The cover of the October 2009 issue struck a strong chord with me, as I had broken my wrist two years ago. That injury tested my level of preparedness. It forced me to answer a number of tough questions. Did I have enough income set aside to ride out the wait period specified by my disability policy? (Yes.) Was my disability policy appropriate? (Not really.) Did I have techniques in my practitioner’s toolbox that can be done bilaterally or without force? (Yes.) How long could I go financially with zero income without having to sell my house? (5 1/2 yrs.) When I started practice in 1998, I decided to put any sports or activities that may cause physical injury on the back burner. For me, that meant skating and skiing were out. Two years ago, I felt secure enough in my career to reclaim some “higher risk” hobbies. I fell while learning to figure skate, breaking my right scaphoid, radius and ulna. I cannot say enough about the high level of care I received from my orthopaedic specialist and his team. They knew what was on the line. Six weeks and four casts later, I had to wait another month before starting rehab and was told that it could take up to 2 1/2 years for the scaphoid to fully heal – so, I had to be careful. Having studied piano for 11 years and taught for 7 1/2 years, I had a certain level of expectation for my dominant hand, so I started my own brand of rehab (finger exercises) pretty much right away, even when my casts were still on. One month after my cast was taken off, the initial physiotherapist exam showed equal strength in both my hands and over 95 per cent range of motion. I just needed to work on getting my right hand 5 per cent stronger. It was nice to be told that had she not known what I was coming in for, she would not have guessed I had broken my wrist. I had disability coverage with a 90-day wait period. Because I was practising part-time, receiving benefits fell under a grey zone. In the end, no claim was ever made. As it was, I took two days off work and returned the following week, cutting back a day and practising acupuncture, activator technique, etc. Being pretty much ambidextrous really helped. Everything took longer and I found I enjoyed practice more. Since then, I’ve slowed my practice down by choice and am focusing on more professional education. I was back on the ice and ski slopes the following year. More importantly, I realized just how resilient I can be when faced with what most practitioners would classify as a “career ending injury.” Financial preparation and practice diversification enabled me to focus on healing, not worrying. My final set of X-rays came out great. To this day, I haven’t had any recurrent pain or aggravation. I am very grateful for that.