Brain Injuries...

Angus Young

An interesting article on Pinkbike on the risks we run. Well worth a read...

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/brain-inju ... -2016.html

cooldad

I think a good may posters here are already brain damaged.

roger_merriman

cooldad wrote:

I think a good may posters here are already brain damaged.

well i certainly am, here be my skull.



Nothing to do with MTBing or anything heroic I should mention.

Bad things can happen, risks can be over and understated. On the whole the CTE (lots of knocks to head) seems more worrying in that it can creep up of people, and the risks are still in some ways unknown.

fractures and bleeds of skull and brain from a big crash most people will have always known was a risk.

Rugby and MMA will come under more pressure than BMX/MTB on the whole.

cooldad

roger merriman wrote:

cooldad wrote:

I think a good may posters here are already brain damaged.

well i certainly am, here be my skull.

Can't be it's got no hair.

haydenm

I remember talking about concussion 10 years ago when I was 15 with a mate who played rugby at quite a high level. He was saying that if they got even a mild concussion they weren't allowed to play for around 3 weeks so he had to be very careful when he was riding in the runup to matches. He said that if you get concussed again while you are healing it can be really bad for you. I remember thinking something like 'jeez, you feel a bit groggy for a bit then it just goes away'. Why is it that in amateur under 16's rugby they had this knowledge 10 years ago and seemingly no one in mountain biking has a clue?

Also, has anyone heard anything about the 'don't go to sleep while you have concussion' thing recently? I remember falling off a longboard at 2am then having to stay up all night drinking energy drink. I have a feeling the energy drink did more harm than me having a kip...

roger_merriman

HaydenM wrote:

I remember talking about concussion 10 years ago when I was 15 with a mate who played rugby at quite a high level. He was saying that if they got even a mild concussion they weren't allowed to play for around 3 weeks so he had to be very careful when he was riding in the runup to matches. He said that if you get concussed again while you are healing it can be really bad for you. I remember thinking something like 'jeez, you feel a bit groggy for a bit then it just goes away'. Why is it that in amateur under 16's rugby they had this knowledge 10 years ago and seemingly no one in mountain biking has a clue?

Also, has anyone heard anything about the 'don't go to sleep while you have concussion' thing recently? I remember falling off a longboard at 2am then having to stay up all night drinking energy drink. I have a feeling the energy drink did more harm than me having a kip...

It would stem from the fact, if head injuries go bad, it happens quickly so trying to sleep it off in some cases would be fatal, ie a large bleed getting bigger, in a confined space ie the skull.

haydenm

roger merriman wrote:

HaydenM wrote:

I remember talking about concussion 10 years ago when I was 15 with a mate who played rugby at quite a high level. He was saying that if they got even a mild concussion they weren't allowed to play for around 3 weeks so he had to be very careful when he was riding in the runup to matches. He said that if you get concussed again while you are healing it can be really bad for you. I remember thinking something like 'jeez, you feel a bit groggy for a bit then it just goes away'. Why is it that in amateur under 16's rugby they had this knowledge 10 years ago and seemingly no one in mountain biking has a clue?

Also, has anyone heard anything about the 'don't go to sleep while you have concussion' thing recently? I remember falling off a longboard at 2am then having to stay up all night drinking energy drink. I have a feeling the energy drink did more harm than me having a kip...

It would stem from the fact, if head injuries go bad, it happens quickly so trying to sleep it off in some cases would be fatal, ie a large bleed getting bigger, in a confined space ie the skull.

That makes sense, I had a quick look online and it says you should be OK to sleep so long as your symptoms aren't too severe.

BloggingFit

Had a few in my time playing Rugby. Two incidents stick out the most. One I remember trying to run in a straight after and ending up going in a circle. The other left me right side of my bottom lip and chin numb for around 6 months. Each time carried on playing in the game and weeks after.

Only had one on the bike around a year ago but wasn't too bad.

NFL is another that it's already starting to see and have to address the after effects.

The Rookie

I wouldn't advice going into stimulants (so called energy drinks) with a brain injury either, raised heart rate and blood pressure certain,y aren't ideal!

Maro

If a jockey has a bump to the head they can't ride/compete again untill they pass a medical. This seems like something the UCI and similar could adopt.

ben@31

I was thinking about this very subject yesterday after a few "offs" .
The danger doesn't have to be an impact to the head. Concussions and knock outs can be your brain rattling around inside, literally bouncing off one side of your skull then the other.
I've seen the NFL are taking viscous tackles and whiplash seriously after brain scans of a few ex-players show long term damage
The most bizarre injury I had mountain biking was coming off some wooden beam but then feeling fine, I finished the rest of the trail no problem and drove home like any other day. Then four hours later, suddenly out of the blue my wrist was in absolute agony, the biggest amount of pain I've ever experienced. It was so bizarre how it was delayed.

phillondon

In the event of a concussion you should be in hospital.

The reason we keep people awake is to assess their conscious level, a decrease in this could indicate changes to their intracranial pressure which could be caused by a bleed of some sort. A CT Scan is normally the next course of action following a drop in consciousness.

If you are in hospital you are checked very regularly to make sure that your level of consciousness has not changed, but you are fine to sleep as you need to rest and recover, but will find it annoying being woken up every hour with questions like 'do you know what year it is?' to make sure your response is appropriate.

If you've had a concussion and are not in hospital, yes, try and stay awake and get there as quickly as possible.

Cyclists with Sub Dural and Extra Dural Haematomas are quite common inpatients to Neuro Intensive Cares, but I've only seen a few. I've seen a fair few more horse riders and motorcyclists!

Always wear your helmet, stay safe.

cooldad

Good luck with that. Last time I had a bad off I was unconcious for a while. Guys got me to the car park with paramedic waiting, who said get to emergency room quickly. Nurse there was great, said get to A&E and get x rayed, and she'd send an email telling them to expect me.
After three hours of sitting around battered and bloody asking now and again if they'd received the email, a 12 year old doctor saw me and asked how much it hurt, on a scale of 1-10. Then told me to go home.
I asked about the x ray and told her I watched CSI and how people droppped dead ages after getting cracked on the head.
She looked at me like I was nuts and said if I had any symptons to call an ambulance.
I asked how I could do that if I was unconcious or dead. She obviously had no sense of humour, looked at me blankly and told me she didn't think I was going to die.
It was all so reassuring.

The Rookie

cooldad wrote:

She obviously had no sense of humour, looked at me blankly and told me she didn't think I was going to die.

I can re-assure you that you are going to die - but she was right that it wasn't going to be from that accident!

cooldad

Thank you. I feel much better now.

FishFish

cooldad wrote:

told me she didn't think I was going to die.
It was all so reassuring.

Did you die?

cooldad

Just a little bit.

larkim

My father had a subdural hematoma which didn't become apparent (and serious) for nearly three months after a seemingly innocuous couple of tumbles when skiing in a badly fitted helmet. Here was immediately disorientated for about an hour afterwards but refused to ask medical attention and we thought nothing more of it when he woke up fine the next day and carried on skiing.

There months later he couldn't string more than the words together after a rapid deterioration and a couple of days later he had two holes drilled into his skull to remove the pressure.

Eleven months later he was back skiing normally, but wearing a properly fitted helmet!