First aid and unicycling

Ottawa Dave said:

I'm woundering how many of you have first aid training and carry a kit
when your rideing?

My first aid kit comprises a roll of sports tape. That's it, except
for items that may be creatively used for improvised purposes (can you
sling a dislocated shoulder with a MUni tire?). Short of bigger
equipment (e.g. SAM splint), I can't think of other items that are
useful enough to be worth carrying.

Quoted message said:

Would you know what to do if your friend was out cold or cut badly?

Out cold is a serious situation. I'd check for respiration and
position my friend for safety if necessary and send for help.

Cut badly, I'd clean the wound with water (thorough rinsing is as good
as ointments), close it with tape, torn T-shirt, strap from Camelbak,
etc. Then assist back for help. Judgement is required, for severe
cases I'd assess whether moving the friend might make matters worse
than the delay caused by going for help.

Ken

Yesterday on the trail, Jess Riegel had occasion to dig into his Jack
Hughes' "Ouch Pouch." A handy little thing to have I'm sure, though I
don't know what's in it. Jess had taken a hard fall onto some pointy
rocks here (two bottom pix):
http://www.unicycling.com/muni/muni97/sunpm.htm
One or two of the rocks seemed to do what they're always so good at,
found the gap between two of the pads in his 661s and gave him a nice
cut on his upper shin (and a bruise on his knee). Nobody wants to finish
a day of riding with a cut under their pads. Fortunately the Ouch Pouch
had at least one band-aid in there, to keep the friction away from the
cut!

A small first aid kit is a real good idea for trail riding, especially
if your trails include sharp rocks like ours do. I'm not sure what
belongs in there, but band-aids and tape make a good start.

--
johnfoss - More Moab Fun

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This is interesting lots of looks but not many comments.
Lets build a kit, we have - tape
- bandaides
I'll add - triangle bandges
there good for slinging arms,
suporting dislocated shoulders
and splinting stuff.
Also a tick puller for Memphis Mud

--
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I'm going to align with Ken Cline here... a roll of tape can be used in
most non-critical situations, along with a little "MacGyver" type
ingenuity. I have a small kit in the car, but it doesn't need to come
with me on the trail...

If it bleeds, tape it. If skin's missing, one can improvise a band-aid
with tape. If something's dislocated, tape it. If something
non-critical is broken, sling it with a t-shirt and tape it. The
alcohol swab / neosporin / gauze is in the truck, usually no more than
an hour away...

Of course, if an injury is serious then one must stabilize the victim
and seek professional help, but my riding partners and I always wear
lots of protective gear when we do any sort of serious riding... it's
highly unlikely anyone would get knocked out cold with a good snug
helmet, and some degree of "knowing one's limits"... we're on unicycles,
ferchrissakes, it's nearly impossible to get going very fast!

The only time I find myself pushing my limits is during urban trials
riding... in this setting I usually see a police officer / paramedic /
fire truck passing by every 15 mins. or so; I'm never worried about
finding help.

I realize a good Boy Scout is always prepared for any situation, but a
good Muni Scout knows how to pack light and ride fast 🙂

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Super Glue! The stuff works wonders in closing wounds. I ripped my
scalp with a low branch while on a gentle urban jaunt and avoided a day
of my vacation and gads of emergency room expenses by simplying gluing
the 2 inch, to the skull, tear in my head. Since I'm bald the fact that
there was no scar adds to the benifits of Super Glue.

Tommy

--
Tmornstar - Grandmaster 2T

Tommy Thompson
[email hidden] (No PMs. please)
Memphis Unicycle Club
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I carry a first aid kit in a SPAM shaped tupperware(which fits nicely in
my Camelbak. I basically took a small first aid kit and organised it to
fit in the SPAM container. It's got band-aids of all sizes, gause, some
medical tape, iodine and saline pads, little scissors and all sorts of
junk for nearly every injury you could recieve on the trail...

Oh, and I am certified in CPR...

--
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I carry a basic 'mini first aid kit' (http://tinyurl.com/9pf9q) by
Johnson & Johnson. I put a few extras in there. It's mostly band aids
and antiseptic. I need to add some tweezers but I keep forgetting. I
could remember right now and walk over to the 24 hour Walgreens about
two blocks away before I forget again. Tweezers would be handy. I've
gotten splinters while out riding and it would be handy to be able to
pull them out.

:: me goes out and walks over to Walgreens ::

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First Aid Kit

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What can you fix with a seat post? 😄

--
johnfoss - More Moab Fun

John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
"jfoss" at "unicycling.com" -- www.unicycling.com

"Read the rules!" -- 'IUF Rulebook'
(http://www.unicycling.org/iuf/rulebook/) -- 'USA Rulebook'
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I carry about 18 inches of duct tape folded up into a square. I tuck
mine in the belt loop of the multi-tool I carry in my camelback. And on
girl scout trips I give a square to each of the chaperones. They're in
my car, in coat pockets, first-aid kits... They take up no room at
all.

It makes pretty good band-aids. Also, still that wobbly seat, cover that
blister, fix those broken glasses, patch that hole in canoe, keep that
broken spoke from flopping around, make emergency shoelaces, chin
straps, strap sticks around a broken ankle, make a headband strap for a
kneck injury (careful here, best answer is send for help, don't move
victim), ...

I've actually used it for everything in the above paragraph exept the
broken ankle or injured neck (but I'm ready).

We're talking "get you out of the woods" fixes. Emergency repair not
permanent.

Greatest little tool kit out there. Won't fix everything, but more than
most or its size. Diminsions: 1-1/2" x 1-1/2" x 1/8"

Designer colors available too. (I use red or grey mostly)

--
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"winter in peanut butter comes turquoise" -Greg Harper
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I've got a little first aid kit, which I've never really used other than
for plasters. I generally work on the basis that it'll be easier to sort
an injury (minor cut) out straight away rather than bleeding all over my
clothes. Blood's a bugger to wash out.

Just a thought with tape - is that not potentially really painful wen
you come to tear the tape off? Could that not make any wound worse?

As a final note, those antiseptic wipes are pants for disenficting
anything, they just make it look nice. You want a high pressure jet of
water. Roll up a camelback, point at the cut and squeeze.

John

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johnhimsworth said:

*Just a thought with tape - is that not potentially really painful wen
you come to tear the tape off? Could that not make any wound worse?*

One can improvise a pain-free bandage by placing a small square of tape
upside-down over the wound before taping the area. This will ensure the
adhesive does not come in contact with a sensitive area.

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My friend acctaully wrapped duct tape all around his cut leg. He ended
up waiting untill it finally fell off by itself.

--
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Ottawa Dave said:

*Would you know what to do if your friend was out cold or cut badly?
*

I would immediately search them for a wallet and other valuables. Then,
I would leave them there (always stay in the same place so someone can
find you) and cover my tracks as well as possible. Hopefully, they would
remain unconscious long enough for me to come up with a suitable alibi.

--
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-Greg Harper

B L U E S H I F T

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maestro8 said:

*One can improvise a pain-free bandage by placing a small square of
tape upside-down over the wound before taping the area. This will
ensure the adhesive does not come in contact with a sensitive area. *

*ding*

It takes this sort of reasoning to be able to use duct tape for every
emergency. Where there's duct tape, there's a way.

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johnfoss said:

*What can you fix with a seat post? 😄 *

it's what's inside the seatpost that counts.

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harper said:

*I would immediately search them for a wallet and other valuables.
Then, I would leave them there (always stay in the same place so
someone can find you) and cover my tracks as well as possible.
Hopefully, they would remain unconscious long enough for me to come up
with a suitable alibi. *

Ya just gotta love thinking outside the box😉

--
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maestro8 said:

Quoted message said:

*Just a thought with tape - is that not potentially really painful wen
you come to tear the tape off? Could that not make any wound worse?*

One can improvise a pain-free bandage by placing a small square of tape
upside-down over the wound before taping the area. This will ensure the
adhesive does not come in contact with a sensitive area.

That's one good solution.

I've never had a problem treating minor cuts and scrapes with sports
tape. The adhesive is strong, but the temporary pain of tearing out
hair is usually the biggest problem.

For deep wounds, you can tear the tape into thin strips or butterfly
bandage shapes to hold the skin together while still leaving most of
the area untaped. Other items can be use as absorbent padding over
that and taped in place for light compression.

A product I highly, HIGHLY recommend is Spenco 2nd Skin moist burn
pads, which can be taped over cuts, abrasions, burns, blisters,
etc. to pad, protect, and speed healing. I don't carry these in my
own unicycling kit because I don't tend to ride far from civilization
(typically no more that 2-3 hours) and can re-bandage when I get off
the trail. It is a staple in my climbing first aid kit. 2nd Skin
plus athletic tape can patch road rash so well all you notice is the
tape tugging on your skin as the injury heals underneath.

Ken

my muni 1st aid kit genneraly has most of the following at the start
of a ride.
sterile dressing/s with bandage attached
sterile dressing pad/s (no bandage)
antiseptic wipes ( good for cleaning up leaking blood so you don;t scare
the natives)
roll of PVC tape (to hold on any dressing under muni conditions, or tape
fingers together or fix other things)
some steri strips for pulling together gashes.
water sterilisation tablets
trianglular bandage
tampon (its a good sterile plug for gun shot wounds)
Anti histimine cream or spray (Paul and I both react badly to horse fly
bites)

The thing that gets used the most is the tape and dressing pads
I've never yet had to plug a gunshot wound, but you never can tell whos
around the corner. the tiny tiny kit that lives in my back pack for day
to day commuting only has a dressing, some plasters and a wipe.

Sarah

--
sarah.miller - SWUM unicyclist

South West Unicycle Meet
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