Braden Mosher

Washington, USA

About 5 years ago I got in a 70mph rollover accident. The roads were slick and I was late to work. There were 2 people driving according to the weather and I decided to pass them right before there was a bend in the road. Needless to say I was going way too fast. After going around the bend I started fishtailing, overcorrected, and flew into the ditch and flipped my car 3 times, landing upside down. Amazingly I walked away with a broken fingernail and a lesson learned. I was checked out by a doctor and given a thumbs up to go back to work after I wasn’t so sore.

About a month later I realized that the mobility in my left shoulder (where the seatbelt held me down) was severely hindered. I couldn’t move it much past a 90° angle to my body without some significant pain and a large crack of my rotator cuff struggling to move my improperly healed arm around within it. I was too late to file this claim along with my insurance, so I had to grin and bear it. Luckily for me though, I had picked up poi the year before and knew the yoga / Tai Chi like motions could only help aid in the healing process. After 1 year of drilling and doing some exercises that were uncomfortable at first (plane exercises behind and on top of my head, behind the body back to the front, full extensions front and back) I found that my range of motion was steadily getting better. I could lift my left arm all the way above my head with only a minor pop from my left shoulder. It has been 5 years since then, and although I wasn’t as diligent with poi for several of those years, my range of motion is back to +80% of what it was (in comparison to my right shoulder) and I often forget I was even in such a terrible accident. I am grateful to the flow arts for all they have helped me with physically, mentally, and spiritually, and to you for providing this platform to share my story.