Exactly one year ago (30th June 2009) I had a pretty bad accident with a quad (ran into rock by the side of the road at 40-50 km/h). I tumbled over and the quad hit me in the back.
I did not break anything except the helmet, but I was black and bruised all over, also, I had road rash on my arms, legs and shoulder. I also had 1st degree right should dislocation, in fact, my tendons were stretched to the point of snapping...
It happened on the first day of my summer holiday vacations so I had a month to get better. The biggest problem was changing dressings and showering because the wounds/scratches were all over the body, so taking a shower lasted for an hour. I had painful shoulder for the next 8-9 months. The bruises and swollen areas remained that way for the next 3-4 months.
However, I went back to the gym 3 days after the accident (I usually train with weights 5x/week for the past 10 years). First I worked out my lower parts of the body and left side, because right shoulder was affected and very weak, and then after 3 weeks I started working right side of the body with baby weights. After 6-7 weeks I was back to working unilateral exercises with similar weights.
Scientific studies show that working out opposite side of the body helps heal the injured side, because the body routes recovery processes to both sides of the body equally, thus enhancing recovery. If you break a leg, it is a good idea to work out the unaffected leg etc.
Of course, this worked for me.
Otherwise, I can only recommend some kind of anti-pain gel like Voltaren, Ibuprofen, or whatever is the brand name where you live.
p.s. Consider yourself lucky. Last week a guy from my office was killed when he fell of the bike in the center of the city. Probably nothing would happen because the speed was very low and nobody knew why he fell, but falling from the bike he hit several anti-car-parking poles/barriers with the trunk of his body that cause massive internal injury and death.
