Keeping chipper

Ferrals

As you may have read in another thread I had a bad off in the week, resulting in knocking myself out and a&e time. The last couple of days I was just relieved it wasn't any worse but now the depression set in. My shoulder is pretty knackered, only torn muscle, but will take a few months to get back to strength. My leg is also currently bad but physio says it will only be a week or too. Seeing as my favorite pass times are surfing and mtb, and I'm in the middle of re-doing our house, not having a shoulder means I'm pretty pissed off!! :twisted: :twisted: :evil: :evil:

I'm also feeling nervous about going back full steam in case my brain is removing from the impact :oops:

Any other people who've had bad offs want to offer any advice / words of encouragement? 8)
I guess I will hit the gym in about 10 days to try the exercise bike to keep fitness up but it's not exactly the same

ricardo_smooth

I'm currently recovering from a broken ankle (had my cast off 3 weeks ago after being 6 weeks post op).
It's a good time to do any servicing you can manage, reading about bike stuff and get the vids out of inspiration. Any rehab you're allowed to do then stick to it. If you've been advised not to do any rehab yet, again stick to it. I'm 3 weeks in front of where i should be as I listened and rested in the initial phase of my injury.
Full speed and confidence will come when you're back riding again, it will just take a little time.

Waiting isn't ideal, but it's part of the sport. Maybe set some recovery goals

Ferrals

Cheers mate, hope the ankle recovery goes well. Like you say it's part and parcel of sport. The physio has given told me little and often for the shoulder exercisizes, which is good as whenever I get pissed off I do a few reps and feel like I'm going something useful. I'm about the worst person in the world to be cooped up though!

Boromedic

Hi mate, I think all of the above from ricardo is great advice. I had an off and did a similar shoulder injury to you in 2012, resulting in a grade 2 AC joint seperation and it took me 2 months to get back on the bike properly (rubbish!).

I got through it by doing servicing on the bike I crashed (Orange P7), buying a flashy new bike and staring at it lovingly till I could take it out!

With regards the rehab, I was advised to do similar little and often movements and not to stop using the shoulder as it may become frozen and take longer to recover, basically be normal and avoid moderate to heavy lifting. Alternate Ice/Heat also worked to assist the inflammation/healing process and also relieve pain (don't ice for too long though as it can delay healing in some cases). Only other advice I'd give (depending on how good your current physio is and whether they're NHS) is find a good sports physio/therapist and pay for your treatment any way you can. I've had a number of injuries in the past and NHS physios are hit and miss, many won't even do any actual physical therapy (the last 3 I've seen and at least 2 my wife has seen so it doesn't appear to be a rare occurence). Instead they just give you exercises and resistance bands (which are good but should be in addition to decent sports massage/therapy). I'd have been off my bike for a lot longer if I'd have just stuck with the NHS physio my doc referred me to. The guy I saw was great, very encouraging and above all got me back on my bike in double quick time. The NHS guy I saw suggested I should give up biking altogether, and consider swimming breast stroke with all the oldies to keep fit as my shoulder may not be up to MTB again!! I'm 36 not 66 for gods sake!! (They're not all that bad though ;-) )

Good luck with the rehab, and keep your chin up you'll be back up to speed in no time. Keep us posted how you're getting on.

ricardo_smooth

Cabin fever was my worst battle as I couldn't drive and couldn't get about at first without it being a big effort. I'm the same, going from someone who's never still to being laid up is tough! Just think in the grand scheme of your life. This won't take too long and you'll certainly spend more time riding than injured!

Ferrals

Cheers mate, yeah paying for physio privately from a guy who does stuff with some top athletes, cricketers and footballers. Not cheap but worth it I reckon. I've used him in the past after going to some quack who told be to give up hope and he had me sorted in a month.

Think I will purchase some bling bits, my handlebars are cracked and stem plate dented so using that as an excuse to replace with renthal bars and hope/race face stem.

Boromedic

Ferrals wrote:

Cheers mate, yeah paying for physio privately from a guy who does stuff with some top athletes, cricketers and footballers. Not cheap but worth it I reckon. I've used him in the past after going to some quack who told be to give up hope and he had me sorted in a month.

Think I will purchase some bling bits, my handlebars are cracked and stem plate dented so using that as an excuse to replace with renthal bars and hope/race face stem.

Awesome, yeah definitely worth paying the extra I think and he sounds like the right guy! It's amazing how many folk say their doc or NHS physio told them that they were fooked and just deal with it yet then see someone else privately and manage to return to full function (I don't mean to rain on the NHS, I worked for them for 10 years and in some cases it's an amazing service but in others it's just a massive f**k up). I suppose its like a lot of things, you get what you pay for!

New gear is always a good thing to get your mind focused on riding again, I just immersed myself in bike porn to stem the cabin fever!!!

rockmonkeysc

It hurts but it's only temporary. Bike maintenance and ride planning time.
Unfortunately in this sport if you want to push yourself you have to accept that occasionally it's going to result in injury.

Angus Young

Just know that this will be over in the blink of an eye.

My little girl has had two major hip surgeries in her short life, once when she was one and a half and two years ago when she was six. The most recent was an 8 hour epic where they sawed through her left femur and chopped her pelvis up in to 3 pieces so that they could rearrange the parts to fashion a decent hip joint. Both operations left her in a full body cast for six months. When we wet into both of those episodes it seemed like the end of the world and like six months was forever. Now I can barely remember either in any great detail. The blink of an eye in the great scheme of things. And now she rides her bike faster than any of her friends and out paces most of the boys that are two years older than her.

Ferrals

Wow, it must have been hard for you all going through that. Glad to hear that she's through it now.

Rock monkey, yeah, the amount of time I've spent surfing, skating and mountainbiking through my life I've been lucky that I've made it to my mid-thirties with this being the worst I'd have so far.

Hairylegs66

Sympathies from me too - fractured my collar bone 10 days ago, lucky enough not to need surgery but bad enough to be off the bike until mid July probably. First broken bone in 47 years so was due I suppose!

My sanity plan is to:- get my Reba Team forks sent away for servicing, service the XT hubs front & back myself (when I get a bit more arm movement back), stick my commuting bike on the Turbo Trainer to keep some miles in the legs in front of a laptop with other people's Go Pro footage for inspiration, fit the I spec converters for my XT shifters to my XT brakes and fit an SLX groupset onto my mate's bike as a thank you for getting me home when I had my off - thanks Paul. Also plan to meet my riding buddies for a cuppa when they are out so make sure they are not slacking once I can drive again!! And book another skills session at Surrey Hills in the Autumn to learn from my mistake lol.

My wife is a physio so will be doing some exercise to keep movement in the shoulder & arm joints.

Ferrals

Thanks Hairylegs, hope the collar bone fixes soon! My Gym has fancy exercise bikes that are internet enabled so I can watch the replays of various world cups and get fired up

Most annoying thing I'm finding is the lack of sleep. It is just so painful at night. :evil: :evil:

Spending my spare time trying to decide what new helmet (and to be on the safe side knee and elbow pads too) and 'treat' components to buy.

Hairylegs66

Cheers Ferrals, I hope so too.

Oddly enough I've slept better since my 'off', might be the painkillers.. or the fact I've been kipping on the sofa as I have to sleep on my back due to the fracture which makes me snore like an asthmatic pit pony and is keeping my missus awake. The sofa back does prop me up enough to keep the weight off the knackered shoulder whilst I am lying down - might be worth a try for you perhaps? And don't be macho about taking the painkillers, take as many as you can (without OD'ing, obviously) and make sure you time them so that you take some just before bedtime for maximum effect.

After smacking my helmet encased head off the ground I'm thinking of getting a replacement Giro Hex under their crash replacement scheme, but I can't find the receipt...bugger. May have to bite the bullet on that one. I do prefer it to the Fox Flux I had previously, lighter and the retention system is much easier to adjust i.m.h.o.

I have been eyeing up various pads as well - what did you do to your leg? would pads have helped limit the damage done?

rockmonkeysc

Painkillers are good. When I broke my arm and ribs at the same time I was given some good strong ones. I slept pretty much solid for a week.
My biggest mistake was going to a stand up comedy show with two broken ribs.

pesky_jones

Recovering from surgery ATM, had a plate put on my collarbone. It's lame. I'm stripping the paint off a frame to keep me busy.

pesky_jones

I got given tramadol after the surgery, I took it for the first few nights but am now trying not to take anything. It's been ok sleeping so far, touch wood

Angus Young

Pesky Jones wrote:

I got given tramadol after the surgery, I took it for the first few nights but am now trying not to take anything. It's been ok sleeping so far, touch wood

You should take as many pain killers as you can, you'll recover quicker. They allow you to fully relax which aids the recovery process, so toughing it out just slows things down.

pesky_jones

Really? See I got given ibuprofen to take as well, but that's apparently detrimental to bone growth.

I'm not being tough, I'm just not in a lot of pain at the mo, touch wood. Also the tramadol is really strong and makes me feel wired.

Hairylegs66

Tramadol can zonk you out, had the same effect on me when I had pleurisy 9 years ago. It is true about keeping up with the painkillers, you can move better if you are not in pain. If it hurts you will restrict your limb movement and lose full range of movement long term. You may also get referred pain if you change your posture or gait to compensate for painful movements. I'm technically not supposed to be taking ibuprofen as it interacts badly with other Meds I am on and increases the risk of internal bleeding, however paracetamol alone isn't effective on its own and works better with ibuprofen. I have been taking them and the combo does the business if you keep up with the maximum daily doseage .

Angus Young

Pesky Jones wrote:

Really? See I got given ibuprofen to take as well, but that's apparently detrimental to bone growth.

I'm not being tough, I'm just not in a lot of pain at the mo, touch wood. Also the tramadol is really strong and makes me feel wired.

When my little one had her operation we were told strictly to giver her everything we'd been sent home with and not to skimp (even though we had misgivings about all the drugs we were putting into her) for the reasons mentioned above. It was rather funny as she was on a big combination of industrial strength pain killers so she spent the first week and a half stoned. Literally. And seeing a six year old very stoned is very funny!

photonic69

Seems like you got off quite lightly with your accident and op. I have my crash 5 weeks ago, my op 2 weeks ago and I'm still on Diclofenac for the inflamation and Tramadol for the pain, though at a much lower dose. I have bad nerve damage to my arm which has given me a numb hand with little movement. Right hand too. It's a real bummer. Had physio today and we have detected slight improvement which is good. These things can take ages to repair as nerves grow maximum 1mm per month!
Keeping positive is quite hard at times but if it weren't for my kids and wife I think I'd have a hard time coping.

Anyway I've a calendar full of hospital appointments to keep me busy and some electro nerve stimulation to look forward to. Apparently it's quite painful. Yeah, bring it on!

Ferrals

That's interesting about pain killers I had been skipping them as I like to feel where the pain is and don't trust pills, but I'll dose up. I've got co-codamol but I was then told to stop that as it's a bit risky with a bad head injury so am just on paracetamol.

Hairy legs, my legs weren't too bad, one knee bruised and cut and the other thigh so badly bruised I couldn't use it for the first 48 hrs but just a minor niggle now, pads wouldn't have stopped the bruising as it was upper outside thigh but at least my knee would be fine.

Slowly getting some movement back in the shoulder so I feel like a wimp whining when all of you seem to have worse injuries - hope you all recover swiftly! The freaky thing is I went to say thankyou to the guys that found me and looked after me till the ambulance came and apparently, the way I'd tangled myself up around bike, rucksack and tree and caught my helmet, the strap was stopping me breathing and my face had gone blue! No wonder I can't remember anything! that was probably my fault for trying to hammer a dh run with a bag of work notebooks, lunch box, heavy hbike lock etc

Ferrals

Update. Physio said it wasn't healing as he was expected, worse rotator cuff tear than he thought and I need an MRI and it's 50-50 if I'll need surgery. Waiting lists are shite so am going to pay for a private scan ASAP as the uncertainty is a downer. Going from you'll be right in two months to you may need surgery is a bit of a blow. Anyone else had this surgery? It seems like a long recovery