Good write up Tom & Chris.
Just one point on the accident statistics;
I'd always thought "upper limb" referred to the thigh or bicep/tricep, and "lower limb" referred to the shin/calf or forearm. Otherwise, why not just say "arm" or "leg".
It's a quote from a research paper.
Not quite the right words, but it is good to read that the casualty is on the mend and others around him were insightful enough to help.
Mountain biking is a strange one. People I work with won't go out with me mtb'ing as it is 'too dangerous' and then go ride 20 to 50 miles on the road, yet I'm increasingly finding myself avoiding my road bike for the same reason !
There is a lot of food for thought in how one should prepare and look after your own interests when cycling miles into the countryside alone. Be it road or mtb if you have a nasty off that doesn't involve anybody else then life can be in the balance quite easily.
Despite this a lot of folk don't even take a mobile when cycling - because it might get damaged if they crash. Something ironic about that thought process me thinks.
Good write up...it's made me realise how unprepared I am. I carry very little with me aside from the bare minimum (water, multi tool, pump, tube, tyre levers, spare tube, shock pump and sone grub). Even less if I'm mucking about in the local woods on the jumps and DH runs.
This made me think back to a few weeks ago when I was in the local woods and bumped into two guys who I started riding with early Sunday morning. We went to do a short line that has three drops on it and a table top at the end. After a few runs we decided to have one more and move on and one of the guys up hit the table top too fast, put his nose diwn fir the landing but was miles past it. He ended up hitting a tree head first at a fair old speed and was in a really bad way; full face smashed up and he was lying there saying his neck was hurting.
His mate had no idea where they were because it was his first time riding here so I ended up having to call the ambulance an decoration where we were. I ended up riding out to the main road to meet them a d helped them carry their gear in. They then wanted to use a air ambulance because they were concerned about the amount of pain he was I and the fact that he was now struggling to breath. Despite being just off a main road there was no where fir the air ambulance to land. Another crew where dispatched to see if it would be possible to handball him out but in the end a special crew were sent with a 4x4 buggy who specialised in such situations. The ambulance crews were all fantastic in helping him. I've since heard from his mate that he has four broken vertebrae so will be off the bike for a long time.
It just goes to show how a fairly easy line or run can really catch you out. His helmet pretty much saved thin and he was lucky not to get impaled on branches on the tree. I'm not sure what would have happened if I hadn't been there; his mate didn't really know where he was and wouldn't have been able to leave him to get help. Even riding with one other person can be a bit limited.
I'd always thought "upper limb" referred to the thigh or bicep/tricep, and "lower limb" referred to the shin/calf or forearm. Otherwise, why not just say "arm" or "leg".
To be pedantic, the upper limb is what most people would call the arm but medically is comprised of the 'arm' and 'forearm'. The lower limb = thigh + leg. Bit bizarre but that's how it is.
I put these on my Road and Mtb helmet[img] 
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OK, thanks. I wasn't trying to be picky, it was more like one of those, "Wow, how have I gone my whole life not knowing that ?" moments.
crikey - and there was me saying in the pub the other night that the full body armour I rode with in les Arcs was "a bit overkill"
Tom,
Good work dealing with this, really well done. Pass on a "Get Well Soon" to Chris and thank you both for doing the write-ups.
I am really at risk of sounding a c@*^t here but......
From the [u]writeup[/u] I thought there might have a bit more emphasis on minimising blood loss even at the expense of increasing the victims alarm/unease.
I wasn't there, it's a great write up and hats off to all.
The blood loss was under good control as soon as we had the big bandage round it and done up tight. The extra blood that came out happened when the paramedics had to move him.
One piece of advice I would give to anyone who breaks a bone in a 'well you wouldn't; have thought you could have broken that falling off there' type incident is to get a bone density scan.
Interesting thought that, I've broken my arm twice in 18 months. I put the second down to it just concentrating stress at the end of the plate put in after the first and/or maybe being weakend (cracked rather than broken?) in a much more brutal crash the weekend before. Because I realy did just slide off on some fire road gravel.
Mine cost £100 - £150. I was too young for a GPO referral despite the unusual injury for someone my age.
I actually went through a private consultant and paid for a couple of visits to him too.
Basically, I was told to take calcium and vit D supplements for a year and do some impact exercise to stimulate bone growth.
Went back for a second scan after a year and I'd taken about 25 years off my age bone density wise (so mid forties rather than 70).
I've not had any follow up scans tbh but I've had a few hard falls and only suffered soft tissue damage.
