How come when everyone else falls/crashes

[kajero]

They walk away with scrapes and scratches.

Me . . . if I fall or crash it's broken bones resulting in surgery, and/or hospitalization? :confused: Even my girlfriend says I have the worst luck!

I watched a video of someone going over the handlebars. He got up and walked away! I saw someone go down on the trail the other day and get up on walk away!

[zoom-zoom]

I don't know...I currently have THREE friends with broken bones. 2 with badly broken wrists and 1 with a fractured collarbone. I think a lot of it has to do with how/why a person falls. All of my falls (mtn. and road) have been low-speed topples that mainly leave me with lower body bruising. My friends who have busted wrists (one has broken hers twice) likely tried to break their falls with their hands...it's instinctive for a lot of people. Somehow I never reach out when I am falling...I hang onto my bike for dear life (perhaps to protect the bike--I think I care about my bikes more than my body, heh). This is a good thing, I guess. Both of my friends with wrist fractures need surgery. One has already had surgery and things aren't healing, so she needs another surgery. She already has 2 Ti plates. :eek:

[Owlie]

Are you doing weight-bearing exercise otherwise? Are you putting your arms out when you fall?

[Scrappy]

Oh No! Did you fall recently? Are you okay?

I can totally relate. Last month I fell twice in one night within 20 minutes of each other. First fall - chain ring scratches, no biggie. Second fall? Sprained knee and (likely) a torn meniscus that will require surgery. :(

Scrappy

[Bike Writer]

Are you fine-boned?

Shrug. Perhaps a bone-density test is in order. I've never broken a bone, but there are many times when that should have happened. I'm 42, and have done a lot of high-intensity sports. Dating back to childhood.

You do have to do weight-bearing exercise to build strong bones over years. And you have to have a good diet. OTOH, I'm quite large-boned and muscular naturally. So is the rest of my family. Does it make a difference? Possibly.

But this is a question for a doctor, I think. Everyone is different.

Agreed, weight-bearing exercise to build bones is important as we age along with the good diet to enhance bone health. I am amazed at some of the falls I've had from my bike have not resulted in broken bones and attibute it to having had a regime of weight lifting for several years, even though I don't do it currently. My most recent crash, I was certain that I had broken a rib or two. X-ray's showed differently, however the continued pain makes me wonder? I'm healing but it hurts like heck at times.

If your Dr. will prescribe a bone scan & density test for a baseline reading would be a good thing to have.

[Bike Writer]

Oh No! Did you fall recently? Are you okay?

I can totally relate. Last month I fell twice in one night within 20 minutes of each other. First fall - chain ring scratches, no biggie. Second fall? Sprained knee and (likely) a torn meniscus that will require surgery. :(

Scrappy


Ow Scrappy! Hope it heals without the surgery! But if you must, there are a lot of good Drs. out there.

[zoom-zoom]

I do wonder about the bone density thing, too. It's one reason I keep running...it's a good weight-bearing exercise, since cycling isn't. I tend to be sort of "sturdy," also. My one friend with a broken wrist is finer-boned and my other friend with multiple break episodes has lupus, which apparently does a number on a person's bones.

[Scrappy]

Hi Muirenn & Bike Writer - Thank you for asking. Still stuck in a holding pattern waiting for insurance. It's about as healed as it will get without surgery - still have some swelling and cannot straighten it completely or bend it all the way even though it's been 32 days since the crash.

To be honest, I would've preferred broken bones to this stupid sprain. A break probably would be healed by now... sigh.. :(

Scrappy

[zoom-zoom]

Ha! I resemble that. And I also have only broken my tailbone...which is pretty easy to break. Other than that, just soft-tissue. Badly sprained my left ankle during a trail relay 2 Summers ago (that injury got me into cycling, since I couldn't run at all for 5 weeks, but I could carefully pedal). I think a less solidly-built person would have broken that mess!

[Bike Writer]

Scrappy and Bike Writer, how are you both?

I'm ok, the road rash has healed well in all of the various places. I still had to pick out some tiny embedded bits of gravel out of my hand this week. Bruises are healing up too, it's just the ribs that ache and so do my hands and wrists. Dr. said the good news is they wern't broken, the bad news is that they will feel like they are. Considering that fall was on Aug 1st I am guessing/hoping that the ribs will cease their hurting in a week or two.

Knock on wood, I don't break many bones, but I sure to bruise like the dickens.

[Bike Writer]

Scrappy, you get well soon too!

[Scrappy]

You too Bike Writer!

[Kiwi Stoker]

I think I know the answer.

In one race DH and I did on the tandem we started at the front of the entrants.

As we are not fast cyclists this meant we got passed by the elite riders etc in waves.

The faster rider bunches did have crashes but they were amazing to watch. I think it was a combination of speed and skill that the riders that crashed seemed to "tuck and roll", quickly got up and again and got on their bikes and raced off. WOW!

It wasn't until later with the slower people with less skill that we saw BAD crashes. Like lots of blood, wrapped around a power pole and out cold crashes. The faster, experienced bunches actually rode safer and called hazards (or pointed) and had faster reflexes. The slower people did more silly accident stuff like touch wheels.

I also was in one race (on the tandem) when one guy's front tyre blew on a downhill. Becuase he was in a bunch of experienced riders, the guys next to him grabbed an arm each and actually used their brakes to slow him down and then move him off the side of the road. Otherwise he would of taken out the whole bunch.

I think experience is one factor in avoiding broken bones (says the person who has broken a collarbone due to a stupid rider in front of her and a shoulder- this time due to her own inexperience.)

[zoom-zoom]

To be honest, I would've preferred broken bones to this stupid sprain. A break probably would be healed by now... sigh.. :(

Scrappy

Yep...people minimize the severity of a sprain. Sprains are bad news...they can take a VERY long time to heal and once you've sprained a spot your risk of a re-sprain is greatly increased. My left ankle will never be the same and I will likely never again do trail running after my grade 2 sprain.

[pll]

I also was in one race (on the tandem) when one guy's front tyre blew on a downhill. Becuase he was in a bunch of experienced riders, the guys next to him grabbed an arm each and actually used their brakes to slow him down and then move him off the side of the road. Otherwise he would of taken out the whole bunch.


Wow. This is remarkable! Seeing that type of reaction is amazing.

I ride with a woman who also races and she says the slow crashes are the worst in terms of broken arms and collarbones because generally people have time to try to halt the fall by stretching an arm.

[Crankin]

I've had a few crashes, and I've never broken anything, which is weird because I have osteoporosis. Although it's being treated successfully now, I've known I had osteopeinia since I was in my mid forties, but every one of the drugs that came out then made me sicker than hell, so it's only been in the last 3 years that I've made progress in reversing the trend, with meds that i can tolerate. My worst crash, which occurred going downhill on a wet Vermont descent in the fall of 2005 did nothing but cause road rash and a bruise on my hip. I always fall on my left side, and I think that I kind of go limp and I purposely try and not break my fall with my hands. My DH had 2 broken wrists (one really broken and one a hairline fracture) from a fall off of a ladder and after seeing him go through that, I never want to deal with that !
And, I did weight bearing exercise from age 25-45 (high impact aerobics and step class), which did absolutely nothing to stop the progress of my bones deteriorating. In my case, it's genetic, as well as being short, white, thin.
My only regret is that I did stop mountain biking as I sucked at it and I fell all of the time!

[e3rdpower]

I ride with a woman who also races and she says the slow crashes are the worst in terms of broken arms and collarbones because generally people have time to try to halt the fall by stretching an arm.

I also agree with this. High speed crashes you tend to slide, so worse road rash but less bone breakage. Slow speed crashes do seem to result in more bone injuries. Skin is more painful, but bones are more expensive and a pain in the neck, for the most part.

[Becky]

I ride with a woman who also races and she says the slow crashes are the worst in terms of broken arms and collarbones because generally people have time to try to halt the fall by stretching an arm.

I agree with this. I crashed a couple of weeks ago on my MTB at 15 mph, when I tapped a tree with the end of the handlebar. I hit the ground so fast that I couldn't react, just landed on my shoulder and rolled across my back. I got up, straighted the handlebars, and rode on with nothing but a few scrapes and bruises. If I'd had time to think about reaching an arm, I'd have surely broken something.

[pll]

So the corollary is that we just need to ride fast(er). :D

[Becky]

So the corollary is that we just need to ride fast(er). :D

Or go slow enough that we don't hit trees :D

[bmccasland]

Hope you're feeling better soon Scrappy!

;)

[jessmarimba]

My wrecks (both bike and snowboard) have been relatively high speed and I always break stuff too. My doctor doesn't think I need a bone density test, he thinks I just do dangerous stuff and I have small bones. But man it gets tiresome waiting for everything to heal!

[malkin]

No broken bones here--I'm a concussion kind of girl.

Feel better everyone!

[kajero]

Scrappy . . . my prayers are with you. I hope you are healing well.
Zoom-Zoom . . . give my prayers to your friends. I hope they all heal soon!
Bike Writer . . . my prayers are with you, too!

[Scrappy]

Thank You ALL for the love, prayers, and support. It sure helps :-) ((((Group Hug))))

Scrappy

[smilingcat]

I guess there are exceptions to everything.

Once I did the "Climb the Kaiser" riding event. It wasn't a race but we did get timed. 155mile with about 13,500 feet of climb. Starts in the central valley of California, head east into the high Sierra. Being at the height of summer, the trick was to get to the foothill before the temperature skyrocketed into the 100s. We also had police blocking off intersections so we could blast through the town at race speed.

Well every year it seems, they have a pile up near the front where the guys are jockying for positions. The year I rode, about ten guys went to the hospital with broken bones and what not. They were going close to 30MPH. Halfway through the ride, I caught up with one of the injured road warrior and he threw the towel in at just before the final ascent of Kaiser pass (elev 9200feet). We had a dreaded climb from big creek? to Shavers lake. sections averaging 12-15% grade. Poor guy had one of the biggest raspberries I've ever seen.

The two times I've shattered my collar bones, one on each side, I was doing around 30MPH. Speed definitely did not help with the slide. I just went smoosh-crunch.

The other extreme have been times when I forgot I was doing a track stand at a light, too busy talking with the guys, I fell over. 0 MPH, no scratch or scrapes. Guys forgave me for being a stupid woman. :D

I also know of a gal who broke her hip when she avoided a dog only to crash into a tree. She was going downhill around 30-40MPH. She did slow down considerably before hitting the tree.

Soo it's just matter on your luck and how you fall or crash.

[pll]

Soo it's just matter on your luck and how you fall or crash.

Very true. I have been lucky thus far.

[kajero]

I guess it is a little bit of luck with perhaps a bit of "falling" skill involved. But I guess you gotta know you are going to fall. Both times I crashed it was a complete surprise. The first time sheer stupidity -- even though it was a surprise. The second time I don't remember crashing. I woke up in the hospital.