mr handy

I'm Getting ready to put together a road rash kit, for home, and that I will be able to take with me when traveling and hopefully when I start racing.
My GF's father Is a paramedic so I am going to work my connections and see what all i can get from him and save myself some money while getting the best.
My list so far is as follows

Tegaderm
Gauze
Tape
Ace bandages
Fish net sleeves
Antiseptic wash (numbing)
Antibiotic ointment
Band-Aids
Baby oil (tar removal)
Tylenol (or the like)

If anyone has any suggestions on anything to add to the list, or replace with a better product please let me know.
I am using the following link as a guideline, as well as personal experience.
https://sprinterdellacasa.blogspot.co...rash-care.html
*Edit* another article on road rash treatment thanks to heavyMetal...
https://www.bicycling.com/article/0,6...9638-1,00.html

bobthib

I get the chills just thinking about it

heavyMetal

The July issue of Bicycling had an article on how to treat road rash. In addition to your list, add baby oil or Dawn dish soap to dissolve road tar.

mr handy

Huuu? I just read my post 3 times and can't find your quote.

mr handy

Thanks, didn't think of tar...

Matt Gaunt

He means road rash and added an "I" by mistake.

I don't have a pack as such but it's probably a good idea to have something to hand just in case.

It's all about washing the road rash ASAP and getting some antiseptic cream on there for me. I think you've got most bases covered for now.

Gromit

Here is a nice little article from bikesportmichigan.com

https://www.bikesportmichigan.com/fea...roadrash.shtml

MerckxMad

Many, many boxes of non-stick absorbant bandages. Over two weeks, I wiped out CVS' stock. Tegaderm is only good for small spots.

Max Viotu

Adaptic.

StupidlyBrave 

Jameson

Non-topically, of course.

Skones MickLoud

+1




or 5

Val23708

i should have done that with my shoulder. I crashed in february and went to the ER. I thought the nurse cleaned it out ok so i just slapped some tegaderm on it and it healed over. Now i have some permanent looking long dark scars from what appears to be part of the road...

grwoolf

My experience in the ER with minor injuries has been all about speed/volume. They probably cleaned it enought to avoid infection, but might not find all foreign materials. I've got a small pebble in my cheek from a face plant over the bars when I was a kid. They removed a bunch of stuff from my face, but missed one little pebble. I can still feel it today, but you can't really see it any more.

carpediemracing 

Having written that post (the sprinterdellacasa one) long after my last fall and before this last one, I realized that it's hard to find the right Tegaderm.

For Tegaderm you want the 4"x4.5" stuff. The 2x3 or whatever gets one ding covered, not much else ($10 for 8). The 4x4.5 costs $120 for a pack of 30 at our not-so-local medical supply store, or $4 each (they sell them separately). It's the same place we got my wheelchair (rental), so it's that kind of place you need to find.

I don't know how many my wife bought but I didn't have a lot of road rash and I think I went through 2 boxes of the 2x3 and maybe 15 of the 4x4.5 pieces, maybe 20. We got a few at the hospital, the doc was nice. I can't imagine "a lot" of road rash, you'd need tons more Tegaderm.

Which brings me to the next thing... I plan on buying a 6" x 11 yard roll of Tegaderm for the Bethel Spring Series ($300-350) as the main part of my first aid kit. I just realized that they may have an expiration date so I may not do that, but I'll think about it. See if your contact can get that.

DO NOT TRY: I tried a pathetic attempt by Johnson and Johnson in a black box (looks like a big bandaid basically), $5 per 4x4.5 patch, horrible, doesn't stick to anything but flat broad surfaces like a bathroom counter. Useless for an ankle unless you double tape them and put an ankle brace on top. I'm using them on my ankle because I bought them but I wouldn't if I had any Tegaderm left. Feel like an absolute moron for buying them. Okay, fine, they'd probably work on a skinned knee on a 4 year old.

Also not really recommended: Second Skin is soothing but doesn't last, and you end up really wrinkly from moisture. I tried that too, been trying everything and anything on my ankle - 3 weeks, still painful, just stopped bleeding a day ago. Deep I guess.

The antiseptic wash with numbing stuff is key, makes it much easier to clean out wounds. Tape and gauze to protect the Tegaderm and cushion impacts/pressure (like clothing) on the wound.

Baby oil. Hm. Okay.

It's expensive to buy this in advance, but trust me, you do NOT want to be trying to find this stuff while you're bleeding through some pathetic excuse for a gauze pad that's just getting deeper into your wound. That's if you're not banged up enough to get an ambulance ride. If you are, then you're in luck, if you call it that, because the hospital will have more of the good stuff around.

A friend of mine crashed hard, and we went shopping for him while he was half dizzy with pain and drugs, pouring sweat. He passed out twice at the hospital (once in front of us - it was like watching someone pass out on TV), and it was really unpleasant having to have him wait while we drove from place to place looking for all this stuff.

On ER stuff - I agree with the "Patch'em up and roll'em out". I left the ER with an undiagnosed broken pelvis. I think part of it is that my shorts really didn't rip, hiding the road rash on my thigh, and in the realm of things it didn't hurt that much sitting on the gurney or wheelchair. Walking, though, was impossible due to excruciating pain (they wheeled me out in a wheelchair), but I didn't realize that it wasn't normal, I just thought I'd strained every muscle holding my leg to my torso. Either that or someone jammed like 30 knives around the top of my thigh. I had x-rays two days later and that's when I learned what happened.

Note: I have more posts, of me, regarding road rash care. Not for the squeamish.

Before and after - how wounds look before and after Tegaderm. I was surprised personally:
https://sprinterdellacasa.blogspot.co...-recovery.html

Using Tegaderm on my ankle wound:
https://sprinterdellacasa.blogspot.co...lustrated.html

cdr, aka sprinterdellacasa

obra3

Don't forget the surgical scrub brush. (you can also find them pretreated with iodine too)
Lots of saline solution for irrigation is also good. (numbing antiseptic is probably expensive and you probably don't get much) - irrigate then use the numbing antiseptic.
Cheap saline solution- 1 tsp. salt to 8 oz water (distilled)
Also... tincture of benzoin. Put it on the skin around the perimeter of where the tegaderm will be seated. Makes it stick better. Leave a drain area by using a q-tip and some vaseline and drawing a line out from your wound.
Adaptic is good if you have to keep the wound moist before you can do a proper cleaning/bandaging with tegaderm.

Val23708

you can usually get away with the smaller pieces of tegaderm if you do it right. first make sure you stop leaking, then you can go ahead and clean the area and tile the tegaderm.

rydaddy

I have the same thing on my chin. Only visible when I shave, but it's a grim reminder

mr handy

Thanks for all the advise guys, lots of great info in this thread so far.

I just realized I need to add a pain killer to the list... besides the whisky.

Val23708

dont forget the steel wool. i swear thats what the ER nurse used on me...

San Rensho 

Wash off with saline solution for contact lenses (NOT all in one solution), scrub with povidone-iodine (brand name Betadine). Its the stuff MD's use in ERs to clean wounds. It DOES NOT STING.

If you do the above within about 15 minutes of crashing, the road rash is still numb and you will barely feel the scrubbing out of the rash. If you wait 3 hours to have nurse Cratchett scrub it out in the ER with a brush, well, have fun. Big boys do cry.

Then, get a scrip for Silvadene cream. Its the stuff used by MDs to treat 3rd degree burns. Very soothing, keeps the skin flexible and it really lessens scarring.

Stray8

https://www.cabelas.com/p-0048462517925a.shtml



.

zvalmart

4x4 Tegaderm is available through Amazon in 50 pack boxes for about a dollar per patch.

dekindy

I researched and put together my own.
https://www.teamswift.org/userfiles/f...Rash_ToddW.doc



These are cheaper and effective.

https://www.bravesoldier.com/crash-paks.php

https://www.roadrashrepairkit.com/
https://www.bikecommuters.com/2008/01...sh-repair-kit/

https://www.tadgear.com/shop.php?id=227