Cornchips

I've had a pretty good run on my bike...until now. Recently I was riding along and moved to get out of the way of a parked car when my front tyre got caught in tram tracks (here in Melbourne, Australia) and I got slung off the bike, with my right shoulder taking pretty much all of the fall. I went to the hospital the next day and got the "all-clear" - no broken bones, just probable soft tissue damage that should sort itself out within a week. I was really surprised with the diagnosis as upon entering the hospital, it kind of felt as though I had broke my collar bone and about 3 ribs. "Must just be getting soft in my old age" I mused to myself as I left in a temporary makeshift sling. But when the pain become unbearable at work, and found myself unable to lift anything over my head, I decided to see a Doctor who ordered an ultrasound. The ultrasound, or more specifically, another x-ray of me bearing weight, revealed a sublaxed shoulder, or Grade II AC joint separation. Now, can I not only not lift anything above my head or move my arm with ease across my body, but am looking at 6 weeks off work. I'm now 17 days into my recovery and am wondering of its going to get any better. Apparently a Grade II tear doesn't warrant surgery, so I've just been RICE-ing up, but progress has been slow...it still hurts.

So what about you? What's the worst injury you've sustained while cycling?

mstateglfr 

Last summer I was the flat of a rural highway and as a car passed(gave me a ton of room), it honked for some insane and unknown reason. That caused me to look back at what the honk was for and right as I turned forward my front wheel hit a frost-heave in the road at a slight angle(from me turning around, I assume). The wheel turned from hitting the bump, my front end went out, and I went down hard on my left side.

I broke 3 ribs, dislocated my clavicle, couldnt breathe normally for a few weeks, and had an xray because I thought I broke my hip since I could barely walk for so long. Ruined a jersey and some bibs, obviously. Oh, and a subsequent car ran over my glasses which was super annoying at the time.

Crazy odd incident. I have ridden over that frost-heave dozens of times without incident. The car game me a ton of room as it passed...why did it feel the need to honk?

bruce19

Broke my neck. Had C1 and C2 fused.

JohnDThompson 

I've had grade III AC separations in both my shoulders, and a pneumothorax (aka "collapsed lung") as a result of separate bike accidents. Stuff happens.

GhostRider62

TWA airlines scratched the downtube on my 1972 Masi.

10 Wheels

16 mph head crash on the grass when I hit a pipe that had fell off a truck.
Emergency Brain Surgery to stop a brain bleed.

GhostRider62

Last September, massive road debris post storm coming over a rise into a downhill corner got me a fractured trochanter, 5 ribs, collarbone, shoulder blade, humerus broke 3 ways, distal end of humerus at elbow broke shattered in 5 pieces. Surgeon had to cut my ulnar bone in two pieces to access the elbow. Put me back together. 3 plates, one 5-6 inch long lag bolt, wires, and about 25 nails and screws. They also put some cadaver bone in.

I rode again on day 29. (Just to be a hard arsh)

_ForceD_

While rolling along about 16mph on the broad shoulder of a road with steady traffic that was fortunately traveling just bit faster than me on the bike, a car made a RIGHT turn directly in front of me, and he didn’t have his turn signal on (this is in the U.S. where cars drive on the RIGHT side of the road). My left arm caught the side view mirror as I collided with the car’s right front fender. My front wheel “taco’d” (that was the only damage to the bike) and I flew off the bike, across the hood, and landed on pavement on the far side. My helmet had the marks to show that I hit my head on the pavement when I landed. I never felt that. Fortunately my only injuries were a minor contusion on my left arm where it hit the side view mirror, and a slight bit of road rash. As luck would have it, there was a cop just a couple cars back that witnessed the incident. The driver was cited for failing to signal his turn, and his insurance paid for my front wheel replacement.

Dan

Lambkin55

I have lots of spills over the years but the one that had the most affect on my life...

Riding over a wooden decked bridge on a frosty fall day. I hit the bridge deck concrete abutment joint that had a steel plate covering. The steel was slick as ice and down I went. I tore some ligaments and tendons in my right wrist.
I am right handed and make my living with my hands. I was out of work for 10 days.

delbiker1 

I have been fortunate and have never had a serious crash or injury while cycling. I have had bumps, bruises, road rash, etc., but the worst was a bad contusion, probably the worst and ugliest ever for me, at my outer right hip from a slow speed fall. I just started going up a short, steep incline and did not see the wet surface in the shade. My rear wheel slid out and It happened so fast I was down before any chance of reacting. I landed directly on my right hip. I took a bit of time to assess the damage, and then continued. It was painful and really sore for a couple of weeks after, but surely not that bad.

jaxgtr

Broken shoulder after a rider in front of me in a paceline suddenly slammed on the brakes versus changing gears and I ended up vaporizing my shoulder. 5 operations and almost 2 total years of PT to completely fix it.

rumrunn6

https://www.bikeforums.net/pills-ill...nt-sprain.html

Juan Foote

Worst injury was on a BMX. I was at a practice the day before a race. I was told some tips about timing the start gate and light, jumped it just too soon and caused it to lock. I went over the handlebars and landed directly on my right elbow and chin. The lucky aspect was that I had JUST borrowed a friends chin strap/guard, so I didn't lose any teeth or break my jaw. The unlucky was that it broke my elbow into three pieces right at the joint and left a small fragment in the joint. I had to drive a stick home and my right arm had no solidity to it at all. I was in such shock that I barely noticed. I had a couple of surgeries and was in a cast and sling for about two years. I wasn't supposed to be able to use my right elbow more than a few degrees. I just yanked on it back and forth until it freed up enough ROM for me to be satisfied with it. Hurts like hell every day.

Of honorable mention:
I was riding down a road on my way to work and had a guy throw a boiled egg at me. I went off into a ditch and was nearly impaled on the leftovers of trees and shrubs that had recently been bush hogged. I got run off the road/almost hit by a redneck that I had a disagreement with. I probably should not have hung a bird inside his window right in front of his sister wifes face...
The most recent I was riding along Peachtree St in Atlanta and as we were riding over a short section with trolley tracks, got my tire caught and went down hard on my hip. I have had back issues since. Haven't done any significant riding in town since either.

Rdmonster69

Not biking related but I am fused from C-O to C-3. As for biking I was messing around on my old MTB with a buddy and zipped up a curb. Caught the front tire in a gap between the sidewalk and a front yard. Got thrown down wicked hard and fully separated my A/C joint , grade 3. My shoulder now looks weird with a hump where my clavicle sticks up and that joint is particularly weak in a few directions...like my elbow on the ground and propping myself up. Other than that it sounds like a bag of gravel but no functionality issues. My orthopedic surgeon who fixed my leg wanted a crack at it but I said no thanks !!

Also broke 2 ribs in the same wreck. I've broke so many ribs over the years its not even funny....and my sternum in a MC accident. I hope this crap is behind me because I am getting too old for it.

Rolla

Dirt jumping on an outlaw BMX track in 1986. Broken ankle in three places with a pulverized bone. Still have the plate and screws installed!

Retro Grouch 

I've had my share of broken bones and concussions. I'm going to rate as my worst injury both elbows broken resulting from a collusion with my 10 year old grandson. That was 10 or 12 years ago.

The physical injuries themselves weren't so serious, but I had psychological trauma that lasted for years.

indyfabz

Split the end of my collar bone when someone in front of me kicked up a stick and it locked up my front wheel. Totally freak accident. The little stick lodged between the outside of the rim and the inside of the brake caliper, parallel to the ground. Wish I had saved the photo someone took after I was loaded into the ambulance.

The rest of the group hid my bike in the woods behind a house the was vacant and in foreclosure. The GF came back to get it after finishing the ride.

Daniel4

Back on 1982 or 1983. After a shift at my weekend job at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Gastown, Vancouver. I got back on my bike and rode around at the back behind the parking lots along the railroad track to get to the parking lot at the end of Granville Street. Well, I slipped on the gravel and had a deep cut on my left elbow. Needed seven stitches.

downtube42

I'm waiting for a software built to get done, so here's my assessment thus far in the competition:

1. Brain bleed - 10 Wheels
2. Broken neck; C1 C2 fuse - bruce19
3. Broken neck; C3 fracture - downtube42
4. Lots 'O shattered stuff - Ghostrider62
5. Broken elbow x 2 - Retro Grouch
6. Broken elbow - Juan Foote
7. Split collar bone - indyfabz
8. Pulverized ankle bone - Rolla
9. Broken Shoulder - jaxgtr
10. Torn ligaments and tendons - Lambkin55
11. AC separateions and collased lung - JohnDThompson
12. AC Joint Separation - Rdmonster69
13. AC Joint Separation - Cornchips
14. AC Joint Sprain - rumrunn6
15. Broken ribs & dislocated clavicle - mstateglfr
16. Cut elbow - Daniel4
17. Road rash - delbiker1

Feel free to debate my unilateral and uninformed results.

downtube42

On further thought, mstateglfr might be rated a bit low; broken ribs.

spelger

WTF? is this a rubber necking thread?

Sojodave

I got t-boned by a car doing 45 and I flew 50 feet.(Wow dad, you must have flown 50 feet, that's nothing to be proud of Rusty...50 FEET!...Vacation Reference) Broke my tibia, fibula, left shoulder, and my helmet came off and got 14 stitches in my head with an awesome concussion.

Kabuki12

I went over the handlebars in 2018 , fortunately I had a helmet on so no concussion . I broke my left hand metacarpal, my orbital bone in the left side of my face, and cheek bones in four different places. Basically had loose bones floating around in the left side of my face. I buried the bar end shifter into my right thigh and LOTS of road rash and had to spend the day in the hospital. No surgery , just had to wait 3 months for the bones to grow back together before I could ride. Not near as bad as some of you but enough to shake me up a bit.

thumpism 

Been lucky on bikes, mostly. Worst I can recall is having a foot slip off a wet rubber pedal while delivering papers many decades ago and landing full force (and then some, it felt like) on the top tube. I'm sure I've felt worse in my life but that one stays with me.

MNebiker

The list makes you wonder why we still ride!

Having ridden all my life I got the usual amount of bruises and road rash, but nothing remotely serious until at 81 I broke two ribs after a little old lady crowded me into a bridge rail. (long story . . . ) Really loved the sympathetic medical care: "It will hurt for two weeks, suck it up. Here's a scrip for some Vicodin."

But I do vividly remember a time as a teen when I took a short cut into our back yard off the alley. Unfortunately the route went under the clothesline and one line was sagging. I hit me under the chin, stopped me and swung me up - and somehow I wasn't smart enough to let go of the bike. Then the line snapped and dropped me astride the top rail. No lasting injury but my memory agrees with thumpism.