward, and my forehead and nose slammed into the dirt. At first, I thought I might be seriously hurt, it had certainly hurt, and I felt dazed. I checked my forehead and nose for blood. There was none.
I sat in the grass, and regained my composure. My thumb hurt a lot. But the worst pain came from my chest. My Nikon D7000 camera had hit my sternum when I fell on it. My first concern was my camera. I examined it, and found nothing broken. Then I shot a couple random photos, and that worked. But my chest hurt. Every deep breath caused pain. I stood up and realized the outcome could have been much worse. My camera could have been severely damaged. This is the second time I have fallen on my camera and received a rib injury. Nikon makes strong cameras. Apparently my ribs are strong too.
I had about 4 miles to get back to my car, and I started hiking again without poles. The more I walked the better I felt but the chest hurt. Five days later my sternum still hurts when I take a deep breath, but slowly it is healing. Later I fixed my hiking pole by tightening the screw, and now I will always take a little screwdriver with me on the trail.
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