serious injuries

[l8-apex]

I'm at week 10 of recovery right now. August 19th I broke my collar bone, 11 rib fractures, punctured/collapsed lung, concussion, and some damage to my hand that they have yet to put a label on. The collar bone has healed with overlapping ends. The ribs still hurt a 'little'. The lingering problem is something they call 'frozen shoulder' which means a shoulder with very little range of motion (therapist says at least a year before it will approach 'normal'). The hand is also still pretty much useless.

From what I've learned, the punctured lung was the most serious problem initially. Without the insertion of a chest tube to drain off the blood collecting around the lung I most likely would have died.

I was wearing all the gear; boots, helmet, gloves, knee and elbow protectors, and roost guard.

One of the worst things for me is that I can't remember anything about the fall and no one saw it. I had just gotten on the bike and was riding slowly, still warming it up. I just can't imagine how I hit the ground so hard in this situation.

I've been riding on the street for 27 years. I road raced at the club level for 6 years. During all of this I've only fallen down one time (no injuries).

I started playing on dirt bikes just a couple of years ago and have fallen many, many times. The dirt bikes have been a blast, but it seems the risk level is too high for the 'return'. No more dirt for me, I'll stick to pavement (as soon as my arm will allow me to get back on a bike)

Oh well.... just thought I'd 'share'

 

[MXobssesed4]

the pavements dangerous too

 

[joshholmes20]

I gave up pavement for dirt last year. Riding on the street seemed much too dangerous to me. I ran several open track days and found those to be very rewarding and also very safe. Coming together with a group of riders riding at the same level on a track with run-offs in every corner and medical staff present at all times seems to be the only way to have safe fun on a street bike. Unfortunately it is much too costly for me at this time, especially if you go down. The urge to ride the same way on the street as you do on a track is often hard to overcome, this led me to make the move to dirt for now. Hopefully someday I can afford to ride only on the track, and not worry about trying to have fun on the street.

 

[joshholmes20]

BTW, have a safe and speedy recovery!

 

[tnrider]

not remembering anything about the crash is your mind's way of helping you cope with a traumatic injury - it just shut down for you. i have a similar experience with an accident a few years ago - still don't recall anything between starting down the hill and then sitting up from the bike on its side.

my crash was slow speed too - walking pace (as far as i remember). i speculate that the bike stalled on a steep downhill which caused me (inexperienced at the time) to move too far forward which then caused the bike to swap ends. its not too unusual for a slow speed crash on dirt for even experienced riders - i have heard quite a few say so on this site and others. even now, i find that my bike feels more unstable at slow speeds than when i am in the power and the suspension is fully active.

while you can get hurt on both road and dirt. i think there are more people killed on the road because someone else (car driver) makes a stupid decision. i can live with my own errors but don't want to deal with other's mistakes. i occasionally ride on the road too but i am always in paranoid mode :yikes:

as for a frozen shoulder - you should be in physical therapy for that. if it is really frozen, they typically do "surgery" where they just put you out and then rotate the shoulder to break up the scar tissue that is causing the problem. (no cutting involved here)

 

[l8-apex]

I know that common 'sense' would say that street riding is more dangerous than dirt, but I guess it's just my 'experience' that is making me feel the opposite. I suppose in reality that there are more injuries on dirt, but more fatalities on the street.

Not remembering what happened is what spooks me. If I knew what happened then I would know if it was an error I could avoid, just a fluke or something else. It just feels as if God reached down and gave me a slap.

Oh, yes I am in therapy for the shoulder, gaining a few degrees of motion each week. I suppose that if I was not making any progress they would take the step of putting me under and 'manipulating' the shoulder.