A little banged up...
Hi guys,
Thought I would ask the haus on some advice; yesterday during a cold and rainy ride I got a flat and went down going 25+ mph down a big hill. Luckily nothing too serious, just whiplash, sore shoulder and a crap load of road rashes and bruises. The road rash cold be a lot worst; good thing I was wearing multi layers. My helmet is a little banged on the left corner; good thing I was wearing one, I probably wouldn't be typing this email right now if I wasn't. I know my number one priority is to get back to 100% asap, but given that St George is about 7 weeks away I would like to be out of the game as little as possible. I am taking today off to give my body a little down time. I might run easy tomorrow (we will see), but I was planning a Big training week starting Wednesday. So the following is what I would like advice on:
1) Do you have any good tips on treating road rashes? how should I cover them up during training? I should be able to run and bike right?
2) I probably should not swim for now, right? How long should I stay down from swimming for?
The crash could have been a lot worse, I slid all the way down the rest of the hill and stopped at a mud embankment. This guy Rick drove by and insisted on calling an ambulance to check me out. He even waited around to make sure I was ok and then drove my bike and I back to my car. What a nice guy (But I could probably have done without hearing all the crazy crashes and injuries that he has had from motorcycling 
). Anyway, this is my first real crash, I guess it was bond to happen sooner or later; right?
Anyway, thanks in advance.
Wei
Comments
Wei- I can't see whatever you might have tried to post here. What's up? Are you OK?
Thanks Nemo, I think I fixed whatever was wrong with the post.
Things could be better but it could also be a lot worse so I am not complaining
I'm glad you are okay!
No advice on road rash, but you are buying a new helmet, right? Crash = dead helmet.
Wei, that's such a bummer.
For road rash, get a prescription for silvadene (sp?)
Dave
I fell spectacularly while running last summer and skinned my knee shoulder and arms pretty bad. I put antibiotic cream on my sidewalk rash for about two days, but I found that anywhere that I was cut up on a joint needed additional days of cream to keep it from cracking open again and again. I kept it covered when I was out running to keep clean, but not in the house.
The rule at our pool is that all wounds have to be totally scabbed over before you get in the water. You might want to wait a day or so before testing how your shoulder and neck feel in the water.
Feel better soon. I am sure others will have more advice.
If for some reason she doesn't see this post, I suggest you post your woundcare Q over in the Medical Help Forum so Kitboo can give you some advice (that's what she does). Pretty sure I've seen that recomendation for silvadine (or whatever it's called) mentioned several times around here as the golden stuff for road rash. Oh- and Beth is totally right- get that helmet replaced ASAP!!!
1. Hurts like hell- but hope you scrubbed the wounds and removed all of the road grit.
2. Until you can get a prescription for Silvadene keep the wounds moist with antibiotic ointment. If you don't have that, even Vaseline is a good choice. Do not let them dry out yet- very painful.
3. If on the legs, then you may need to take several days off from working out. My first crash was much worse and I had to keep my leg elevated as much as possible. As soon as I stood up, the flood of blood into my leg caused excruciating pain. I missed a few days at work and then sat down whenever possible.
4. Silvadene works for pain and antibiotics. Until you get it, Advil should help a bit for pain.
5. Keep the wounds covered as they will weep for several days before you can even think about letting them dry.
I have figuring out when I can get a new helmet before meeting Chris M on Wed. I was about to remove pretty much all the road grit; and for now I have most of the road rash covered in non-stick gauze / nice layer of neosporin and they are held on by those fancy medical fishnet stocking looking things (makes me feel strangely sexy... uhhhh, disregard that...) or ace bandage and some tape. I will work on getting some Tegadem Transparent Film Dressing and Slvadene.
Nemo might be right, my neck, back and shoulder are more stiff then this morning and I have this pain in my foot now. I will see how I feel tomorrow before I do anything rash.
Give your self time before you stretch / test things out. Your body is still in a bit of shock; nothing wrong with taking a few days down knowing that the long run (thurs) and sat/sun workouts are the most important ones this week (note I didn't mention swimming). Get a little more better before you get back to it!
My 2 cents,
P
My advice on care for road rashes:
1. Clean it. Soap, water, shampoo in the shower is all fine for it. There's nothing sterile about these wounds.
2. Maintain a moist but not wet environment. So antibiotic ointment (like Neosporin) or Silvadene (use if you don't have an allergy to sulfa drugs) to keep a moist environment. Also those products will keep the bacteria count on your wounds low. Silvadene requires a presription, BTW.
3. Keep the wounds covered. Tegaderm is an occlusive dressing (as in, nothing gets in; nothing gets out). If your wounds have alot of drainage, it may make it too wet. Most road rash is superficial and tends to dry out so Tegaderm works most of the time. Some people are sensitive to adhesives (which Tegaderm has) and may develop a rash from it. If that is your case, then Telfa is a good non-stick dressing and wrap with either an ace (loosely) or a Kerlix. It's not an occlusive dressing so it may dry out more often and require more frequent changes. For road rash over moving parts (like knees, hips, elbows), Tubi-grip (that fish net stuff you described) works well.
4. If you notice that the surrounding skin of the wound is becoming red, inflammed, swollen--go see your doctor and get on some antibiotics ASAP.
5. Lastly, hydrate. You can lose alot of fluid with these wounds.
6. One more lastly...if your dressings are stuck to your wounds, you can get in the shower, get them wet then peel them off. It will hurt alot less.
Hope that helps. BTW, I'm a general surgeon who works in a Wound Clinic...and not just plays a doctor on TV.
Sorry to hear about your crash. I got road rash two years ago and I stayed out of the pool for 1 week. I treated it with Tegaderm, the stuff is amazing. It mght be hard to find because it's under the 3M brand Nexcare now. Look for Nexcare on the shelf then Tegaderm printed underneath that.
You're not supposed to use it with anything else, but I had good results putting a small dab of neosporin/bacitracin on a sterile gauze pad and used that to apply the ointment to just the wound, basically enough to make it shine. I then dressed my wound with Tegaderm.
If you did it right, you wont need to change it for a few days and you'll notice that Tegaderm will work its magic. The wound will be healing nicely without a scab.
Road Rash is serious business, it exposes delicate tissues in your body. Be very careful and if you're unsure about anything see a doctor. Do Not use Hydrogen peroxide on the wound it can damage the soft tissue.
Good luck.
Wei,
an ice pack on your neck / shoulder will help with whiplash.
Robert
Last year same thing happened to me roughly the same gap prior to Placid. Everyone else covered the road rash pretty well. For me it was primarily about using one of those loopha sponge things and just painfully removing all the bits. After the bleeding stopped I would just leave the wounds undressed for some time to let them dry out.
Swimming shouldn't be done till everything is scabbed over as was said. I think I didn't swim at all in those last few weeks but I had some trauma to my hand that had to heal up. My shoulder also took a beating (still bothers me) so keep an eye on that cause it could pose some problems for the swim. I haven't really swam since placid and I am sure there will be some adjustments to my stroke.
Good luck! Coming back from a crash isn't fun as I learned last year.
-Dave
Can someone create a wiki entry for Kitma's post? This is the best writeup of road rash advice I've come across.
Done: Treating Road Rash
My thoughts Exactly!! Thanks Cary for taking care of it!
I fell off my trainer this morning. What should I do?
cm
Kitma- I fell of my chair laughing my ass off at Chris. Any thoughts?
Saw this happen before a CAT 5 race once, the bike was not completely secured to the trainer.
I've done that! Good lesson on how not all wheel skewers are secure on the trainer. I only had to learn that lesson once.
Thanks for all the advice guys! I will look for Tegadern or Duoderm when I stop by a drug store next. I got my tetanus shot last night so no locked jaw for me!
For now, my plan is to meet up with Chris tomorrow and ride for 3-4 hours nothing hard and see how I feel. If I feel great then I will keep going with my big volume week, but probably cut down on the running and no swimming. If I feel like crap then I will take a few more days off the revaluate from there. To tell you the truth other then the road rashes and lingering shoulder/neck soreness I feel much better today. I felt really worn out yesterday. and hopefully tomorrow will be even better.
Thanks again for all the advice and support!
Wei
Kitma, that was an amazing write up! Very convincing, I will follow it even if you were a TV doc other then a real surgeon
Chris, thanks for the laugh, but you better have some trainer wounds to show me tomorrow!
Marianne, there are no pics right now, if I can figure out how to post some tasteful ones with out EN becoming an NC-17 place then I will do so
Is it warped of me to think this is an awesome idea? Of course you all get to see mine every time the random shot of the road rash hand comes up in the header
In fact, as luck would have it, that pic happens to be what is showing right now as a type. Freaky! Cue up the twighlight zone music!
Aimee