Riding while mildly injured

[csmith12]

Let's face it, we all do it at some point. Pulled muscle, bumm digit, twisted ankle or maybe something a bit more serious....

I have had my share of issues while riding injured. This thread should serve to help those who want or NEED to ride slightly injured to get back home or perform a job (escorts, coaches, trainers, ect...). Help is defined as; making the ride more comfortable, adjustments in technique to get the ride complete, meds and other helpful supplements to get through the day.

My current issue, I broke my right big toe last night and must coach on Sat. & Sun.

My plan: Ice, elevation, relaxation, ibuprofen as needed for pain/swelling and taped to next toe. Hopefully, I will be in good shape to ride, as of right now... it's a no for me unless something changes.

[SLOWn60]

....How does an escort break his toe?

[csmith12]

Originally Posted by SLOWn60

....How does an escort break his toe?

Lol! This is NOT the first time, me vs heavy bag. Bag = 1, Me = 0. Last time it was a steel chair that sent me to the ER.

[Sirref]

Worst I did this season was riding with a cracked humerus and a few cracked ribs. I've also been riding much of the season on a partially torn ACL (that is progressively getting worse) I have also cramped muscles during endurance races due to progressive dehydration (not much chance to grab a drink when you're riding for 2hrs straight)

no way I'd have lasted a normal track day with my arm broken like that. I was dead after the 3 practices and 3 races (across 2 days)

It taught me to be looser on the bars as my left hand was more often not actually touching the bar than it was actually touching the bar. The exception was the two big braking zones that were....an experience...Riding injured in general is best avoided but there is always something to learn when you're riding on a bike, and I've become a smoother rider as a result of riding injured.

Mentally it can be very distracting, this is the most important thing to deal with. You have to accept that your limits are diminished and adapt to the situation at hand. You have to force your mind to look beyond the physical and to tackle the task at hand. For some things the pain can be ignored with the exception of when the area of pain is used. For instance when you hit your knee on the ground with a cramped hamstring (dehydration) Just as in intense training you need to ignore your body screaming at you and focus only on riding, with the knowledge that a mistake caused by being distracted can lead to more pain

Listen to your body! if you have to stop and take a break then there is nothing you can do about it other than to respect your body as best you can and to understand the risks that you are taking


"Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion" - Muhammad Ali

[csmith12]

One of my friends at the last Mid-O PTR used a shoulder harness for his "out of socket" experience from the kart track and dirt. He made it through the day pretty good, only skipping one session and ending a few early. I will see if I can get more info on the brace/harness.

[VaFish]

Years ago I used to run a fuel stop for the Finke Desert Race (https://finkedesertrace.com.au/).

had a friend of mine get hit by another biker just a few miles into the race and knocked off his bike. He got back on, kick started the XR400, rode through 2 fuel stops where he had to kick start his bike after each one. Arrived at Finke and as he pulled up to the mandatory first aid check he was coughing up blood. They flew him back to Alice Springs Hospital. Turn out he had a broken rib, punctured lung, and his right leg was broken just below the knee. He rode about 220 KM of tough off road racing with a broken leg, broken rib that at some point punctured his lung, and kick started his bike 3 times with the broken leg.


Your toe will be fine.

[Sirref]

I'm hoping I can find a knee brace that will go under my suit but I don't believe that to be happening any time soon. So far I've been good with taping

[csmith12]

I for sure aint trying to compete with those injuries, that is not the point of this thread but surely there is some value to be found in how he was able to ride. Perhaps he just had a superhuman tolerance for pain. Mine is pretty high, but I have a sissy spot for eyes, fingers and toes. :\

My last posted pic of riding while injured was a broken middle finger on the throttle hand. It also hindered me on the slab haul on the way to the track. I had to learn to flip the bird with the left hand. hahahahahahha

[JohnnyBravo]

You need a tongue depressor for a splint yo... You be fine, put on ya big boy britches

[Sirref]

On the note of riding with serious injuries

racing and track day riding are two very different mentalities. There are many things I would ride through for racing but would not risk as much for a track day (if I rode I would probably bump down to novice or something and go slooooow)

[VaFish]

I don't know how he did it.

I visited him in the hospital a few days later. He was looking at the race results in the paper.

He said "Tom funny thing about this race, you talk to the buggy and truck guys and they are like last year I broke an axle, two years ago I broke a tie rod, ect... and then you talk to the bike guys and it's last year I broke my arm, two years ago I broke my leg ect... Lets build a buggy" So the following year we raced in a Class 2 buggy. was a lot of fun and we didn't break anything.

[csmith12]

Originally Posted by Sirref

I'm hoping I can find a knee brace that will go under my suit but I don't believe that to be happening any time soon. So far I've been good with taping

If you're having luck with taping, then you don't need a brace. Braces and sleeves/wraps, tapes are not the same.

Braces add structure, support and limit movement
Sleeves/wraps add limited structure, support and compression
tapes add very limited structure in focused areas are normally for isolation support

I could see a problem finding an under suit brace, but finding a really good sleeve should be pretty simple.

[adouglas]

Serves ya right for trying to go all Neo on us.

[Sirref]

@csmith12 Seeing as the "brace" I've been using normally is really just a sleeve wrap that makes a lot of sensense

The downside of tape is it needs to be redone a lot when I'm active and it doesn't quite work as well to begin with

[verboten1]

I was moving along at a pretty good pace (65-70 maybe?) on this awesome dirt road in Northern Michigan. I noticed a stand of pines coming up pretty quick and started to think about it. Pines can mean sand....the realization hits me, I get on the brakes, see the sand, gun it across, then hit the brakes again to scrub some more speed. As I'm hitting the brakes, I see more sand, but didn't let off and get back on it in time. I lost the front end, went down and landed on a softball sized rock. I broke my left scapula. It kind of hurt, but I was 20 miles away from where I was meeting my father and had no cell service. Get on, gently lay my hand on the bars, with my right hand, clutch to 4th set my left arm back in my lap. Go along like this every time I have to stop, I made it and then laid down to rest and slept! Lol

[MrAtom]

Who was that member who had kidney stones and they couldn't get a ride to the ER so they rode their bike there? I really liked that post and I feel like they should weigh in on this.

[Flying]

@LNasty

https://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=207941

[MrAtom]

Yeah! That's the one! That was a good thread

[Abu_Mishary]

Not sure how many stitches I had before, but my flesh was torn and i lost pretty lot of blood on that day.

Rode my bike like I was drunk, hoping that I would bump with a police, they will aid to escort me to the hospital, but I ended up riding my bike up to the hospital all by myself. I was so focused on getting to the hospital, i forgot to call the ambulance myself!

happened when I was riding alone. and no other motorcyclists were using the road on that day. I prefer calling the ambulance.

[csmith12]

Dang Abu

Here is my latest update to this thread;

Toe still not 100% but much better
Wrist is broken (left)
Knuckle bone on right hand is chipped

All 3 injuries are from karate class. I guess I have to come to terms that I aint 18 anymore. Wrist is broken from holding a wooden board for another student to break. Just in case you ever wondered if those boards were an actual show of power enough to break bones... well, I am your proof. Knuckle was sweet revenge on the teenager to broke my wrist, a quick backfist to the mouth and my knuckle caught his tooth. fml Me: One chipped knuckle bone, Him: -1 tooth. ahahahhahahahaha

Anyway, I will be riding Putnam Park tomorrow and Sun. I will let ya know how it goes.

[Tango89er]

I've got ribs that were broken but never set right (not a lot doctors could do what that one) and I broke my big toe a few years back. Both still cause me pain on and off, so we'll how I go with that.

And there's the damage to my left knee which will mean a knee replacement at some point down the track.

[subxero]

wrist and ankle stuff is nothing to mess with. sometimes it doesn't hurt that bad or doesn't limit your mobility all that much but that is not what the concern should be. It's worrying about how that injury affects blood supply, all the small bones in the wrist and ankle are so intertwined with the circulatory system it doesn't take much to ef it up.

Get that taken care of ASAP doesn't take much and your bones will start to die from lack of blood and it can get ugly from there.

Friend of mine punched something when they were ticked off. Wrist hurt a bit for weeks never went in. Finally got unbearable after quite some time.
Broken bone in wrist, lost blood flow, bones started to die, they had to remove some. Obviously permanent loss of mobility, strength and has reoccurring pain.

[csmith12]

If I have no improvement over the weekend, I will be going to my orthopedic. Yep, I have one on speed dial. lol

Thanks for the concern and advice all.

[MrAtom]

Cool to see that even Sifu Smith asks for advice. Proof that the key to being a champ is to admit you'll never know enough

[csmith12]

[MrAtom]

Never stop growing up, but never grow up.

[SLOWn60]

Originally Posted by MrAtom

Cool to see that even Sifu Smith asks for advice. Proof that the key to being a champ is to admit you'll never know enough

Perhaps he should quit kicking things with his toe!

[csmith12]

Back from riding 2 days in a row at the track with hand/wrist injuries. Here are my thoughts...

It sucks MAJOR!
Get 2 different types of pain relievers/anti inflammatory and alternate them (stay ahead of the pain and swelling)
Putting on a glove with a broken wrist is #$%@$#@#$%@#^@$#%@#$%@%^@#$%@#$%@%@$% painful
A wrap can help and adding layers can build supporting structure
Aspercreme works really well as a local (apply and then wrap)
When you have a bumm knuckle, it is harder to put on your glove and will instantly let you know if your too tight on the bars
When you're not riding... rest
You might be tempted to use "magic/freezing spray", but only use it as a last resort and do your homework of the ingredients of what you buy. This stuff can do more harm than good. It also made my injured wrist stiff for 3 or 4 laps :\
Skipping a session can save the day
When you don't have a good lock on the bike, your wrist will INSTANTLY let you know (very hard in bus stop turns )

Lastly, let your friends know and maybe they will give you a bit of extra help with stands and moving the bikes around. My friends did and I am grateful.

Oddly enough, I woke up this morning and the pain is only a 2 of 10 this morning. We will see how it goes today. And... I have karate class again tonight.

[Abu_Mishary]

Originally Posted by csmith12

Wrist is broken from holding a wooden board for another student to break.

All this while doing breaking for Karate demos and i thought i was the one who is open risk to injuries.

[csmith12]

Originally Posted by Abu_Mishary

All this while doing breaking for Karate demos and i thought i was the one who is open risk to injuries.

Well no, not all from doing board breaks. The wrist injury was from me holding the board while the student kicked it. He was off target fml. The toe was a week or so ago and since I am not resting it very well, it still there. :\ And the knuckle thing was from sparing one handed since my wrist is broke. lol I shouldn't even be sparing to begin with. All of this happened over the course of a week and a half.

All in all, I get all my bad luck in buckets. This bucket is done just in time too, because I have a festival where I am running a taco booth. I need the luck in health and $$$$ to get my $3k investment back.

[Abu_Mishary]

Never broken any break boards before, so i am not sure how a board reacts upon impact of blows. normally I use roof tiles. I would say that breaking roof tiles, you are more prone to cuts rather than fractures or broken bones.

[LNasty]

Originally Posted by MrAtom

Who was that member who had kidney stones and they couldn't get a ride to the ER so they rode their bike there? I really liked that post and I feel like they should weigh in on this.

First post/comment since probably August of 2015. Has been a complete change of life since moving from Houston up to central Nebraska. Career change, 60-80 hr work weeks, and a host of some pretty ****** things to happen over the last couple years.

Firstly to respond to Mr. Atoms inquiry about my "awesome" ride to the emergency room. Was a fairly sketchy ride due to the kidney stone pain and nausea and everything else that comes with having a 1/2" football shaped rock trying to squeeze through my ureter. At that time in 2014 I had already passed or had surgically removed around 70 kidney stones since 2005. Definitely would not have been able to even start my bike, let alone ride it had this been one of the first dozen or so stones. Over the years I have been less and less affected by the passing of the stones, with a few exceptions like the one I had in this thread. Not sure if it's from damage done by the shear numbers of stones I've had or if my brain has hard wired itself, allowing me to be able to cope with the pain on another level. Somewhat ironically, as I type this, I am dealing with a stone that has been trying to come out for two months now (yeaaaaaaaaaaa ). Best part of the entire ride experience to the er, was the look on the nurses faces when I rolled in the waiting room at 4 am, completely decked out in full atgatt, calmly telling them I believe I have a large kidney stone. They smugly responded, "why do you think that". To which I, as politely as possible, responded, "because I have given birth to over 70 of these bastards in the last ten years". Needless to say, they didn't take much time getting me to a room and hooked up to an I.V. So the moral of the whole story kids.....drink as much F'ing water as you can daily or you might end up like the "stoner" before you.

[csmith12]

Rode for 3 days @ JenningsGP with a pulled groin muscle. Made it through just fine managing the pain with over the counter pain meds, compression shorts and taking it easy hanging off on the right side. Good thing Jennings is mostly lefts. lol

[csmith12]

Welcome back Lance!

[CaliGrrl]

I've heard from other people about kidney stones and I don't envy you.... hoping your little bugger passes soon.

[LNasty]

Originally Posted by CaliGrrl

I've heard from other people about kidney stones and I don't envy you.... hoping your little bugger passes soon.

Lol, thank you. I'm still deciding on what to name him

[LNasty]

Originally Posted by csmith12

Welcome back Lance!

Thank you. Been too long, life can go from mundane to WTF in an instant and before you know two years have passed in what seemed like a couple months.

[dcj13]

Originally Posted by LNasty

Lol, thank you. I'm still deciding on what to name him

Gotta name it Rocky.

[Misti]

Originally Posted by csmith12

Back from riding 2 days in a row at the track with hand/wrist injuries. Here are my thoughts...

It sucks MAJOR!
Get 2 different types of pain relievers/anti inflammatory and alternate them (stay ahead of the pain and swelling)
Putting on a glove with a broken wrist is #$%@$#@#$%@#^@$#%@#$%@%^@#$%@#$%@%@$% painful
A wrap can help and adding layers can build supporting structure
Aspercreme works really well as a local (apply and then wrap)
When you have a bumm knuckle, it is harder to put on your glove and will instantly let you know if your too tight on the bars
When you're not riding... rest
You might be tempted to use "magic/freezing spray", but only use it as a last resort and do your homework of the ingredients of what you buy. This stuff can do more harm than good. It also made my injured wrist stiff for 3 or 4 laps :\
Skipping a session can save the day
When you don't have a good lock on the bike, your wrist will INSTANTLY let you know (very hard in bus stop turns )

Lastly, let your friends know and maybe they will give you a bit of extra help with stands and moving the bikes around. My friends did and I am grateful.

Oddly enough, I woke up this morning and the pain is only a 2 of 10 this morning. We will see how it goes today. And... I have karate class again tonight.

Hahahha, yup! Riding with injuries can suck big time but it is doable as long as you are smart about it. I've had a pinched nerve and damaged wrist for a while now and it's so irritating when coaching, my throttle hand goes completely pins and needles and I have to shake it off constantly. Doable when coaching but I have to take breaks and shake my wrist when I'm not leading a student, lol.

I also had to ride with 5 fresh stitches in my thumb and god damn, I never realized how many times I put on gloves and take them off again while coaching until I did that. Fawk.....that was the hardest and most painful part!

I think that as long as you are smart about riding injured you can be totally fine Use common sense, take breaks, ask for help, modify and then don't be afraid to say, NOPE not safe for me to keep riding....if the situation doesn't allow for safe riding.

PS. What kind of martial arts or boxing/kickboxing do you do?

Misti

[MrAtom]

Broke my right thumb but it isn't bad. I just popped it out of place and popped it back (although I only realized it was popped out after about 15 minutes, so it swole up before I popped it back and that's waaay less than optimal). Its all swollen and nasty. If I can front-brake without pain by Tuesday I'll keep commuting by bike. Otherwise I'll take the bus.