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What to do about wreck
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The accident that I chronicled in my post "Helmets-very Important" is starting to affect me worse than I thought. I can hardly move my left shoulder. This is, of course, one of the two shoulders that have become gimpy after 13 years of being a hairdresser.

Add to this that I have road rash on this shoulder, as well. This is going to add to my dilema...

Do I soak in the hydrotherapy tub tomorrow? I can't get a massage until Tuesday, which will probably be okay since I have this raging road rash. I also feel that I must do my physical therapy exercises that I did on my shoulder when I had my car wreck. My aero positioning may be compromised for the time being.

On another subject pertaining to this, when should I run again? I took today off so that I could rest. I have not felt like @#!$ after a bike accident in a long time. This is bumming me out, as my knee which received the impact is stiffening. I will not run my local St. Pat's Day 5 miler on Saturday. It seems like accidents on bikes are rarer than when I played ice hockey (ten stitches, then onto the next shift), but when I get them, they're pretty gory.

Okay, enough of my b@#!$ing, I want some answers.
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Re: What to do about wreck [bunnyman] [ In reply to ]
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Dude, you took a pretty heavy hit it sounds like. Hmm, well, I guess- first off- the inflammation. Have you been taking some anti-inflammatory/pain killers? Isn't there some thing about "breaking the inflammation cycle"? Like, trying to prevent the injury (shoulder and knee) from becoming re-inflamed? I seem to recall some significance to that... Also, remaining adequately hydrated- mostly for the road rash as that is like a severe burn. Did you clean that our adequately? That can be an unpleasant but necessary task. Keeping a moist dressing on it and using triple anti-biotic ointment or, the best there is, Carrington Gel, will heal that road rash ASAP. Carrington Gel is amazing, like a super drug. Carrington Laboratory, 800 527 5216, Irving, TX (Last Known Contact). Also, staying loose- maybe easy spin on indoor trainer for 20-30 minutes SUPER easy. The hydro therapy stuff- I don't know: Is the water hot? wouldn't that make it swell up again? Man, you've got a lot going on. WE need taku on this one. Geez, I hope you feel better.

Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com
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Re: What to do about wreck [bunnyman] [ In reply to ]
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Honestly until your wounds close, you really should not be soaking in water that could be less than clean, including pools, hot tubs, etc.

First things first, with soft tissue injuries you should RICE
rest, ice, compression, elevation, and take some NSAIDs too.

I wouldn't do any exercise on you shoulder until any inflamation, tenderness goes away, then you should work away to your hearts content... during the first couple of days you should try not to stress it anymore.
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Re: What to do about wreck [Tom Demerly] [ In reply to ]
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It's hard to get me to take any drugs. I am probably not doing myself any favours by not taking drugs.

I may have to call that number you gave me- thanks, man.

I suspected that the hydrotherapy tub might not be good. Damn!!!!!

Thanks for the suggestions.
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Re: What to do about wreck [taku] [ In reply to ]
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I figured out that maybe I should not be doing much of anything right now- it's killing me. I am just really getting into the swing of doing hard work once again.

Thanks for the suggestions. I appreciates them.
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Re: What to do about wreck [bunnyman] [ In reply to ]
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I also strongly resist taking drugs, and for several reasons. However this sounds like a time to take some NSAIDS. From my limited understanding, you can't just take one and expect the inflammation to subside. They need some time consistantly taking them as directed. (Confirmation on this?) For example, you don't pop a pain killer when you are in severe pain and expect the best relief. To get the ultimate relief you have to take the pain killer before the pain really starts. I was under the impression that NSAIDS had a similar effect.
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Re: What to do about wreck [tom] [ In reply to ]
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For the road rash. The most important thing is to get all the debris cleaned out first and for this hydrogen pyroxide is appropriate but ya want to get it all out the first cleaning after which you keep the hydrogen pyroxide on the shelf -- each time you use it it can re-traumatize the tissue -- reapplication hurts for a reason.

Triple Antibiotic and then one of those large sealed dressings. Change the dressing when it gets saturated and reapply the triple A.
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Re: What to do about wreck [bunnyman] [ In reply to ]
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This talk about the use of Hydrogen Peroxide for cleanning road rash brought up a question. Bunnyman Being a hair dresser I think you guys get that really strong stuff (High Concentration). Is the strong stuff any better than the over the counter stuff. Is it too strong? Good luck with your injury.
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Re: What to do about wreck [bunnyman] [ In reply to ]
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try using cayenne pepper. it is thought to work as a natural anti-inflammatory. i use it on most of my food and seems to help. course i like the pain from the heat.
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Re: What to do about wreck [bunnyman] [ In reply to ]
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When did you get your last tetanus shot? That was the first question they asked my husband at the ER when he went in with bike-crash road rash.
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Re: What to do about wreck [bunnyman] [ In reply to ]
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This is a bit out of left field, but have you ever tried TCM, traditional Chinese medicine? Believe me, I'm as skeptical as they come, but I had a friend who was finishing up school in it and had been a practitioner for years.

He worked small wonders on my ankles and shoulder and taught me how to work on certain areas myself, using moxi, a kind of heat stick made from a root.

If you can find an acupuncturist/TCM healer in your area, I would highly recommend a treatment. You have little to lose and the potential benefits are worth it, IMHO.

Happy healing ;).
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h2o2 [ In reply to ]
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I don't know what the hair dressers use. But i used to work in a lab working with leeches. Well there was some blood on the counter and not thinking I saw a bottle of peroxide on teh shelf... not thinking about it I poured it on the counter with no gloves wiped it off with paper towels. Needless to say I got some nice chemical burns on my hands within seconds and my entire hand turned white. ( this was 20% reagent strength I think maybe 15%)



Also to give you a better ide aof how strrong this stuff is and how bad it is... My friends lab has a cold room where they keep reagets for elertron microscopy. they had a sealed bottle of peroxide on the shelf for acouple of years... fumes from the peroxide leaked out of teh bottle at a slow rate and proceeded to eat into the ventilation ducts above it... this from a sealed bottle.



point of the story the over the counter stuff is plenty strong... don't use anythign stronger
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Re: What to do about wreck [bunnyman] [ In reply to ]
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The morning after I broke my collarbone, and did a lot of soft tissue damage to my shoulder, I started very easy stretching. I just kept everything from tightening up, and made sure I lost no range of motion. I had seen a few friends end up with long rehabs after braking collarbones and wished to prevent that. At the time I was stretching, it hurt, and the bones had not knit together. The bones knit together after 11 days. A little over two weeks later, I was swimming some very slow and easy laps. My collarbone had ben broken in two places, and tissue damage was pretty severe but I was back on the bike within 1 month, and was running shortly after that. I firmly believe being proactive in rehabing myself, I saved a lot of time, and lost no range of motion in my shoulder.

My advice is to do easy stretching. I am not a doctor however.

For the road rash, a good antiseptic cream. If you let it dry and scab, it will heal quicker, but scar more. If you keep it moist, it will heal slower with less scaring. Or so I have been told.

---------------

"Remember: a bicycle is an elegant and efficient tool designed for seeking out and defeating people who aren't as good as you."

--BikeSnobNYC
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Re: What to do about wreck [bunnyman] [ In reply to ]
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Wasn't that wreck quite a while ago? Hmmm...my view of time seems to be skewed lately.
Anyway, what you're going through sounds very similar to what I went through last June. No broken bones, but my shoulder popped out and in and tore up quite a bit of my soft tissue. It was swollen for a couple of weeks and I was still washing my hair and face with one hand for another couple of weeks because I couldn't raise my arm up high enough without fairly excruciating pain.
I iced it pretty continually for the first 4-5 days and ended up not doing anything for 2-3 weeks. If you're within a couple weeks, my guess is that anytime you get your heartrate up, it will puff up a bit and throb nicely. Ice it if it swells up to a bigger size. Aerobars were right out for quite a while, since I couldn't move my arm into that position, let alone put weight on it. I, like normal, started running before biking anyway, when I started working out again, so, while it was strenuous, it wasn't painful.
The knee is going to be harder to treat. All you can really do there is to keep yourself limber (within your comfort threshold: don't re-hurt it). Part of the stiffening there is due to not being used as much and part from the healing process. Some light stretching will keep it warm until you're ready to head out onto the pavement again. Light spinning, if it doesn't hurt, should help, too, being lower impact than running.
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Re: What to do about wreck [bunnyman] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for all of the suggestions, kids.

Don't worry about whether or not I would use h2O2 on my wounds- the answer is #!@# NO!!!! That stuff is evil, especially when you consider that what is used for medical/first aid is all of 5 volume. I use twenty volume and up (I forgot what it corresponds to in %) at work. It has "not for medical use" on the bottle.

I did a few intervals and felt fine. I may even get a light run in tonight. I took four days off, and I ate sushi and drank a bunch to help me get over it.

Thanks for the kind words and suggestions, again.

Doug
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