safety equipment (I fell..ouch)

Took 1/2 a second and whoops! Ice under the leaves and snow..right on my elbow..24 hours later and now it really hurts..wished i had rollerblade elbow pads, glad i didn't hit my head..Anybody use stuff to protect their elbows? Silly question i guess.

I've never worn elbow protection, but you can pick up roller blading elbow pads for a few bucks. Some tele skiers wear them to go along with the knee pads most of us wear. I've never felt the need myself.

-dave-

Lets see.... If I was wearing a helmet last year, when I went over a cliff, I probably wouldn't have broken those bones in my head, and maybe no concussion. If I had some kind of butt pad, maybe I wouldn't have broken my tail bone that time I fell on an ax handle.

Nahhh. I ain't gonna hike with all kinds of protective equipment.

I took a similar spill on my driveway last December; it all happened so fast I had no time to break the fall, and impacted squarely on my left elbow. The pain was horrific, but my orthopedic surgeon assured me there was no fracture. Here's the weird part - after the acute pain and bruise disappeared (week or so), I continued to experience severe pain anytime my elbow contacted anything (i.e. lean against an armrest, desk, etc...), and it took literally THREE months to go away. According to the ortho, this is common and caused by an inflamed bursal sack.

Needless to say I had to fight the tendency to lean against the left elbow for several months and now think about breaking out the Grivel's trodding up an icy driveway

Speaking as someone who is clumsy enough to have considered putting a "number of hikes since last injury" counter in her trip reports, I think it would be impossible to completely protect yourself from injuries on the trail. No matter how much padding I could wear, I would be bound to find a way to get hurt anyway. I just chalk it up as one of the facts of my hiking life.

I hope your elbow gets better quickly!!

-- Ivy

Thx for talking, my elbow really hurt during dinner when it just touched the table and my wife asked me what's wrong. If I told her the truth that I hurt myself on a hike, then it's all over..she da boss! Married 20 years!

10/26/03: Broke ring finger knuckle on Equinox slipping on leaves/snow about a mile from the end of the hike.
11/15/03: Tweaked knee in car accident (on way to hike)
1/19/04: Broke toe hitting wrought iron table while unpacking (3 weeks before I could hike again!)
2/14/04: Broke tailbone in 2 places, cracked sacram in Mt Willey (first hike after broken toe!!! 53 days before next hike)
6/19/04: Stress fracture of 2nd metatarsal, tibia, partial tear of two ligaments and tendon just after crossing Wassataquoik Stream on flat section of trail in BSP. Still had Davis Pond, Hamlin, and 2 days of hiking to go.

Interesting thing is that in 40 years of hiking, other than some scary falls, bumps and bruises, I had never broken a bone. I hope this is all behind me...

Hope you heal well! Definitely have that checked out!

coldfeet said:

Thx for talking, my elbow really hurt during dinner when it just touched the table and my wife asked me what's wrong. If I told her the truth that I hurt myself on a hike, then it's all over..she da boss! Married 20 years!

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Gee. I can't hide things. Couldn't hide the time I was blinded from cornea abrasions and had to be driven around for a few weeks.... Or the time I came home with a broken head, concussion, and was in bed for a week... Slowed down myh solo winter hiking a bit.. My wife is used to my injuries. I just have 'the touch' on breaking things to her.

Like the time a pedal on my bike broke... Jagged metal edge cut an artery.. blood shooting out in spurts.. ambulance to the hospital.. the usual.. After getting sewed up, I call home, not wanting to worry her.

"Hi. Pedal on my bike broke on the commute home."

"Want me to pick you up? Where are you?"

"Well, when it broke, it cut my leg a bit. I was near the hospital, so I decided to stop and let them look at it."

Now, I was doing pretty goood. Real smooth. She wasn't worried, until she asked me a question I wasn't expecting, and an honest answer kicked in before I had time to think.

"Which hospital?"

"I don't know. The ambulance didn't have any windows."

No more complaints from me!

I did an endo on my bike once, my elbow hit the tar first...it hurt when I'd lean on it for a couple of years, but I think that's because of where the boo-boo was. I whacked it again this summer when I fell while hiking and slid backwards down a big rock, but it doesn't hurt like before.

Hey coldfeet - u fall on Schunemunk by any chance? Of all the hikes I've done, almost every time I'm up on that ridge I manage to come home with a nasty bruise - must be something to do with the conglomerate rock up there.

Jethro.. yep that's where i did it! I had just helped up someone in our party get up from a fall a few minutes earlier. Excuse me for not really knowing where it happened but it wasn't on the ridge..it was going down towards the bottom (would u call that the valley?) snow covered the leaves and some ice in the shadow and that's all she wrote.. I did learn to give people in front of me room when hiking down just in case. That's why i like it when I'm at the end.. no one to slide under me and wipe me out..waiting for my frien to show me how to post pictures.. one day..

I use rollerblading elbow pads when I mountain bike. This I learned after destroying my elbow–twice! I haven't felt the need to wear them for hiking or skiing. I don't seem to fall as much doing those.
Question, though. The elbow pads say not to use them for activities other than rollerblading. Anyone out there know why?
ecc

ecc said:

Anyone out there know why?
ecc

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trees have a sixth sense. When you hit a tree, it knows if you were wearing wheels or boards on your feet. If you have wheels on, it doesn't hit you back as hard

more likely, it's those darn insurance folks acting up...

spencer

6/19/04: Stress fracture of 2nd metatarsal, tibia, partial tear of two ligaments and tendon just after crossing Wassataquoik Stream on flat section of trail in BSP. Still had Davis Pond, Hamlin, and 2 days of hiking to go.

Hi Sherpa. I just got done posting that NW basin trail is my favorite trail and I then read this post. If this is the Tracy Horse trail crossing, then that has got to be the gentlest section of trail in Baxter. Amazing! I guess nobody plans an accident.

Reminds me of my last bad accident. It was a rainy day in the Whites and I decided to have breakfast - one of those huge farmers breakfast. Being stuffed, I decided to do an easy climb up Blueberry Mt.( had never been to Evans Notch ). On top the rain stopped and sun came out. Absolutely gorgeous. A nice flat, easy walk on open ledges and then I slipped, sat on my heal ( 240 lbs. ) and heard a loud snap . Didn't break it but it took me 3 hours to hike out( only 45 mins. to hike up ). No way was I going to be littered out.

Grog: it happened right HERE. It couldn't have been an easier spot. I still loved the hike up to Davis and over Hamlin. I would have loved it more if I wasn't in such pain.

Pete - funny story!

Reminds me of my conversation with my pregnant wife while I was laid up at the hospital in Bennington after knocking myself out, totalling my car and breaking my back in an accident en route to a dayhike in the White Mtns. a few years ago.

Me: "Yeah, honey, I was in a little accident and after you put Christopher on the bus, I'd appreciate it if you could come give me a ride home."

Laura: "OK, where are you ... are you Okay?"

Me: "Yeah I'm fine. I just couldn't stop in time, had a little rear-end accident and poked a hole in my radiator. I'm over at the hospital in Bennington - they just wanted me to come in for precaution."

Laura: "Where's the car?"

Me: "Just over at a local garage. Shouldn't take too long to fix."

So I give her directions and about a minute later, the Vermont State Trooper walks in.

Trooper: "What did you tell your wife?"

Me: "I just told her I poked a hole in my radiator."

Trooper: "So you lied."

Me: "Um, yeah."

Things we tell our brides

I was walking along the side of a road, well off the pavement, enroute Prospect Hill in Waltham, a city park, when I was sideswiped by an SUV driven by an idiot on a cell phone. I distinctly recall my ass flying high over my head and ultimately landing face down, my emotions debating over whether I was more surprised or more pissed off. I stood up, stretched and regained some composure as I realized I would probably survive. However, I agreed to an evacuation as a precautionary measure lest there be any serious internal injuries.

After several exams and xrays I was released with a fractured rib (sustained, oddly, by the way I landed on my elbow), contusions and a back sprain. A friend dropped me off at home where I announced as I walked in, "Honey, you'll never guess what I did today!"

Sherpa, isn't that where the logging museum is ? I had an interesting encounter with a wild animal there. It was a fat, old chipmunk. His fur was half grey and when he looked at me his face was all white. When he sauntered away from me he was actually limping (reminded me of that old cowboy in the movies who always said dag nabbit ). That area is so gentle it is used as a retirement home for chipmunks.

I've only been hurt twice while hiking ( bleeding doesn't count ).I was at chimney pond ready to hike down when my knee just collapsed, right in front of the bunkhouse the flattest, smoothest part on all of Khatadin.

I guess the point of this thread is we could outfit ourselfs in clown suits like the motorcross riders do, but I don't think we could hike very far. We can also fall anytime, anyplace so just bring plenty of duct tape and keep on trucking.

grog said:

.... when my knee just collapsed, right in front of the bunkhouse the flattest, smoothest part on all of Khatadin.

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Nothing strange about that. Many accidents tend to happen in the easy places, since we are off guard. When doing something particularly dangerous or hard, one tends to be extra cautious. It was probably AFTER a climb (tired) rather than before one, right?