MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Just been having a gander at TJ's accident stats thread, which has reminded me that I'm booked on a wilderness/outdoor instructors type first aid course. Looking at the course details, I think they'll be discussing sport-specific injuries - and I wondered what the most common mountainbiking injuries/illnesses are.
My own thoughts are that the most common things are going to be fractures & dislocations (collarbone/shoulder/knee/wrist),and also heart and asthma attacks. I'm not talking about full on downhill or freeride type riding, but the type of thing that typical UK 'trail riding' is likely to cause - er....whatever 'typical' UK trail riding is these days 😕
Anyone know if there are any reliable stats regarding MTBing injuries?
If not, what do you reckon are the most common injuries?
TIA
Surely pride must top the list?
Broken wallet.
Ah, yes, I have personal experience of that one 😉Broken wallet.
Gravel rash
Perineal chafer
For our muddy@rse club rides containing mild peril and danger we've had:
1 collar bone broken
1 dislocated shoulder
1 scaphoid broken (mine)
1 ripped face on barbed wire
1 destroyed elbow and arm bone assembly
several concussions from mild to severe
neck injuries
numerous cuts and abrasions
mild hurtee knees
and more than a few hangovers........
oh hang on that's post ride drinkies to blame.
No experience of either of these, but broken scaphoids seem to crop up pretty regularly, and the chronic knee injuries seem pretty prevalent on here too: particularly in the old man/ SPD combo.
A good, if painful test for a broken scaphoid is get the injured party to try unscrewing a camelbak with their duff hand. If screams occur then time to stop riding and get it x-rayed by somebody who knows what they are looking at or better still a scan.
Ribs are pretty common here 😯
Second ribs and concussion, belived I could ride my bike well after mine.
Broken fingers.
Broken helmet, dare ya!
I've had stitches in both knees from two separate crashes.
Personally:
A couple of broken fingers
Mild concussion twice
Calcification on elbow from epic wash out
Knee taken almost to the bone
Loads if cuts & random bruises
Two oedema - one on each thigh after successive crashes in the same week.
My mates:
Broken collar bones
Road rash
Separated shoulder & collar bone
Facial cuts = stitching
Broken ribs
Reconstructive ankle & knee surgery
Broken nose
Puncture wounds to legs
Lots of proper injuries listed here for an "extremely safe" sport with a reported injury rate of 1:1000!
Knees on rocks, pedal rash on shins, burns from hot rotors, and never mind taking the pee out of canal towpath riders, I crushed two vertebrae riding the Hudderfsield Narrow Canal....
Other than that surely it'll be wrists from hyperextension injuries, and more shins/knees.
I got quite a nasty cut trying to get into a foil gel wrapper once.
Fractured and displaced clavicle or mashed up collarbone
Fractured Scaphoid
Broken fingers
Damaged pride
Mental illness from Internet bulling on forums
In our experience (5 years of guiding), collarbones and wrists.
hugor - MemberLots of proper injuries listed here for an "extremely safe" sport with a reported injury rate of 1:1000!
Self reporting - you only get the crashers 🙂
I crushed two vertebrae riding the Hudderfsield Narrow Canal....
How? did you try and jump it... 🙂
Cheers for the informative (and funny) repsonses 🙂
I think I'd better do bit of revising before the course, as I had to Google scaphoid - I thought it was around the collarbone area...duhh
Oh, FWIW
Yup, I've had one of those....er...broken bicycle helmet I'm talking about 😉Broken helmet, dare ya!
p.s. I wonder if the NHS should start doing a scheme where if you crash a certain amount of times, you get sent on a skills course..heehee
Scuffed my helmet on a low hanging branch once.
Deep gashes and grazes from leg contact with the ground and rocks and sliding on gravel.
Chainring gashes on right legs, they can go quite deeply into peoples' lower legs.
Hmm...yea, as I run bashguards on my main bikes, I'd forgotton about chainring gashes.
Useful to know - Thanks.In our experience (5 years of guiding), collarbones and wrists.
Be interested to know whether anyone has witnessed or had personal experience of heart problems whilst out biking. We've seen the Mtn Rescue attend a fella on Jacobs Ladder who'd had a heart attack on the way up. Don't know if it's just me, but there seems to be quite a few 'fat lads' (as my MTBing builder calls 'em) out on mtn bikes these days - nothing wrong with that as I guess at least they're doing something to shift some weight, but we saw a couple coming up a fairly tough climb at the weekend, and they looked in a pretty bad way when they stopped - wasn't sure whether to tell 'em that they were only half way!
There was a thread on here the other day about cutting fingers off etc, guess that doesn't really count as generally your not there to help if someoen is phaffing about with their rotors etc?
Currently recovering from a fractured T12 vertebrae. Going mad not being able to get on my bike. 😕
@bowglie - a friend's husband died on a ride, he was pretty fit but he had an undetected heart defect.
as generally your not there to help if someoen is phaffing about with their rotors etc?
TBH, I cut the end of my thumb off doing exactly this - trying to quickly get a wheel back in & skewer done up with frozen fingers during a winter ride. So, I wouldn't rule that one out!
Going mad not being able to get on my bike
Is that how you did it!
Wow, sorry to hear that. I guess that just goes to show that cardiac problems can affect anyone, even if they're outwardly fit and/or haven't declared anything on health questionnaires?@bowglie - a friend's husband died on a ride, he was pretty fit but he had an undetected heart defect.
- Bruised clock weights resulting from stem interface.
- Shoulder subluxation (left)
- Full anterior shoulder dislocation (right)
- Numerous cuts & scrages (as we say in Brizzle)
- Snapped Achilles - I’m sure that cycling shortened or did something to my tendon, which then gave up the ghost playing 5-A-Side footie.
All directly attributable to more enthusiasm than skill.
Scuffed my helmet on a low hanging branch once.
😯
Broken collarbone here. Otherwise, all minor injuries, like cuts and bruises.
Bruised coccyx from an endo gone wrong.... 😯
Saddle whacked me right up the ar*e !!!!
Wrist. Ribs. Collar bone. Otherwise nowt for me!
😀
Fractured humerous 2 yrs ago,currently got a fractured clavicle.