CLEANING INJURIES
Read this….it could save your life.
As riders of bicycle based bucking broncos we’re used to getting the odd scratch, cut, gash or full on shark bite.
It goes with the turf right? If you ride, you get hurt, and small cuts, scratches and nicks are pretty much an everyday occurrence.
So much so that wiping the dripping blood from your leg with a T-shirt, sock, or old oily rag isn’t an act we’d consider outrageous, or disgusting, let alone dangerous.
We know our bodies right? We know how long a pedal shiner should bleed for. We know how long that gravel rash will take to scab over.
If someone says “do you want some cream for that” our instinctive response is “Nah….it’ll be fine” (after all, what do they know? I’ve been getting shiners like this since I was 11!)
Plasters? Cream? “Save it mate…Im a bmxer”
Or as we should really respond…. “save it mate…Im a bellend”
Because it turns out that for bacteria cells, an open cut is like an empty skatepark to scooter kids, They simply can’t wait to get in there and fuck things up for everyone else.
I found this out the hard way recently.
So whilst riding I picked up a small (and I mean tiny) nick to the inside of my knee. Pah! Just a flesh wound I told myself in the usual “Nah, I’ll be fine” approach. I gave it a little rub and thought nothing of it.
The following day was a Ride On session and a tiny open cut to my inner knee had bugger all chance of stopping me having fun. I pulled my knee pads up (and over the cut) and got busy.
As did the bacteria that had been living in my sweaty knee pads just hanging around waiting for that open goal opportunity to go wild. My tiny open cut was just the party invite it wanted.
24 hours later my lower leg started to feel a bit swollen and warm to the touch.
My response? “It’ll be fine”
48 hours later my lower leg had swollen up to the size of my thigh and the small cut had become a huge black festering mountain.
My response? “Should be fine”
72 hours later and my body was experiencing a fever, I felt nauseous, my leg was red, huge, painful and ugly.
My response? “You know what, Im not sure this’ll be fine”
A quick trip to the doctor was followed by a “get your arse the hell to hospital now” diagnosis and the blue lights were lit up!
Turns out….it wasn’t fine.
My cack handed approach to bmx injury hygiene (combined with the ridiculous belief that because I rode a bmx, and had experienced a few cuts and bruises before, I was now some kind of Bmx T1000) had resulted in me getting a serious infection in my leg which required immediate intervention.
I was told afterwards that I could’ve lost my leg! ……………….Shit!
No more “Nah, I’ll be fine” for me. My riding kit bag now looks like the school nurse’s tool box and I have just the right cream, bandage or plaster for all manner of shit….including shit.
And my knee pads are getting washed a little more ofter!
So if like me your attitude towards the sight of claret flowing from your legs is a little… shall we say…“loose”, at least consider applying a little bit of something medicated next time.
After all, those bacteria scooter kids will happily jump the the fence to rip your body a new one so don’t give em a head start!
