Road Rash

CanyonBiker

This past weekend I started my first gran fondo and I unfortunately sustained a fall down a steep hill in the rain. The race was on Saturday and it's obviously now Thursday. My injuries mostly consisted of road rash on my hip and elbow.

I've been loading the injuries with neosporin and bandaids as well as a cleaner spray. The injuries are starting to look better but I'm still in immense pain. Do you have any other recs? Also curious when I can start working out again. Thanks!

maryka

Giant hydrocolloid bandages work best in my experience. Not sure where you're located, but something like this. https://www.medisave.co.uk/3m-tegaderm- ... of-10.html Can be a bit expensive but worth it for the quicker healing and reduced pain of scabbing etc.

Though if they are causing you "immense" pain still, you might want to get them checked out? I suppose it's possible that you did enough damage to need a skin graft or there might be grit etc. stuck in there that needs cleaning out or it may get infected or not heal properly.

sungod

a few days after is a bit late, normally, step one is clean the wound asap, then dress

if they're bad, go to a&e might be best

best dressing depends on the size/severity of the wound, and of course what you can get, chemists may have large dressings, but not on the open shelves as they aren't packaged for retail, ask at the counter and see

i had a large patch of road rash on hip/thigh, similar area to a dvd/cd case, ae put a large tegaderm on it, it's like plastic film, but doesn't stick to the wound, only to the healthy skin

if the wounds are stil open...

if the wound is deep/really wet, an alginate dressing and follow instructions
less deep/wet, hydrocolloid and follow instructions
a few layers of skin, a bit wet but not raw flesh, tegaderm film and follow instructions

...otherwise dress with what you have access to, use a non-adherent dressing and secure it with micropore tape


all of these stay in place for several days at a time (do what the instructions say), they keep the wound moist so it can heal faster and without scabbing/scarring

as long as it's free of infection, leave it alone, it will heal faster/better if you don't keep disturbing it, new skin is extremely delicate as it forms

the alginate/hydocolloid dressing soak up fluids and stay moist, so they can become pretty squishy, that's normal

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Sudocrem, wondrous stuff, so many uses including keeping road rash clean.

fenix

I do what Maryka does - those are the business.

I'm a bit worried about the immense pain. It is going to be uncomfortable - but it's not "immense pain".

You haven't broken something have you ?

Heal well.

sloppyschleckonds

Tramadol

briantrumpet

Hydrocolloid dressings, yes, ideally as soon after the scrape as possible (making sure that the injured area is properly cleaned first). I'll admit to keeping hold of the large dressings left over when my father died, as if you wait till you fall off, large ones are sometimes tricky to get hold of from local suppliers (other than a hospital).

Tegaderm (more like fancy clingfilm than a hydrocolloid dressing) works fine too.

Both sorts of dressings immediately eliminate the sting you get from road rash, as well as reducing/eliminating scarring.