Machka 

Suppose you've crashed ...... there's nothing broken, but you are covered from head to toe with bruising and road rash, you've pulled a lot of muscles, and you're experiencing the effects of whiplash.

Aside from rest, are there any other tips you might have to speed up the healing process?

Santaria

Ouch, Machka, sorry to hear about the crash.

I swore there was a thread here the other day talking about a med for bruising recovery, check the commuter forum. Or let me check and amend this...

Carbonfiberboy 

How have you treated the road rash?
See a doctor re the whiplash.
Zone 1 on the rollers, 1/2 hr. to an hour/day.

Machka 

I've treated the light road rash with zinc oxide, and it is pretty well healed now. The deeper road rash, I've been treating with Ozonol and a bandage over it.

DannoXYZ 

Yeah, keep the road-rash covered with antibiotic ointment and bandages. Then when there's new pink skin, use hi-IU vitamin-E creme and keep it covered for another week. When the pigment comes back, you can then leave it exposed. Shouldn't take any more than 1-2 weeks to heal the most severe road-rash this way.

VanceMac

For my recent bout with multiple patches of road rash, I experimented with different techniques on each instance. The second most effective remedy was Tegaderm. But the best, by far (hardly a controlled study, to be sure), was this product from Johnson and Johnson:

This is a thicker, gel-like pad using Compeed® technology, which I used on the worst instance of road rash (and the only one with a deep gouge in the middle) -- and this one healed the fastest. Again, not a controlled study, and different parts of the body, but I was duly impressed by the anecdotal results.

Carbonfiberboy 

An experienced road-rasher taught me this for the bad rash: wash, of course, and painfully but surely scrub to remove every speck of foreign matter. Paint on Povidone-Iodine. It won't burn and it dries to a nice film. When it's dry, cover with Tegederm. That's like a breathable second skin. The Tegederm should be enough larger than the wound that tape will not touch the damaged area. Put whatever gauze you need to prevent leakage onto your clothes on top of the Tegederm and secure with tape. Leave the Tegederm on until skin regrows underneath it. You can shower with the Tegederm, as long as it's taped down. This treatment will usually result in a scarless recovery. And there's no pain or further damage from changing bandages. And you can show it to friends as the Tegederm is translucent! Very cool. In a sick sort of way, I guess. Only a randonneur would be interested.

I took a look at those Johnson & Johnson Advanced Healing pads. They look very cool, but only 3" X 2.25". I wonder if you can just butt them together for big ones.

So sorry to hear about your crash! Probably wasn't your first, but sure sounds like a bad one. PNW in April. Nasty riding. Around here, the shoulders are still covered with the fine stuff they put on roads when they're icy. They'll sweep next month.

Machka 

I'll have to take a look at the stuff you've mentioned. Some of it might not be available in Canada. I've noticed that the US stores have more/different medical stuff than Canada.

I don't mind if I scar ... I look at scars as "character marks". In fact, the road rash on my left knee is right on top of a nasty scar from a crash in December 2004. That scar was just beginning to fade away. It's just that I crashed almost a week ago, and I still haven't started to grow any new skin yet, the area is still bleeding a bit, and is very painful and sensitive.

Also bruises ... I'd be interested to hear if there is a way to make them less painful as quickly as possible. My bruises are really sore.

And ........ I've actually taken pictures of my wounds. Maybe that's a Randonneuring thing??



The crash was at the bottom of a 15% grade hill, a paved road which was covered in slippery wet mud. I made it all the way down the hill, but there was a 4-way stop at the bottom.

Carbonfiberboy 

Uh . . . scars is usually a guy thing, supposed to turn on certain chicks. No reason it can't work the other way, I guess. Be sure to post the photos.

I don't know of any treatment for bruising other than gentle exercise. No ibuprofen! That makes the bruising worse. Take aspirin or more fun drugs.

aikigreg

Allow me to also suggest higher doses of vitamin E and up your ptoein intake considerably. Research an acquaintance of mine, Dr. Lonnie Lowery has done on burn patients proved that higher intakes of protein sped their recovery by nearly 30% Interesting stuff.

merlinman

sorry about your crash Machka and thanks all for the useful info. I'm filing it for future reference because our weather is so cold and rainy (still) I was dressed like the Michelin Man for my 3 hour ride today and even tho I didn't go down (despite the nice very old man who took a left turn in front of me - right under the watchful gaze of Mercer Island's finest police officer) I got quite a scare but realized if I had dumped the bike instead of my evasive right turn I probably wouldn't have had any road rash due to the 4 layers I had on. Cold and wet has it's benefit as road rash preventativ I guess.

happy healing!

twobikes

"Vitamin A & D Ointment" is a very good product. A friend had a bad burn from some hot metal he was welding. It was watering and would not heal. We put some Vitamin A & D Ointment on it and it was much improved in a couple of days. Sunlight produces vitamin D, which is good for skin. After I had surgery on my abdomen I exposed the incision to sunlight about ten minutes a day. The surgeon was impressed with the way it healed.

Machka 

I found a sports clinic here, where I live, so I'll be in touch with them next week. There are a few areas of my anatomy I'm concerned about (neck, shoulders, triceps, and hip, in particular) which I'd like looked at by a professional. Somehow I don't think my regular GP would understand ... hopefully the people at the sports clinic will.



BTW - I have burned myself very badly ... I burnt my left foot to the bone in 2001. The scrapes/road rash are similar to that burn, although not as nearly bad. I guess I do have to be patient. After all, it took 3 months for the burn to heal.

Pat

Well, for cleaning wounds, I have found that hydrogen peroxide is great. It is oxygen based and is a mild disinfectant. The stuff fizzes foreign matter out of the wounds. Also it does not sting or irritate.

As for aches and pains. Warm showers or warm baths are good. Also baths are good for cleaning wounds.

Another thing I do is light work outs to stretch the muscles and stuff. I think the work outs gets blood to the affected tissues and accelerates healing.

kuan

I would definitely recommend a workup by a PT at the sports clinic. Think of this as an opportunity to get your body and back/neck in balance. When my wife separated her shoulder I started doing her shoulder stability exercises with her and they really work.

Az B

Do you have any example of these? They sound interesting and I've never heard of them.

Get well soon, Machka. Road rash sucks.

Az

!!Comatoa$ted

H2O2 cleans wounds really well but it also destroys any new epithelization that is happening and it can dry out the wound. It is very cytotoxic to skin cells and delays wound healing.

sonyaj87@hotmai

Machka, Yikes!!!!! That suck. I'm glad that your ok. I crashed going down at 30mph. I had a mild concussion but thankfully no road rash. It was winter and I was covered. I did have some ache and pains for a while. Be patient. Your body will do most of the work. I had to rest for my head. For the bruising I increase my vitamin c. It will help them heal faster and stretching will help the aches. The streching probably helped the most. Definitly go see your PT if you feel a little off. Advil for the swelling in my head too. Feel good soon.

Enthalpic

Wow 19 posts and ice was not mentioned for injury. After you have your surface wounds treated, use ice on the bumps and bruises, strains and sprains.

Machka 

Even a week later? I always thought ice was an "immediately after" thing.



BTW - here are a few shots of some of the injuries ... and my helmet.

Enthalpic

Ouch

Ice is best immediately but it is still very useful if the area is warm to the touch, inflamed or very sore. Heck ice is always useful, older refractory injuries can respond to hot/cold therapy as it increases circulation.

As for treating the skin discolouration, I got nothing.

donnamb 

Extra C also. Vitamins E and C are essential components of cell membranes. Give yourself extra building blocks for making new cells.

kuan

For example, one of them https://www.orthop.washington.edu/Use...exercise09.gif

Then do the opposite.

There's what I call the bridge shrug too, on your knees, bridge, and do shoulder shrugs.

All these are super light weight high rep exercises. They started her off with a tuna can. Now she's up to 1lb. I use 2lb weights.

AnthonyG

OK this is going to sound gross,






I mean realy gross but I would heal cuts and abrasions like that by covering the cut/abrasion with my own saliva via my finger and leave the wound open to heal.

Its what animals do and it works fine for them and funny thing is that it works fine for us too. Maybe that wound is a little big for you to want to try but next time you get a small cut simply lick it and let it air dry. You will be suprised as to how well it heals without any secondary infection.

Regards, Anthony

Recumbomatic

Plain old bee honey is nature's perfect bandage. Just apply honey to road rash and gauze over.

• Breathes
• Keeps dirt out
• Antibacterial
• Keeps wounds moist

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey#M...fects_of_honey

(Honey is the only food that never goes bad. In Egypt, they've found 5000 year-old honey that was still edible.)