Two weeks ago I fell off a mountain bike at penshurst off road cycling.
Something I didn't spot straight away was that I manged to pick up a puncture. I got that sorted straight away. It cost me £8.50 for a new inner tube (apparently it has gel inside that helps if I get another puncture) plus another £8 labour charge for the bike shop to put it together.
A few days after the crash, I though it would be wise to have the hand looked at by a professional. So I went to Sevenoaks minor injuries unit. I was seen very quickly and the nurse diagnosed my hand as being bruised and that I would have to let it heal naturally. The nurse was also kind enough to remove a splinter that I must have picked up during my journey through the brambles.
When I am not using the hand it feels completely normal, but as soon as I try to do something I get quite an intense pain just between the thumb and wrist area. Things that hurt are; picking Matilda up; pulling up the handbreak in the car or changing gear into reverse, 5th and 6th gears; chopping onions etc..; picking up my laptop... you get the idea.
Last weekend (25 August) it hurt so much that I felt that I couldn't drive to Riddlesdown for my weekly parkrun fix where I was supposed to be volunteering and had to pull out at the last minute. Thankfully the volunteers are very committed and my absence didn't cause any great trouble for the event itself.
Some further advice I have recieved suggests that this could go on for months (or longer). Thankfully I didn't injure and of my essential running parts - that really would have been hard to deal with.
Once the pain has completely gone I am going to get straight back on the bike, but I think my choice of terrain might be a little less extreme in future!
Steve.
