First Aid Kits

aidso

Since taking a spill on the bike yesterday I have been looking at getting a first aid kit to carry on outings but I dont think the ones that Boots supply contain "useful" stuff that would be beneficial to a mountain biker - there are only so many things you can do with 25 plasters. So what I am trying to do is find a little bag and then fill it with my own. Any suggestions:

Some plasters

Small scissors

Bandage

Anti-ceptic wipes

Small bottle of TCP

A big hankie

What else?

miss notax

Survival blanket (not sure if that counts as afirst aid kit item, but everyone should carry one anyway!)

Years ago my other half had a very bad MTBing crash (airlifted off ) and, even though it was quite a warm day, you would be amazed how cold he got lying on a forest floor for a few hours.....

blablablacksheep

id stick away from the typical first aid kits sold in shops as they over priced.

if you making own you going to need a couple of must haves which you havnt got on the list.

Triangle bandage
Different types of dressing, smal medium large ect, also ones with a bandage like attached to the dressing, used for head injurys,arm/fingers ect, forgot name)

Saline solution,(salt+water, though you can buy it in bottle form)

face shield--single, (used for if the worst case happens CPU required, very usefull thing to have and takes up 0 room petty much)

Some eye solutions, again usefull for MTB as you can get all sorts thrown into your eyes if you not using specs.

Conforming bandage used to dress wounds and apply over dressing to secure.
Gloves, LATEX free is a must for first aid kits

blanket like above said, the foil ones are simple enough

personal one Microporous tape allways usefull for tons of things, including repairing bike:)

There the ones i got off top of head, plasters ect and the TCP is all just extra things when compared to the ones above in many ways.

"I broke my arm"......."TCP will fix it"
:P

The Northern Monkey

Gafffa tape, cable ties and a small bottle of whiskey should sort most situations out!

Anonymous

A big dose of MTFU. Apart from that, gaffer, or electrical tape can hold most things together until you can see a quack.

One very useful thing I bought in France was this kind of spray on skin stuff. It's awesome, except it hurts like hell when you first spray it on.

aidso

miss notax wrote:

Survival blanket (not sure if that counts as afirst aid kit item, but everyone should carry one anyway!)
.

I actually have one of these but forgot to list it. Sounds like a lot of stuff is needed to make the pack worthwhile. Just when I thought I was reducing the weight in my backpack too

ravey1981

I picked one up from Mountain Warehouse the other day it says HIKER on it however (shudders at the thought) It does have useful stuff in it though including the all important "oops my collar bone has just popped" triangular bandage. £5

jonnyc2420

+ 1 for the mountain wharehouse one - room for extra stuff to be added like the gaffa tape and extra triangular bandage too!

Andy B

A first aid kit is no use if you don't know how to use it properly

Anonymous

That's why I always carry a nurse.

blablablacksheep

Andy B wrote:

A first aid kit is no use if you don't know how to use it properly

Another one is, a first aid kit is only as good as the stuff thats inside....

No point having a first aid kit full of pointless items which you never going to need or use when biking..
plasters for example, whats the use?? never used a plaster when i fallen over, just washed with some water and carried on.

MountainMonster

Not sure if this was mentioned, as didn't read every post. But Boots sell a spray literally called the Stop Bleeding spray. I bought some last time I was in England, and when I was home about a week later I had a crash. Stopped all the bleeding almost instantly, and sealed the wound a bit. Makes using a plaster even bettter because it doesn't get all wet and goppy.

blablablacksheep

MountainMonster wrote:

Not sure if this was mentioned, as didn't read every post. But Boots sell a spray literally called the Stop Bleeding spray. I bought some last time I was in England, and when I was home about a week later I had a crash. Stopped all the bleeding almost instantly, and sealed the wound a bit. Makes using a plaster even bettter because it doesn't get all wet and goppy.

I think you talking about that "spray on plater" stuff you can buy, it pretty exspencive though.

it bassically puts a clingfilm type stuff over skin and stops cuts +infection.

though tbh water and a TCP spray will be just as good.

mattyg2004

I sprayed that instant plaster on my road rash. Big mistake it was so painfull I wanted to actually cut my own arm off. Hydrocolloidl plasters for the win.

richvass

check on e bay for an army first field dressing? I keep one with me plus a foil blanket and anti histemine for mettle stings and insect bites. Plus plasters. The army ffd packs small but opens to a huge pad with material strips to attach it to the body. Very versatile.

richvass

check on e bay for an army first field dressing? I keep one with me plus a foil blanket and anti histemine for mettle stings and insect bites. Plus plasters. The army ffd packs small but opens to a huge pad with material strips to attach it to the body. Very versatile.

diy

tube of super glue (n-butyl cyanoacrylate) e.g. SurgiSeal or similar. I have used it to close wounds that would normally need to be butterfly stitched. But when you are too far away from anywhere to realistically get it seen to within the 4-6hr limit for stitches.

blablablacksheep

diy wrote:

tube of super glue (n-butyl cyanoacrylate) e.g. SurgiSeal or similar. I have used it to close wounds that would normally need to be butterfly stitched. But when you are too far away from anywhere to realistically get it seen to within the 4-6hr limit for stitches.

good stuff though be carful i know a lot of people who have reactions to it/chems that they use.

butterfly are best tbh as nothin beats contact +contact holds,

worse case use saline soaked thread+ needle, i seen it done before :shock:

diy

I'd never attempt to do stitches on someone, you have to be absolutely sure its completely clean otherwise they could end up with a necrotic wound.

However, a "nasty" cut, should be cleaned and closed up to avoid a scar.

I would also say forget carrying plasters, carry strips or a roll of elastoplast, as then it can be used as human gaffe tape. Make sure its waterproof too as it wont stick to sweat.

I've been extremely lucky doing first aid, its either been a hand someone the antiseptic wipe and stop laughing or I've arrived at something serious only to find a doctor arrives a minute or two later.

I did come across a roady who'd smashed his head and face quite badly from a fall. He was fitting quite badly and all his mates were in shock. Fortunately within about 5 mins a doc arrived and I deemed my first on scene out ranked and handed over. By which time he'd started to come round and stopped fitting. At least he wasn't rowdy.

Frodo1095

blablablacksheep wrote:

I think you talking about that "spray on plater" stuff you can buy, it pretty exspencive though.

it bassically puts a clingfilm type stuff over skin and stops cuts +infection.

though tbh water and a TCP spray will be just as good.

Be wary of using spray on stuff to seal a wound, unless you clean a wound out well, you will just seal all the crap inside next to the wound and your blood supply, thus allowing an infection a nice sealed area to do its work. Kind of like allowing a maniac to work in a dark room, the outcome will inevitably be bad, you just dont know how bad......yet.

MountainMonster

blablablacksheep wrote:

MountainMonster wrote:

Not sure if this was mentioned, as didn't read every post. But Boots sell a spray literally called the Stop Bleeding spray. I bought some last time I was in England, and when I was home about a week later I had a crash. Stopped all the bleeding almost instantly, and sealed the wound a bit. Makes using a plaster even bettter because it doesn't get all wet and goppy.

I think you talking about that "spray on plater" stuff you can buy, it pretty exspencive though.

it bassically puts a clingfilm type stuff over skin and stops cuts +infection.

though tbh water and a TCP spray will be just as good.

Just realised you had asked me. Nope it is not the spray on plaster stuff, this stuff just basically freezes the end of the vessles or something, and in essence carterizes the wound so it stop bleeding, very temporary fix, and by no means is it meant for anything other than stopping the bleeding, but it works well.

http://www.boots.com/en/Boots-Pharmaceu ... -_1129510/

This is it, made time after crashes a bit easier, as you spray it on, wait about 10 seconds, wipe the wet blood away, pop a plaster on and away you go. Reduces changes of plasters and time to get a plaster to sit right. Love the stuff!