Big a1

Good morning,

After a bit of advice regarding resting an injured leg.

On sunday I came off the mtb and banged my shin quite hard on some rocks. Managed to keep going and finished the ride despite it hurting.

Woke up monday morning and it was really hurting, ended up in A+E that night. Had an x-ray and luckily nothing is broken. Although they have given me some crutches (more trouble than they are worth)

Today I seem to have quite a fat ankle and although I can keep going I'm wondering if its better to try and carry on as normal or to rest it???

Plan was to go riding again 2moro and just wonderin if its a good idea.

thx

King RA

I find the best thing in this situation is use this experience in the future and not fall off your bike

Dream Weaver

I'd say its not a good idea personally, it needs resting.

ChrisB

I'd be going down the RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) route. Then I'd ring up my girlfriends sister who is a fully qualified physio-terrorist

Karl 227

Pathetic, when I was a lad we marched to Poland in the freezing cold with nothing but our uniform and a rifle to keep us company, ate raw turnips and drank dogs ****, then when we got there we had to take over an entire country. You don't know how good you've got it sonny jim, injured leg indeed

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

Just cut it off and use the one good leg. Well that's what any real hard man would do.

stevem2k

Never get those injuries sitting on the sofa watching the tv .. Who said exercise is good for you ??

Karl 227

Where you in Poland as well in the early forties?

Big a1

Thanx for the replies.

Will see if the swelling goes down today - is it a good idea to put ice on something 3-4days after injuring it?

thx again

ozzy

If you carry on as normal, you'll experience some pain, discomfort and it'll take longer to heal. It's swollen coz there's fluid collecting around the area - your body's way of protecting itself while it tries to recover.

There's always a risk you can do more harm than good with any injury, but if it's just to the muscle tissue and not ligament, tendon or joint damage then just play it by ear.

If you take a knock, the best thing to do is ice it immediately and take some anti-inflammatory tabs. That way it starts the healing process quickly, the swelling will be to a minimum ... and it will heal quicker.

That's in an ideal world. I've torn muscles 4hrs walk away from my car when up in the mountains and sometimes you've just got to grin and bear it

As the lads have said, real men would have hacked it off with a rusty blade and just got on with it

Abdabz

I had a nasty accident on my MTB last summer, game off at 16mph onto a concrete / stone path on a downhill over the hangil bars As well as the obvious burns/cut marks on my arms and shoulder, there was severe internal tissue damage around the shoulder (again nothing broken).
I was cleaned and strapped up by the NHS Walk In Centre and tried a week later to cycle again but the tissue damage was too severe and so I laid off for a month and all was well.
I guess that unless you are in 1940's Poland the moral of the story from my perspective is to rest it, bandage it up and let it heal before puching it again... If worse case happened, you could fall off again tomorrow and your leg might fall off at the hip, thus becoming only useful as a golf putter or makeshift helipcopter blade at the red bull pier diving thing

scoobynutta555

It's a green light for a dvd and beer fest on the sofa.

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

Thats funny I though you lot invaded Poland in September 1939

What happened? get lost at the border or summat

Brendan Hughes

Wow, a one-legged man playing it by ear. If he's also gay and ethnic, he might qualify for a job in local government!

Karl 227

I had to hop

Stealth

iTrader: (4)

Rest it up, don't do anything stupid on it, especially ride the bike again where you run the risk of getting hurt yet again !

Raise the leg up and keep wait off of it, go and get some diclofenic (sp?) it is the best anti-inflamitary stuff you can get without prescription (it used to be by prescription only) and some Volteral gel!

This will keep swelling to a minimum and ease the paina touch!

Don't keep icing it, you are only supposed to put ice on injuries two days or younger and then it is supposed to be heat all the way !!!!

I damaged ligements and muscles in my back and then went snowboarding on the above mentioned drugs and they worked wanders, however now I am back and off the drugs my back is killing me I'm seeing a physio and a Chiro ..... Good move!!

Markus

Another vote for Rest!

I was out walking four paws last summer and we were going over some rough ground and I got my foot caught in a hollow and twisted my left ankle very badly. It didn't hurt too much a first, but within an hour I was in agony, could not walk on it or put any pressure on it at all.

Did the RICE thing and got some anti inflamatory stuff on it and it helped, also strapped it up with a bandage, so I could hobble about. Thank god for automatic cars!

Ankle was very swolen and within three days it turned a very nice shade of purple, so I knew I'd proably just bruised it very badly, plus I'd done the same thing to the other ankle a few years previously.

Took about a week and a half to fully heal, and after that I took things easy for a couple of months.

Big a1

Ok thanks for the replies guys.

I am trying to rest it as much as I can, I'm still using the bike to commute to work on as it doesn't hurt too much to ride, just walking really. Despite being told i'm stupid for doing so by the g/f.

At the moment my bad ankle is around 2.5 inches bigger than my good one

Thx again

The Zohan

Yes - but isn't it because you like the taste of turnips and dog ****, all the other soliders had ration packs!

Re your ankle I would rest it, swelling is usually natures way of protecting it.

Brit_in_Japan

You've missed the window for minimizing damage.
As ChrisB said, you should have practiced RICE in the first 24 hours:-
Rest
Ice
Compression
Elevation.

After the first day you should get the joint moving, but obviously not such that it really hurts. Proper bandaging can provide some support, but don't use it any more than you have to otherwise you won't recover as quickly or fully. Keep the joint mobile, progressively increase the range of movement. A sports physio can use ultra sound/infra red to help stimulate recovery.

Bromski

After a very wet and slippy descent down Mam Tor, on my ****, I also have an ankle that looks like an over inflated balloon. As a health care professional my advice would be to wack a big bag of frozen peas on it at regular intervals.

I disagree with the previous advice from ozzy regarding taking anti inflammatory drugs. If you want to heal quickly don't take any NSAIDS (Non-steroidal anti-inflammatories) unless you are really in pain. They delay the normal healing process and tend to ulcerate your stomach.

Take REGULAR paracetamol for pain. Taking them regularly will keep the level of the drug at a good therapeutic level, although no more than 8 grams/ 24 hours. Don't ride until the joint or muscle is comfortable without analgesia.

As most MTBers are middle ages chaps, remember that it takes longer for your body to repair beyond the age of 30. Especially when you have about 220 lbs of overweight manhood spilling down a bit of rocky single track with a hung of metal worth 2 or 3 grand clipped to you feet. Hey the first question you have to ask yourself is "How is the push rod?" as most of us haven't completed the final payment yet, well not those who work for the NHS.

Brendan Hughes

You work for the NHS?

Explains the medical advice being a year and a half late then...

Bromski

Thats Maybe. But it's the best advice you're going to get for free Brendan Hughes. Could squeeze you in for a private consultation, but i'm not sure that you could afford me!!!!!!Never mind, you had best join the queue at you're local A&E. I believe it is a 4 hour wait for the general public, although staff don't have to wait. I think they call that a perk of the job.