Healing up Road Rash

[dgaddis]

Laid down the road bike on the ride home from work last night for the first time. Nothing major, just a little road rash and some scratched up bike parts. Been a long time since I've crashed on pavement. Low speed, front tire washed out in an off camber turn. It was raining. I was going slow, didn't think I was anywhere near the limits of the tires. Speaking of which, are the Vittoria Zaffiro tires on my bike especially sucky in the wet?? Or is my perception of grip in the wet just way off? I know I've taken corners much harder, with a lot more lean, in the pouring rain on my mountain bike. I was really surprised when the front end slid out yesterday. Anyhow...

So, what's the best way to quickly heal road rash?

Right now I'm keeping an ointment (neosporen (sp?)) on it and bandaged. If I didn't have to wear pants at work I'd leave it uncovered, but, alas, we have a pants required policy.



Is this why so many of you are afraid of carbon bars on your road bike?

[Too Tall]

Twice a day clean, keep covered with triple ointment and use netted surgical bandage to keep the surgical pads in place.

That ain't no thaing. You'll be healed up by the weekend yah wuss ;)

xxoo

[Chance Legstrong]

for making us look at those hairy sticks
you should be forced to bandage it in duct tape

[tele]

Twice a day clean, keep covered with triple ointment and use netted surgical bandage to keep the surgical pads in place.

love the triple ointment and I like to put Tegaderm on top--easy on/off and breaths well.

[burgess1108]

Tegaderm is absolutely the way to go. Clean, apply, let heal. The best treatment out there.

[Chance Legstrong]

Tegaderm is absolutely the way to go. Clean, apply, let heal. The best treatment out there.

WTF? that is a paper cut do not spend $15/pad for that
but do get some razors (or weed whacker) and get that hair gone

[Lionel]

Brave soldier is what I use.

Also, please buy a razor

[j44ke]

There are pre-medicated dressings that I like. Johnson & Johnson makes the ones I have - Soothing Non-Stick Dressing. They look like a dense mesh screen and they are wet dressings because they have petroleum jelly in them. Clean, coat wound with Neosporin, then the non-stick wet dressing, then the dry non-stick pads to absorb drainage and then one of those elastic net bandages to hold everything together. The crinkly wrap that holds itself in position with interlocking crinkles is good for areas that maybe require a bit more secure wrap. Your wound doesn't look too bad, so really you are just trying to prevent infection and keep things from staining your clothes.

I never was able to get Tegaderm in large enough sections. You can get them by ordering from Amazon, but that doesn't do you much good if you are already wounded.

It helps too to get rid of the hair around the wound. Just be sure to keep things sterile when you shave. Metal razors are great vectors for introducing infections.

I expect you'll want to retire those handlebars.

[quickag]

buy a new bike your bike obviously sucks.

[Tomi]

So, what's the best way to quickly heal road rash?

There is no quick way. I'm already gone thank you --->[]

[Lionel]

One of the key is to keep the road rash from forming a scar (wet healing) so that you can continue riding. This is particularly true around the top of the knee.

[962]

The handlebar looks worse than your leg!

I did a slow slide after front washed out in a muddy hairpin on pavement...caught me by surprise like you said...

Also slid into a base at a softball game wearing shorts once. Not doing that again.

[guyintense]

Scrub the area really well with soap and water, let air dry. In a couple of days after you have a nice dry scab peel it off and you'll see all the rocks and shit you missed.

[j44ke]

Wait a minute - isn't being a doctor or an RN on this forum cheating? Sort of like factual information doping. Suddenly the bottle of leaches I bought in Chinatown doesn't seem so rational.

[ldamelio]

Nah - my post was based as much on common sense and experience as much as formal education. Half of practicing medicine well is ignoring hype, drug company-funded studies and marketing, cultural biases of allopathic medicine, etc. and just realizing that a healthy body heals many things very well on its own. The hard part is balancing the valid science versus the background noise and practicing with the right balance of technology/knowledge and common sense/experience. Can't be a Luddite, but also can't be an unquestioning fanboy of the "latest/greatest" output of medical corporate America. Constantly sorting it all out. Anyway, sorry for the thread drift. BTW, leeches still used in certain circumstances - they secrete hirudin, an anticoagulant. Uncommon, but sometimes plastic surgeons place them on/near flap reconstructions to secrete this drug locally when the patient can't receive systemic blood thinners. Sorry for the further thread drift - way too much coffee way too early. I'll stop now. And drink more coffee.

[defspace]

I crashed earlier in the week, so this has been an informative thread.
Everything has been as expected, but I found a swollen lymph node in my groin today - on the side that I slid on. This is the first time I've noticed it - four days out. Presumably that means my road rash is infected? I've been keeping it tegaderm'd and everything still looks and feels totally groovy. What's the appropriate course of action if you suspect infection?

[devlin]

Nah - my post was based as much on common sense and experience as much as formal education. Half of practicing medicine well is ignoring hype, drug company-funded studies and marketing, cultural biases of allopathic medicine, etc. and just realizing that a healthy body heals many things very well on its own. The hard part is balancing the valid science versus the background noise and practicing with the right balance of technology/knowledge and common sense/experience. Can't be a Luddite, but also can't be an unquestioning fanboy of the "latest/greatest" output of medical corporate America. Constantly sorting it all out. Anyway, sorry for the thread drift. BTW, leeches still used in certain circumstances - they secrete hirudin, an anticoagulant. Uncommon, but sometimes plastic surgeons place them on/near flap reconstructions to secrete this drug locally when the patient can't receive systemic blood thinners. Sorry for the further thread drift - way too much coffee way too early. I'll stop now. And drink more coffee.

That has so many parallels with the bike industry it's not funny. Swap the leeches out with steel just to finish of the effect.