 You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Hi Chaps,
My missus fell off on the road two days ago, grazing her hip and alebow quite badly - she was wearing a full bib and a jacket, so she didn't have any nasty stuff go in the wound.
I cleaned it up with water first, then an anti-septic wipe and put on a large dressing for burns and grazes. The first day the elbow wound is fine, the hip wound filled with water and blood - so removed the dressing, cleaned it up again and re-applied.
Does anyone do anything different for grazes? The concensus is that wounds should be kept moist, and not allowed to air-dry as scabbing doesn't promote healing, rather allows the skin to scar and delays the healing process (obviously different to what my mum did with me!)
Cheers
Ricks
Pop along to your minor injuries unit or walk in centre they love dealing with wounds like this and will patch her up good.
All nurses have their own favourites - mine is hydro colloids. Granuflex / dueoderm are two brands
go for the thin ones. -
You should be able to get them from a chemist if you ring around the bigger ones
Slap it on - leave it for a week while it builds a foul stinking goo underneath, take it off and marvel at the new skin
Drac is much more qualified to comment, but basically it's nothing more scientific than keeping it clean and covered with a dressing.
If it's going a bit weepy, like the hip one sounds like, it might be a bit infected so you've just got to keep cleaning it and changing the dressing.
I shouldn't worry about scars, it'd have to be a mighty deep and nasty graze to scar. I've had plenty of decent bike-induced grazes over the years, no scars to show for it.
hydro colloids - that's what I used, have them in the first aid bike box.
Good stuff.
Next thing is.... getting her happy on the bike again, she's not long been riding on a proper road bike, probably only done about 500 miles on it, she fell off indicating and hit a bump, wobbled and went OTB.
I've bought her some 25mm GP4000s to replace the 23mm Bontys that were on there, and will convince her that they're massively larger and more sticky.
Any other advice? We're going to see Jedi on Saturday, and hoping that her confidence isn't knocked that much. She generally a confident rider, races very well, rides drops and steep stuff, but is easily scared if she has an off.
rickon - just keep on using them then - that gunge that builds up under them is good for healing. its supposed to do so - and it always stinks
leave them on as long as possible
I came of my road bike for the first time a few weeks ago, like with your misses it only just wore through the thick winter tights but the friction removed all of the skin in a 60cm patch. It weeped alot for a few days but then I found out about hydrocolloid plasters, couldn't find one a standard one big enough in the pharmacy so used the largest Compeed blister plaster I could find as it's the same thing. I've just taken it off two weeks later and it's all healed apart and would look normal apart from the missing hair.
the pros always say they get in the shower asap and go at the wounds with a scrubbing brush to get them bleeding again. makes it heal in half the time. I've never had the guts to do this, just the thought of it makes me want to cry!
Get the Mrs' exfoliator on it, then leave it open to dry.
Warton - tht would be very bad advice anyway
@tj - i've got a big bit of road rash at the minute (wore through my winter tights at about 25mph) that was oozing too much for granuflex, the thing would fill up in about 6hrs and then ooze goo from all edges and then fall off. have been given a silicone gauze and some foam dressings that seem to be coping with the amount of stuff well now. the nurse i saw said it was akin to a 2nd degree burn.
I went from 23's to 25's on my road bike and loved it. It feels much more stable and much more comfortable.
I was recommended Bio-Oil (Boots) to put on my horrible scabs last Summer after a crash. Quite expensive when applying to face, arms and legs every day. Unfortunately I am still a mess although my face is better.
Go TJ FTW !Slap it on - leave it for a week while it builds a foul stinking goo underneath
Mind, I had a tasty combo of hydroclloid and opsite film on my back for a fortnight once - occ health just kept saying "leave it on"
I've smelt nicer fox-shite
Minor injuries clinic as above, they have the free stuff and skill to see if their is an infection starting, i got an infection in my elbow and had to go back every day for a new dressing and clean.
Ps youll soon know when you get an infection in a wound it really hurts.
go at the wounds with a scrubbing brush
I got pretty bad gravel rash in my shoulder on Mt. Seymour. After a couple of days it got infected. Went to Vancouver Hospital and this is exactly what they did. Worked a treat. Painful at first but instant relief once the infection was out. No anti-b's either!
Tell her to WTFU
[url= http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Cuts-and-grazes/Pages/Treatment.aspx ]Medical advice here![/url]
From my skating days, I found that [b]after[/b] my knee/elbow etc was clean and dry a little savlon or similar and a shiny non adherent dressing replaced daily sped things up. I'm quite a fan of keeping it clean and not covered as our bodies tend to fix themselves quite well, but if it's on a clothes-rubby area(this is in fact the technical term) then a dressing is needed.
GP4000s are great too, hope she bounces back from this!
put some maggots on it 😉