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Biking Through a Bruise

03.15.2013 by Ray Niekamp // 4 Comments

My fingers next to the bruise give an idea of its size.
My fingers next to the bruise give an idea of its size.

I’m still feeling the effects of that fall I had a week ago. I’ve got the biggest bruise on my hip that I’ve ever had, and it was quite painful to start with. However, one nice aspect of our sport is that it seems to help in recovery from these kinds of injuries.

The crash was odd in that I wasn’t moving all that fast. In fact, I was just slowing to make a turn when the rear wheel slid out from under me. But the full force of the impact fell on my left hip. I must have hit the pavement a lot harder than it first seemed, because two days after the crash, I had trouble rising from a chair. It felt like the whole left torso was bruised as well, although I could find no marks.

How did I treat the big bruise? It turns out that I did everything wrong. The recommended treatment for a bruise is to stretch and ice the affected area after the workout. In my case, I felt so good after riding this week that I did nothing except shower. For pain, acetaminophen is the recommended treatment — not ibuprofen. I gobbled ibuprofen two or three times a day.

Sitting for awhile, while watching TV, exacerbated the pain. Moving eased it. Except for Sunday, the day after the crash, I have been on the bike every day — sometimes pushing myself to climb a small hill a little bit faster, or do some intervals. Without fail, I felt better once I got home.

In one regard, I was lucky. I wasn’t bruised anywhere that came into contact with the bike. So when I ride, I feel like a normal person. It’s only after I’ve been stationary for an hour or more that pain becomes a problem.

Bruises heal themselves in seven to 10 days. My bruise is still impressive, in terms of the area it covers, but I can tell the coloring is already starting to fade. I expect to be back to normal in another couple of days. But in the meantime, I think I’ve healed a little faster by exercising those muscles under the bruise than I would have if I’d done nothing.

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Categories // crash, Injury Tags // crash, Injury

Biker’s Elbow

04.10.2012 by Ray Niekamp // 10 Comments

For the last few weeks, I’ve been dealing with some minor pain. It started on the LBJ 100 ride, I think. The day after the hilly metric century, I experienced some soreness in my left elbow when I went out for an easy recovery ride. It’s not a big deal, but it is a noticeable twinge.

I thought it might have something to do with the way I held my arms during the long ride. Maybe I was pushing the elbows too far out for help on the hills. I noticed that if I kept my elbows in, the soreness went away.

I hadn’t realized it before, but I have Biker’s Elbow. No, although I capitalized it, that’s not its real name. It’s called “lateral epicondylitis.” You might know it better as “tennis elbow.” The American Association for Hand Surgery (Yes, it’s a real organization) says despite the name, most people who have tennis elbow have never played tennis. And if you want to get into the medical minutia, lateral epicondylitis is considered a form of tendonitis — but it isn’t really, because it doesn’t involve inflammation. It’s considered more a mechanical problem related to degeneration of the tendon that passes over a bony protrusion on the elbow.

What causes it? Repetitive motion. Any activities that repeatedly stress the same forearm muscles can cause symptoms, according to the orthopedic-oriented website, Orthogate. So besides swinging a tennis racquet, such things as running a chain saw, or using a paint roller can have similar results.

Now, cyclists don’t repeat motions much. Their hands are mostly on the brake hoods or in the drops. But it turns out that gripping can cause the same kinds of pain. Again, according to Orthogate, “When you bend your wrist back or grip with your hand, the wrist extensor muscles contract. The contracting muscles pull on the extensor tendon. The forces that pull on these tendons can build when you grip things.”

Treatment is simple in simple cases like mine: rest. (Duh.) Aspirin or ibuprofen should help. If it’s more serious, you’d better be talking to a doctor, because then treatment will involve everything from stretching exercises to physical therapy to, in extreme cases, surgery. Most disturbing was this advice from the Hand Surgery website: “It is recommended that activities that aggravate the symptoms are limited.” What, no biking? No way!

Since the LBJ ride, I’ve felt that twinge in my elbow on every ride. But on every ride there’s less of it. On today’s after-work quick 15 miles, I felt it once, moved my arm a little bit, and didn’t feel it any more. Knock wood, but I think the situation is under control. But you can be sure that I’ll be very aware of how tightly I grip the handlebars from here on out.

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Categories // Injury, soreness Tags // Injury, soreness

Riding Away A Saddle Sore

03.13.2012 by Ray Niekamp // 2 Comments

Last week, while I was not riding because of my head cold, I developed a bad saddle sore. How could that happen? Well, I assume I contracted it during that metric century I did on my birthday. After all, it was my longest ride of the year by far, and there was probably some rubbing going on down there. But I wasn’t bothered during the ride. Or after the ride. It was only as the following week wore on that I realized I had a problem. Even walking was painful.

I took a look, and sure enough, there it was — only bigger than saddle sores I’ve had in the past. Typically, they’re about the size of a pimple. But this one was el zitto supremo! I waited for it to diminish, and even got two extra days for that to happen when my Friday and Saturday rides got rained out.

On Sunday though, my wife wanted to ride. I was leery about going with the saddle sore, but I threw caution to the winds and joined her for a nice 16-miler. The ride was comfortable for me. I felt no rubbing, no soreness. Nothing like I’ve gone through in the past when I’ve ridden with saddle sores.

Back home, I found the sore had almost disappeared. Just that one ride took care of it.

I’m baffled as to why. I’m guessing that it must have popped during the ride, but I would think that that would make it even worse because rubbing would aggravate it. So I’m not entirely sure what went on, but I’m glad it did. Today’s 25-miler went off without a hitch.

I think I’ll still be careful about riding with saddle sores in the future, but at least I know now that riding with those little buggers won’t necessarily knock me off the bike for several days.

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Categories // Injury Tags // saddle sore

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