# Hit a tree; with leg absorbing all the impact.



## danzo

Hello fellow boarders,

So I've successfully popped my snowboard injury cherry. 

I was ripping through some glades (Blue Mountain) which had some sweet berms and pumps (for downhillers in the summer). It was my first time on this section and with the powdery conditions, I got overly confident and hit a few berms at full speed... which ultimately lead me to over shooting a turn and going right into a tree. 

I was on my toe side (goofy) when I overshot it and my right leg collided into the tree. The impact spun me around the tree into a twirl which ended up bruising my left hamstring also in the process. I sat up and knew right away my leg was done, after about 10 minutes, I limped out on to the nearest groomed trail, tried to down but noticed my leg had no strength left so ended up on heal side the whole way down. 

After sitting in the lodge for about an hour, my leg started to ache, so I called for ski patrol. He did some tests to make sure it wasn't a break and told me that if it was a break, I'd be in excruciating pain, atleast in more pain then what I had at the time which was like a 5 to 6, maybe less since I have a low pain threshold. 

A few hours later, I finally got up and realized I could barely walk. Couldn't apply any pressure to my right leg, atleast without keeping my leg perfectly straight. Took me like 30 minutes to get to the parking lot.

Anyways, I haven't had a chance to go to the hospital yet, its been 1 day. The aching is gone but I get a sharp pain in the muscle that took the impact when I try to use it, e. g. walking. There is still some swelling above my knee thats preventing me from bending my knee too much also. 

About to take some ibuprofen, hoping it helps. I will be making way to the hospital tomorrow and a little worried as I've never sustained an injury that has prevented me from walking before. 

Just wondering if anyone else has had this happen before or something similar?


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## Donutz

Go the fuck to the hospital.


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## Bretfred

What donutz said.You can't walk and you think ibproufen is going to help? Better eat the whole bottle. Dont really do that youll die.


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## Aw3bb

Donutz said:


> Go the fuck to the hospital.


Wanna ride next year or are you over it?


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## East§ide

yea, you need to go to the hospital ASAP. sounds like you did some serious shit to your leg. anytime "twirling" after impact is involved, swelling above the knee, etc., theres a good chance you really screwed some stuff up in there.


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## fairgame

I did the same thing 7 weeks ago. I ride regular so I took the impact on my left leg right above the boot.
I walked around and ended up riding down the rest of the run, albeit in some pain. I assumed if I was able to ride down and it wasn't excruciating pain, nothing was broken...wrong!
The impact snapped my fibula. 
Doc ended up not casting it as it is a non weight bearing bone and said to stay off it for a couple of weeks and that my season was probably over. 
He also told me not to take ibuprophen as it hinders bone healing. 
If yours is broken you would probably be able to feel the bone "clicking", I certainly did.


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## vltsai

I was charging through a canyon once on a nice powder day and we were finding ourselves going through a fun little slalom. Blind corners and all! Came around a corner and saw a stump (or something) sticking out about thigh height and I tried to avoid it but couldn't - smacked it with my thigh, flipped over, had to sit down for a while cause I had a minor freakout over what had happend because my friend behind me said "Oh geeze that looked bad." Thankfully my impact shorts have these neat thigh pads which took the impact. It hurt like hell and was swollen for a bit but that was the extent of the injury. Had I not had them, might've been a little bit worse.

In your situation, I would highly consider the likelihood of a tear. Nothing broken or even fractured, but if you have a torn hamstring, that's definitely something to get checked out. That or it'll just spasm because it's bruised for a bit. Is it URGENT? No, but if you care you'll get it checked out because the doc will direct you to the right PT regimen. When he says something, treat it like the word of God. As I see it, worst-case-scenario, you're out for a couple months, but I think we typically see it as much worse in the initial stages. Take care and get well!


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## Cr0_Reps_Smit

Def get it checked out but it sounds like it may be a bone contusion. I did something similar about 5 years ago, hit a ice bump in the glades and went flying into a tree with my front thigh/femer taking the full blunt of the hit. I was in the middle of the lesson so I finished out the last 30 mins of it but I had to ride switch with ALL my weight on my switch front leg. After the lesson I had to use my board as a crutch to get back to my car since I couldn't really walk other wise. Took about a week before I was able to do anything again and about another week before it felt fine.


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## danzo

Thanks for the replies guys, I'm going there tonight to get it checked out. 

Some of you guys got me quite worried now, I'm sure there's muscle damage done (tibialis anterior, peronius, and gastrocnemius would be my guesses), to be honest I think I should've gotten dropped off at the hospital day of but I just wanted to get into my bed :x

Anyways, it's the 2nd day today, no discoloration, pain has been reduced to about 1/3, swelling is roughly the same, if not less. 

I'll post an update when I get back, not gonna try to walk on it until I get it checked out.


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## danzo

Just got back from the hospital; diagnosis was a fracture to my fibula. 

Luckily everything is in line so 4 to 6 weeks off the leg should be suffice without a cast. 

Epsom bathes, maintain toe movement, minimize pressure on leg, keep an eye on the swelling, and a visit to an orthopedic to double check my recovery down the road. 

My first set of crutches; is it normal to feel cool using them? 

Note to self: although trees don't move, they can still be dangerous creatures.


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## Varza

Bretfred said:


> What donutz said.You can't walk and you think ibproufen is going to help? Better eat the whole bottle. Dont really do that youll die.


Actually, it takes a lot more ibuprofen than a whole bottle to kill someone </nerd> 

OP, that sucks, but at least it wasn't any worse. Trees (on the other hand), are very likely to kill when approached the wrong way. Nasty creatures. But yeah, take good care of that leg! And avoid them trees in the future


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## Donutz

Glad it wasn't worse.

And watch out for the trees that DO move and sound like John Rhys-Davies.


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## Tarzanman

I am going to blame the OP for his own injury. The only reason you got hurt by that tree is because you haven't been training properly!

This is how a properly trained athlete deals with a tree....

Muay Thai Fighter chops down tree with kicks - YouTube

YoU sHoUlD bE pRaCtIcInG yOuR aRt!

nuff said!


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## TheNorminator

Tarzanman said:


> I am going to blame the OP for his own injury. The only reason you got hurt by that tree is because you haven't been training properly!
> 
> This is how a properly trained athlete deals with a tree....
> 
> Muay Thai Fighter chops down tree with kicks - YouTube
> 
> YoU sHoUlD bE pRaCtIcInG yOuR aRt!
> 
> nuff said!


:laugh::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## BoardWalk

Get it checked out. Quite a few years back I stuck my foot in a hole during an MX race, didn't think much of it even though it hurt all week. The following week I went down in a mud race and the tibia blew up which also broke the fibula. At the hospital they said I must have actually had a spiral break the week before because it xray showed signs of the bone healing. Pain is a warning sign, don't ignore it.


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## glaucon

Lesson learned for everyone: breaks hurt less than you think they should (although in Kevin Ware's case it probably hurt about as much as it looked like it did). 

Never trust anyone who says you'd be in excruciating pain if it was a break. The last time someone said that to me, my elbow was broken. The second to last time someone said that to me, my wrist was broken. Both times, I continued to snowboard for several hours after the injuries.


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## neni

Tarzanman said:


> I am going to blame the OP for his own injury. The only reason you got hurt by that tree is because you haven't been training properly!
> 
> This is how a properly trained athlete deals with a tree....
> 
> Muay Thai Fighter chops down tree with kicks - YouTube
> 
> YoU sHoUlD bE pRaCtIcInG yOuR aRt!
> 
> nuff said!


I'd like to see him doing that with a nice 200 years old fir...


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## danzo

Lol! 

Here I was thinking squats were suffice.

Well, it will be 4 weeks tomorrow, and I'm walking in pretty much full swing now. Still got some pains lingering in the muscles when I apply certain stresses but the doc said that'd be a part of the rehab process. 

Going for xrays in a couple weeks to deal double check the fracture. 

All in all, it has been quite the experience. Found that Epsom eucalyptus bathes helped relax the muscles and eating at least 2 bananas a day helped ease the muscle cramps. 

Sad that the season is over, but the sun is out! Was nice to pull my summer mountain slayer out the closet today


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## pdxrealtor

Nice bike. Watch out for those trees!


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## mhaas

Yesterday I couldnt make a turn tight enough while riding some really heavy snow and I actually cut in half/exploded a 2 inch thick aspen that was thankfully dead and rotten. It was terrifying and empowering at the same time. Snowboards have edges all the was around for a reason. Keep them sharp!!


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## fairgame

Just a heads up, so you're not too disappointed, when i went back for the follow up X-Ray I was expecting to see some real progress/healing...that wasn't the case. I was pretty bummed when I saw that it looked almost exactly the same as it did the first time. All you will probably see is a small "cloud" around the break; blood and calcium starting to form. Sure, it's healing, but I was not at all expecting to see. 
It felt well enough after 8 weeks to get back out, though. I rode the last two weekends the mountain here was open...as long as it was groomed everything was good, when it turned to slush and got choppy, that's when it started to hurt. Needless to say, I was sore for a couple of days after, but all is good now. Good luck!


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## Csanto23

I hate when people say if it broke you'd be in excruciating pain. 

So far that's never been the case with me at all. That night it hurts the worse, but the adrenaline keeps the pain away for a good bit of time. 

Fibula is no big deal, believe it or not I was walking again in 2 weeks. Its a 10% weight bearing bone.


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## Weasley

I had a very similar experience as you did. I was just riding through some powder and there was a tree trunk sticking out but it was buried under the snow so i couldnt see it. Pretty much I rode into it and the log hit me right above my knee so i wrapped my body around it and then started flipping. I had no idea what happened. I was just riding and the next thing i know i was flipping head over heels. When i finally stopped i was upsidedown in a tree well and my leg felt like it was on fire. I unstrapped and stood up on my good leg and my lower leg from the knee down of the leg that hit the tree was just pivoting from side to side without any control over it. I could feel the joints moving around and i thought i dislocated my knee or something. Found out i tore my acl and damaged a few other ligament in there. Horrible experience. 4-6 month recovery time at the least and I am on month 4 now and it doesnt feel 100 percent haha but i should be good for this season.


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## killclimbz

Well at least you didn't have Bigrig's experience after hitting a tree.

http://www.snowboardingforum.com/slam-section/29894-snowboarder-vs-tree.html

His leg was amputated. Pretty harsh right there.


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## jjz

I know this is old thread but.

First, Killclimbz, thats one crazy story. Its unthinkable that hitting a tree could lead to an amputation. 

Second, exact same thing happened to me as OP a couple years ago. I was riding at blue mountain, in the glades on those bumps and turns they have for the bikers, and i got going too fast and hit a tree. Luckily, i came out with a minor bruised rib and nothing else.


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## Caffeine

danzo said:


> Hello fellow boarders,
> 
> So I've successfully popped my snowboard injury cherry.
> 
> I was ripping through some glades (Blue Mountain) which had some sweet berms and pumps (for downhillers in the summer). It was my first time on this section and with the powdery conditions, I got overly confident and hit a few berms at full speed... which ultimately lead me to over shooting a turn and going right into a tree.
> 
> I was on my toe side (goofy) when I overshot it and my right leg collided into the tree. The impact spun me around the tree into a twirl which ended up bruising my left hamstring also in the process. I sat up and knew right away my leg was done, after about 10 minutes, I limped out on to the nearest groomed trail, tried to down but noticed my leg had no strength left so ended up on heal side the whole way down.
> 
> After sitting in the lodge for about an hour, my leg started to ache, so I called for ski patrol. He did some tests to make sure it wasn't a break and told me that if it was a break, I'd be in excruciating pain, atleast in more pain then what I had at the time which was like a 5 to 6, maybe less since I have a low pain threshold.
> 
> A few hours later, I finally got up and realized I could barely walk. Couldn't apply any pressure to my right leg, atleast without keeping my leg perfectly straight. Took me like 30 minutes to get to the parking lot.
> 
> Anyways, I haven't had a chance to go to the hospital yet, its been 1 day. The aching is gone but I get a sharp pain in the muscle that took the impact when I try to use it, e. g. walking. There is still some swelling above my knee thats preventing me from bending my knee too much also.
> 
> About to take some ibuprofen, hoping it helps. I will be making way to the hospital tomorrow and a little worried as I've never sustained an injury that has prevented me from walking before.
> 
> Just wondering if anyone else has had this happen before or something similar?


I had a very similar accident. Back when I was just a nubs I tried to hit a rail. Well I was coming in way to fast and didn't pop up onto the rail. The result was me cartwheeling over and my head just grazing the rail. I got up and tried to walk but this sent a excruciating pain shooting up my pelvis. I had to be carried off the hill and into the patrol hut. I thought for my leg was broken. Thankfully is was just a few pulled muscles.


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