Persuasion

My boyfriend races motocross.  About 6 months ago, on a Saturday morning, he went to a track to practice without me.  I was studiously studying for my upcoming Physiology exam.  About 11:00 I get a phone call from him. He says, "I think I hurt my ankle,  but I'm okay. I am going to load my bike up and go home."  Apparently, he landed a jump and went into a corner. While turning, his boot got caught in the mud and twisted his ankle.  He heard a loud "pop!"   I met him at his house to assess the situation.  Although he managed to load and unload his motorcycle by himself, once he took his boot off the outside of his ankle looked the size of a tennis ball.  His reaction to it was, "It's just a little swollen. I probably just sprained it.  A little ice and it will be fine." 

I had to utilize causal reasoning to convince him to go to the doctor.  If it was just a sprain that was fine, he should just stay off it for a bit.  However, if it was broken, there could be severe ramifications to not getting it set properly.  Putting any weight on it could make the brake worse.  It could heal incorrectly causing more long-term damage. He potentially would not be able to race anymore.  However, if he went to the doctor and it was broken, it could be properly set, he could get a release from work to give it time to heal, and he would be able to continue to race. 

The end result was that he went to the doctor within an hour's time and found out that it was indeed broken and he was in surgery a week later to get 2 screws and a plate put in.  Now 6 months down the road he is training for his next race in May with hardly any limitations due to the brake.