Prevention
The best thing you can do about injuries caused by crashing is to crash as little as possible. It’s not possible to completely remove the risk unless you want to only ride on your indoor turbo trainer. But there are a few things you can do to increase your safety on the road.
Bike handling: Gradually and safely build up your bike handling skills, especially on wet roads, gravel, and steep descents. Adjust your speed to the current conditions.
Bike maintenance: Do regular maintenance and check your brakes before every ride.
Staying predictable and visible: When riding on roads and in traffic, wear high visibility clothing and signal when changing direction. Stay alert and don’t assume drivers always see you.
Headphones: If you want to listen to music or podcasts on your rides, use bone-conducting headphones that don’t block your hearing.
Road rash
Crashing doesn’t have to mean a trip to the hospital. Many crashes happen at low speeds and don’t cause major harm. If you ride clipless pedals, you know that it’s not impossible to crash at 0 km/h while waiting for a green light. The good thing is that most of these smaller crashes only leave you with one, very common type of injury, a road rash.
Road rash is an abrasion caused by your skin sliding across the pavement in a crash. It can be mild or severe, depending on the speed and force of your fall and the extent of skin contact with the surface. It can be quite painful but you can usually get up and get home on your own. The main risk with this type of injury is infection due to the open wound that can be easily contaminated. How to treat road rash?
Clean: Thoroughly clean the affected area with mild soap and water to remove any dirt and foreign objects. Apply an antiseptic solution after to prevent infection.
Cover: Put a sterile bandage or non-stick dressing over the wounded area to keep it clean and moist.
For more severe cases of road rash where a large portion of your body is affected, or if there are signs of infection, it’s important to seek medical attention.
Contusions and bruises
Crashes that happen at moderate to high speeds and result in you hitting the ground with a bit more force typically leave you with contusions and bruises. They typically occur on the hips, thighs, arms, and shoulders as a result of bleeding under the skin.
To treat this type of injury at home, apply ice to the affected area for 10-15 minutes every few hours to reduce swelling and rest and elevate the bruised area when possible. It’s important to consider whether to seek medical attention. Do so if you also have severe pain and swelling, limited range of motion, numbness, or bruising over vital areas such as abdomen, chest, or back.
Fractures
Fractures are every cyclist’s nightmare, unfortunately, cracking or breaking a bone does happen, especially when crashing at high speeds. Some of the most common locations for cycling fractures are at the collarbone and wrist. If you suspect a fracture, it’s crucial to seek immediate medical attention. Correct diagnosis and appropriate treatment are essential for ensuring the best possible outcome and minimizing long-term complications. Try to immobilize the affected area as best as you can until you’re in the hands of medical personnel.
Head injuries
There’s nothing more serious than a head injury when crashing a bike. They can range from mild concussions to severe traumatic brain injuries. If you hit your head during a fall, seek medical attention, even if you feel fine. Symptoms of a concussion may include dizziness, nausea, headaches, confusion, or even loss of consciousness.
Hitting your head can be life-threatening even at slow-speed crashes, if you’re not wearing a helmet. This is exactly why the best prevention is wearing a helmet every time you go cycling. If you want the highest level of protection, consider a helmet with MIPS technology. MIPS, multi-directional impact protection system, is a patented technology designed to address rotational forces that can occur during certain types of impacts common in cycling accidents.
Hopefully you never have to deal with more than a mild road rash as a result of crashing a bike. But even if that’s the case, there are a lot of other types of injuries you should know about as a cyclist. Thankfully, there’s a lot you can do to prevent those. More on that in the next article.
