Billy Ed

Member
Oct 16, 2001
40
0
I went to a race this weekend and one of my buddies had a bad crash. He stuck his front wheel in some mush and flipped over the front, smashed on the ground, his bike chased him down and body-slammed him into the dirt again, then he and the bike go flipping off into the wild blue.
As he is scratching around trying to get up - a competitor came by and smashed into his head, tearing off the face guard of his helmet, along with a good chunk of his lip and poked a hole in his scalp, cutting an artery (I really didn't know there were arteries in there) and now he has blood spurting all over. Grisly.
Another competitor comes by and runs over his leg, causing no apparent damage. End of crash.
I manage to get stopped, turn my bike sideways in the track and flag the rest of the field off.
At this time one of the spectator guys run up and strips off his (own) shirt to apply pressure to the cut and stop the bleeding.
Now here comes the EMTs shouting "Don't move him!! Don't move him!!"
We needed to flip him over so we could get the direct pressure on the bleeder. This was no little bleeder either.
No, I am not an EMT.
My question is this: After all of the crashing, cartwheels, body slams and getting running over that this guy went through, what are the chances that we are going to further his injury by rolling him over so we can get to the bleeder?
It took thirty minutes to get him strapped to a board to get him in the back of a truck to get him to the ambulance. C-collars, belts, the whole nine yards. And he was leaking badly the whole time.
So someone must have sudied this issue; how many injuries are aggravated by moving the injured person?
The good news is that my friend got stitched up later that evening and came home. No big deal.:)
 

jharmon

Member
Aug 1, 2001
155
0
By moving your friend, you could have caused more trauma to the brain. By the sounds of the wreck, your friend could have fractured his back and moving him could have caused a simple fracture to be much worse, such as paralyzing him.

Your best bet in that situation is to let the EMT's do all the work and you should be there for support only.

Good Luck to your friend.
 

fatty_k

~SPONSOR~
Jul 3, 2001
1,274
0
I remember seeing a story in TV where a hiker fell a long ways down a hill (I cant remember exactly how far) but after he fell, his buddy told him not to move and was going to get help. After, I think something like 12 hours lying there, the fallen hiker thought it would be best if he got up and started crawling to get help after his buddy did not return. As soon as he got up his back snapped! His back was broken after the fall, but by getting up, his back simply snapped and now he is in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. It is always best to leave a trauma victim still and not move them unless moving them will save their life. ie. burning car or something along those lines.
 

Jon K.

~SPONSOR~
Mar 26, 2001
1,354
4
At an enduro in Louisiana we had a guy fall over (Really! He was just cruising along in a 20mph section!) and suffer a compound femur. We couldn't get the medics to him and had to pack him up and get him out of there. Still it took too long! I am convinced had we left him there much longer waiting for the EMTs that he would have gone into shock and we would have lost him! He was "shocky" as it were.
Some judgement obviously is in order.
Oh, and the only fatality we ever had was a guy caught a heat-stroke in the woods. If we could have GOT HIM OUT OF THERE FASTER maybe he could have been helped. As it were, he never had a chance. Grim, serious stuff!
 
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RM250'er

~SPONSOR~
May 25, 2001
234
0
As a "General" rule, You should not move anyone unless the present environment poses a greater risk to the victim than the injury sustained... i.e.- The building, or car is on fire...

It is extremely easy to do major damage to the head and back by moving someone who has had trama to those areas.
 
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