Head Injuries

mididoctors

rick_chasey said:

Cycling generally is one of the more extreme sports in terms of carrying on through injuries.

You’ll struggle to change that.

Most crashes are collar bones and road rash .. if they had a head alarm gizmo I think that's acceptable to my cycling tradition hard man genetics

TheBigBean

RichN95. said:

TheBigBean said:

rick_chasey said:

Cycling generally is one of the more extreme sports in terms of carrying on through injuries.

You’ll struggle to change that.

Cycling can change. Plenty of broken cricketers have played on when required. Now if they are concussed, they get subbed.

They can also have a runner if they are injured. And they can also retire hurt and return later.

No runners any more in international cricket.

TheBigBean

rick_chasey said:

TheBigBean said:

rick_chasey said:

TheBigBean said:

rick_chasey said:

Cycling generally is one of the more extreme sports in terms of carrying on through injuries.

You’ll struggle to change that.

Cycling can change. Plenty of broken cricketers have played on when required. Now if they are concussed, they get subbed.

Might have to stop fans worshipping riders riding through broken bones first.

They can worship riders with broken bones, but not the ones with head injuries.

I dunno Hamilton needed caps for all his teeth as he ground them down riding with a broken collarbone.

I know. Teeth don't count as a head injury.

flite

Not sure if the regs are still the same, but World Rally used to have an interesting approach. If a driver had a big crash or mechanical and could not finish one day, they were allowed to restart the next, but not qualify for overall standings.
So in a stage race, a rider could be pulled out of the stage for testing for concussion, but allowed to start the next day if given the all-clear. Obviously out of the GC, but could go for stage wins, work for team etc. Only once per event! Open to accusations of having a "rest day". But with neutral doctors, could be better than nothing?

bobmcstuff

I think if it involves deliberately crashing in order to get a "rest day", it is going to be pretty hard to game... Pretty high risk strategy isn't it, crashes are quite unpredictable so you could end up writing yourself out of the race - or giving yourself the kind of injury that ruins your sleep and recovery (just being sore and having road rash will do that).

That sounds like the most workable solution I have seen so far, still not sure if it would actually be used.

No_Ta_Doctor

bobmcstuff said:

I think if it involves deliberately crashing in order to get a "rest day", it is going to be pretty hard to game... Pretty high risk strategy isn't it, crashes are quite unpredictable so you could end up writing yourself out of the race - or giving yourself the kind of injury that ruins your sleep and recovery (just being sore and having road rash will do that).

That sounds like the most workable solution I have seen so far, still not sure if it would actually be used.

I think if that was combined with the helmet sensor idea then you might have something workable. I don't think you'd see deliberate crashes, just people in a crash trying to get a day off. But if their helmets are blinking red then maybe they get one.

rick_chasey

No_Ta_Doctor said:

bobmcstuff said:

I think if it involves deliberately crashing in order to get a "rest day", it is going to be pretty hard to game... Pretty high risk strategy isn't it, crashes are quite unpredictable so you could end up writing yourself out of the race - or giving yourself the kind of injury that ruins your sleep and recovery (just being sore and having road rash will do that).

That sounds like the most workable solution I have seen so far, still not sure if it would actually be used.

I think if that was combined with the helmet sensor idea then you might have something workable. I don't think you'd see deliberate crashes, just people in a crash trying to get a day off. But if their helmets are blinking red then maybe they get one.

A lot of angry riders throwing helmets on the floor after crashes

shirley_basso

Don't do that then.

rick_chasey

No I mean they’d want to take the day off by chucking their helmet hard on the ground.

pblakeney

rick_chasey said:

No I mean they’d want to take the day off by chucking their helmet hard on the ground.

I can't see that effort being missed by anyone concerned.

bobmcstuff

You'd still have to have been involved in a crash for that to be an option. As above I don't think voluntarily crashing is really something that would happen

What I could see happening though is if, for example, a domestique was caught in a crash (accidentally), they could try to get the rest of the stage off - if they are well off the back anyway and won't be any use to the rest of the team on the stage, that's where the advantage is.

rick_chasey

Get caught behind, throw your helmet on the floor.

Come on lads cycling is chocablock with cheating

DeVlaeminck

I don't think the accelerometer in the helmet is a goer anyway. There's actually been research on this around American football and an admittedly quick skim read of it suggests as you'd expect that to catch say 95% of concussions you'd be catching an awful lot of non-concussed riders too.

For me Rick nailed it when he asked if it was actually a problem that needed a solution. How many riders have crashed, sustained a concussion, then crashed again?

Pross

I think, in cycling, the danger is continuing with concussion rather than repeat concussions. I got concussed in a race and whilst I didn't continue I rode back to HQ and couldn't recall the ride back. I can't imagine negotiating an alpine descent in that state or potentially being back in the bunch with the pace pushing up towards a sprint.