MTB injuries

Philthy_1

Come on then, lets hear about your injuries through mountain biking.

So far (I say with one hand on my desk) I haven't hurt myself biking, yet. That's probably because after shattering my abkle skateboarding 2 years ago and cracking a bone in my shoulder whilst mountain boarding last year, when it comes to biking I'm the slow one at the back of the group that the others are waiting for.

I use to be fearless (to an extent) but no more!

ST Colin

I'd say it's the one thing I fear most, breaking a bone from a fall. But then I don't do jumping or DH'ing so I might not be as likely to break anything

stu8975

Separated shoulder last year...bit of a bummer cos it was in the summer.
http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/ff35 ... ulder1.jpg

gazvenn

managed to stick one of the pins on a set of v8's into my achille's (spelling? :? ) tendon years back, if i moved my foot blood spurted out.. felt like a well pump. fun times

Underscore

ST Colin wrote:

I'd say it's the one thing I fear most, breaking a bone from a fall. But then I don't do jumping or DH'ing so I might not be as likely to break anything

Not as likely but I was riding some noddy XC (on the way to work) in May and, on a gentle downhill section, I moved the bike towards the edge of the path to avoid some not-particularly-significant roots in the centre of it. When I woke up (an estimated 15 minutes later) I had no clue where I was but, fortunately, a bloke out for a walk came across me when I was on the phone to my 38-week pregnant wife. Injury list was i) broken collar bone, ii) 5 stitches in a cut on my left knee, and iii) a patch of my upper thigh with a loss of sensation.

Now, about 3 months on the cut has healed, the collar bone is pretty much healed and I've got the feeling back in my upper thigh - though it now feels a little sore all the time... More importantly though, apart from a slightly bent rear brake lever, a few light scratches and the need to realign my rear brake calliper, my bike is fine!

_

Bikerbaboon

stu8975 wrote:

Separated shoulder last year...bit of a bummer cos it was in the summer.
http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/ff35 ... ulder1.jpg

is that healing up as i have done something like that its its now stable after 6months but its never going to heal back. Not done anything too bad on the MTB but last year came off 3 times from my motorbike totaling about 4 months off work. with a total of 4 broken bones an seperated sholder and blow to my leg that hit so hard that it killed all the flesh back to the bone in one massive hole, but its was all scabbed over and i only found out the flesh was dead after about 6 weeks and 2 courses of atibiotics the doc was pulling rotting flesh form my bones with no pain killers.

stu8975

Bikerbaboon wrote:

stu8975 wrote:

Separated shoulder last year...bit of a bummer cos it was in the summer.
http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/ff35 ... ulder1.jpg

is that healing up as i have done something like that its its now stable after 6months but its never going to heal back. Not done anything too bad on the MTB but last year came off 3 times from my motorbike totaling about 4 months off work. with a total of 4 broken bones an seperated sholder and blow to my leg that hit so hard that it killed all the flesh back to the bone in one massive hole, but its was all scabbed over and i only found out the flesh was dead after about 6 weeks and 2 courses of atibiotics the doc was pulling rotting flesh form my bones with no pain killers.

well considering it was a type/stage 5 separation which required surgery to wire it back together its not too bad (apart from the 8inch scar), was back at work after 10weeks, however it started to give me a bit grief about 5 weeks ago, x-ray showed that the wire has snapped and im back on the sick awaiting 2nd surgery to remove the offending wire, so hopefully it will be ok after that. I will sort a pic out to show what its healed like.

OwenB

Got some lovely scars up my calves from when I was getting used to my V8's but no real bike injuries (yet) though I have tried hard!
Most of my injuries have come from years of rugby, so hopefully I've had my share and won't get many more!

cee

in the last year and a half i have.....

pulled/slightly torn inner left cruciate ligament
split meniscus in knee
broken 2 ribs
broken 1 toe (twice......same flippin toe!)
fractured 1 scaphoid

luckily, no surgery was required. the knee was a pest though requiring 6 months of quite intensive physio.

stu8975

What my shoulder looks like healed(ish), i'd say its about 85% back to normal, still slight drop on it.
http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/ff35 ... 0135-1.jpg

Bikerbaboon

stu8975 wrote:

Bikerbaboon wrote:

stu8975 wrote:

Separated shoulder last year...bit of a bummer cos it was in the summer.
http://i539.photobucket.com/albums/ff35 ... ulder1.jpg

is that healing up as i have done something like that its its now stable after 6months but its never going to heal back. Not done anything too bad on the MTB but last year came off 3 times from my motorbike totaling about 4 months off work. with a total of 4 broken bones an seperated sholder and blow to my leg that hit so hard that it killed all the flesh back to the bone in one massive hole, but its was all scabbed over and i only found out the flesh was dead after about 6 weeks and 2 courses of atibiotics the doc was pulling rotting flesh form my bones with no pain killers.

well considering it was a type/stage 5 separation which required surgery to wire it back together its not too bad (apart from the 8inch scar), was back at work after 10weeks, however it started to give me a bit grief about 5 weeks ago, x-ray showed that the wire has snapped and im back on the sick awaiting 2nd surgery to remove the offending wire, so hopefully it will be ok after that. I will sort a pic out to show what its healed like.

only manage a type 3..... but its the best you can get with out needing to go under the knife. GL with te op

stu8975

I wish i could say i was doin something mental to result in my snapped shoulder but it was a pathetic front wheel slide out at about 7mph on my way to work in the pissing down rain, i didnt even notice it til i got to work and took my jacket off (sudden rush of pain and face turnin the colour of wheel milk). I didnt even fall on that shoulder either, fell on the left side but kept hold of the bike to stop it hitting a kerb, resulting in my shoulder being ripped pretty much in half..barstewards.

Philthy_1

Christ! Not even safe commuting to work.

Wag$ter

2 weeks ago decided to try a bomb hole out in Thetford forest. (tom's i think) it had been raining pritty hard earler in day
Thought i was clever going down steepest side got about a meter down it, then all loose sand bike gives way luckly manage to unclip pedels in mid air fall the remaining 10ft land on shoulder in a heap on floor bike just missing me quickly in alot of pain, feel collor bone to check not broken quickly pick bike up and pretend it didn't hurt. and continued ride, still hurts like hell now lol
ppl I was with said all they heard was a loud thud what do you expect I weigh 17.5 stone :P

P-Jay

Twisted my ankle pretty badly last month in Morzine. I know a twisted ankle doesn't sound much, but I couldn't walk on it for two days. Swelled up so my leg was a uniform width from calf to foot and turned black and blue. Still not right now. Probably because I was still trying ride on it. Love to sayI was pinning it down Mount Cherry or something like that, but I fell off at 2mph on the Zig Zag.

Knackerd my little finger two weeks ago, at Whites Level it's not exactly straight, slighty "Z" shaped.

Bruised my cocix (sp?) and hip at Clmach-x back in June. Hurt like HELL! I was wrything like a stabbed snake for 10 mins when I did it. Rode to the end and it hurt like hell. Packed up my tent and stuff, hurt like Hell. Got in the car for a few hours to get home and it all kinda locked up. Then it really started to hurt. Runied for two days, could only get around my flat using my hover as a zimmer frame. Ha ha.

I think that's pretty much it for this year so far. It's my pie-eaters gut I think, makes me top heavy on the bike and of course the extra gravity means I hit the ground harder, ha ha.

Rich Hcp

I had concussion at Lake Placid, going down the ski slopes in the summer.

The brakes on the bikes were the wrong way round and I pulled the left to slow down for a drop and did a pile drive in to some rocks.

Head first feet in the sir, I knew it was bad because no one was laughing!

Smashed crash helmet and a bit groggy for a couple of days.

Bloody american bikes!

lost-time

Broke my arm a few years ago (15+yrs ago) but nowt really serious. What concerns me more than anything now is not the pain and discomfort but the rehab and waiting to get back on the bike AND more importantly hoping my insurances pay out on the mortgage and I remain financially secure.

Philthy_1

P-Jay wrote:

could only get around my flat using my hover as a zimmer frame. Ha ha.

I think that's pretty much it for this year so far. It's my pie-eaters gut I think, makes me top heavy on the bike and of course the extra gravity means I hit the ground harder, ha ha.

Haha, I'll have to remember that. When I broke my ankle skateboarding I used my skateboard as a crutch to get from the car to the hospital entrance.

Philthy_1

lost-time wrote:

Broke my arm a few years ago (15+yrs ago) but nowt really serious. What concerns me more than anything now is not the pain and discomfort but the rehab and waiting to get back on the bike AND more importantly hoping my insurances pay out on the mortgage and I remain financially secure.

That was the hardest thing about braking my ankle. Sure, it did smart a bit, but the pain was managable. The most annoying thing was being in hospital for 10 days, layed up in bed for nearly a month and off work for 12 weeks. Recovery sucks!

passout

Scars, scabs and gravel burn (ouch). Nothing serious (touch wood) because I fall off 'properly'. But I know someone who is in hopsital with a broken pelvis and femur at the moment - doesn't remember a thing! May have been a car as he'd just finished o#off road & joined a quiet country lane - if so, then it was a hit and run.

Skiing - now that's a dangerous sport. I've been knocked out and broken a leg on separate occasions.

Ciaran500

How can I fall off "properly"?

Philthy_1

Ciaran500 wrote:

How can I fall off "properly"?

There are ways. I slam hard when falling from my skateboard, but my mate can slam harder, but because he's learnt how to fall from doing martial arts, rarely does he hurt himself.

My reflexes aren't quick enough to fall properly. I just splat.

Moose.

P-Jay wrote:

I know a twisted ankle doesn't sound much, but I couldn't walk on it for two days.

Mate, twisted ankle's hurt like hell! Done it to both my ankles now Last time was on New Year's eve doing this:



It looked like this a couple of days later:



Kind of ruined my New Year's celerbrations (well until the alchole kicked in;) It did however take 4 weeks of physio (and about £200 to sort out properly) before it was back to normal again.

Not as bad as this one though:



That was the result of me testing my new RS Revelations out on a favourite bit of rocky downhill only to find myself thrown over the handlebars at a GPS verified 40km/h. Seconds earier I was thinking just how great my new forks are, and how they're allowing me to go that much quicker 8)

Not really sure what happened but the rear end just bucked up and threw me into the air (hardtail). I landed very hard on my left side and saw the bike go flying over my head out of the corner on my eye. I think I pulled pretty much every muscle in my hip too

After a visit to the local A&E with much poking/proding by the doctor, a tetanus booster :shock: and a pee sample (to check my kidneys were ok), I was given the all clear and told to take painkillers but I'm not to go riding for 1 to 2 weeks. It took nearly double that before I was in the saddle again.

Here's the GPS plot (yes I'm that sad ):



Shows how your heart rate jumps when you've had an off and the rapid deceleration of the bike once it had finished flying over my head

passout

RE ' Falling off properly'.

If you anticiapte it you can kinda hop off the back (with SPDs in my case) and end up running down the descent - in some cases you may even overtake your mates on their MTBs! A forward roll adds much needed drama if it's not too rocky. The trick is knowing when to do this, you certainly don't want to do it unless you are absolutely sure that you are going to crash. Whatever you do, in the event of a crash, try not to stay with the bike, there are of course always some exceptions to every rule!

Depending on what you are riding though crashes often happen far to quickly for the above to apply. In this case you must NOT stick your hands/arms out if you fall, unless you particulary want to test the strength of your collar bone. This is easier said then done, but now I kinda 'tuck in' automatically. You may have to fall off alot before you too attain this Zen like state. Also try to roll if you can, it can help reduce gravel burn and again can adds much needed drama to any crash.

If wearing body armour (wimp) then ignore all of the above as you'll want to hit the ground hard to justify the money and long miles of discomfort involved. I don't include downhillers, proper free riders or anything involving big jumps in this by the way. Always wear helmet, gloves and Oakleys though. Brightly coloured yrca can also help make you crash look even better.

Oh....always miss trees too.

Hope that helps. 8) :shock:

forgotrafe

Doesn't strictly match the topic title because it was on a road bike but...

When I was 17 my bike slid under me as I was turning a corner on a tarmac road, with loose chippings on the top. Only going a few MPH but hit the road face first. Cut right through top lip horizontally and vertically (someone said my top lip opened up like upside-down ferry doors) and almost tore bottom lip off face

Something like 20-30 anaesthetic injections around mouth, wound scrubbed with a nailbrush and then a toothbrush. Put back together with 30 stitches in top lip, 10 in bottom lip, and 2 from front of cheeks to back of mouth to take tension off bottom lip.

Fortunately I did it near a new A&E in Ipswich which, despite it being a Sat afternoon, was a) virtually empty, b) had lots of shiney new facilities and c) just happened to have a facial surgeon on site. If I was at home in NE London (Whips Cross Hospital) I'd of probably got a wet wipe, two stiches and an asprin, but only after an 8 hour wait

Worst bit was the two de-tensioning stiches which meant I constantly dribbled and at 17 it's not good to be that un-cool.