Post pics of your injuries
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@dkel 88381 wrote:
I lost *a lot* of layers of skin off my elbow in my slide on Thursday. If I don’t keep up the pain killers, I’m a cranky mess to be around. It still looks repulsive, and I’m wondering how long it will take to heal. Fortunately, I can ride without discomfort, and have done 40 miles since the crash. I don’t have a day off of riding planned in the near future, so I guess I haven’t lost my confidence. The different tires I put on help, of course.
I’d recommend seeing a doc just in case. A tetanus shot might in order if you are not up to date on those sort of things. You want to keep that kind of wound moist (and clean of course). Scabbing is really not a good idea. Docs have learned from burn patients that skin tissue injuries respond best when kept in a sterile moist environment. Hydrocolloid bandages work best for the first week or two then you can eventually switch to Tegaderm.* The former soak up moisture which may be seeping from the wound while still providing a sterile, moist environment plus they are flexible and won’t come off if you are bending the area. The trouble is finding them in sufficiently large sizes to fully cover a wound (Band-aid seems to have stopped making the big ones). Haven’t had a need to check the shelves at CVS for a couple of years on what is available these days (knock on wood). Best of luck on healing quickly.
*I learned this the hard way when I left a few layers of skin on the pavement from going over the handlebars without gloves (I now always ride with gloves). Try finding bandages that will allow you to bend your palms and keep everything clean! After spending about $30 on all varieties of bandages, I finally discovered hydrocolloid and Tergaderm. They made life a lot, lot easier.
@dkel 88381 wrote:
I lost *a lot* of layers of skin off my elbow in my slide on Thursday. If I don’t keep up the pain killers, I’m a cranky mess to be around. It still looks repulsive, and I’m wondering how long it will take to heal. Fortunately, I can ride without discomfort, and have done 40 miles since the crash. I don’t have a day off of riding planned in the near future, so I guess I haven’t lost my confidence. The different tires I put on help, of course.
On my left knee in the Dec. 2012 accident, I had a wound about 1.5″ x 1″. All the surface layers of skin were gone. I guess the deeper layers were still there (or else there would be nothing left). I didn’t take any painkillers, mostly because I think all that junk messes you up eventually. Even the milder painkillers like Tylenol or Advil. Every drug has side effects and they are usually not too good for you.
Immediately after skinning my knees that day, I wiped off the wounds with a dry paper towel, but I didn’t have an antiseptic wipe available right away. I continued with the rest of the run workout. Not too long, maybe 20 or 30 minutes after the fall. When I got back, I washed the wounds with soap and water. Then I covered them with bandages that probably weren’t large enough.
Later on, I found large square bandages at Rite Aid or CVS, large enough to cover the entire wound. Those seemed to help. I also bought some antiseptic spray, Dermoplast. I bought the spray instead of an ointment because I wouldn’t have to touch the wound, potentially contaminating it.
As I noted before, I didn’t swim or run for at least a few weeks.
OK, I just looked up my training notes from that winter, on SportTracks. According to one note, I didn’t train at all for the next 2.5 weeks. That included cycling/spin bike, since I skinned my knees, not an elbow. Both knees healed up after 2 weeks but a small scab remained for another week after that (3 weeks total).
My first workout after the break was a strength workout. I felt sluggish but that’s normal after taking a break. The next day, I ran on a treadmill. At the end of that week, I did a 3-hr. ride on the MTB, at very easy effort. More of a bike tour ride than a true training ride.
I didn’t have a problem with infection. I don’t know if I’m lucky or what, but I don’t think I’ve ever had a wound get infected. When I was in grade school, I would get nicks and scrapes from running and playing around outside and I would never use an antiseptic spray or ointment. Nothing as bad as the skinned knees in 2012, but there were many minor scrapes over the years. I don’t think I used bandages that often back then either.
Now I do try to wash and clean scrapes as soon as I can. I carry an antiseptic wipe in a portable packet on the bike (either in the bento box or the underseat bag). If I get a scrape, I’ll wipe it off with the wipe. Then when I get back home, I’ll wash it with soap and water. (I don’t use antibiotic soaps. There are serious questions about the safety of triclosan, the active ingredient used in most of those soaps and even in antibacterial toothpastes.) If it’s a larger scrape, I’ll put a bandage on it, at least for a day or two, until there’s enough of a natural cover to keep the wound from getting dirty. That’s what I did after the Phoenix Derby last month, when I had a small scrape on a knee. Nothing major and no complications.
@dkel 88497 wrote:
The elbow is really healing up fast (faster than I thought, anyway). It has a ways to go, but it’s clearly better very day. I’ve also gotten good at positioning the dressing so it mostly stays down when I move my arm, instead of popping up when it straighten it. On the other hand, my ribs were killing me today: it took three Advil to make them stop screaming at me. I’m not a fan of pain-killers, but I’m even less a fan of pain (like this, anyway).
Could you have fractured a rib??
@KLizotte 88501 wrote:
Could you have fractured a rib??
It’s probably just bruising of the muscles around the ribs. The pain is aggravating, but not so bad as to discourage taking deep breaths. I think the source my problem yesterday was that I stopped taking Advil for the first part of the day, allowing the pain to get going. If I keep up the meds, it really feels *much* better. Even if I cracked a rib, I’m pretty sure that’s all the treatment there is for it anyway.
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