What was your worst injury?

[BRAAAP]

I got lucky. I was sitting on a stool greasing the fronend when it broke, the bumper cought the top of my knee cap pushing my leg down and out from under the truck. Like i said im lucky it didnt break more! I get the cast off in 2 weeks Dr said i should recover 100% in 4-6 months.

 

[pdqdl]

If this was done at work, and you are covered by worker's comp; I wouldn't take the first settlement offer if I were you. That last x-ray looks like permanent ankle damage to me.

Sure, the Doc fixed it real well. It looks beautiful. I would be very concerned about arthritis in the long run. Be sure to get lots of proper therapy after the cast comes off. It will make a huge difference.

BTW: I have a similar (but more severe) ankle fracture to yours. It never healed great due to all the ligament and cartilage damage. The orthopedic surgeons do a great job putting the bones back where they should be, but that does not restore everything in the joint to the way it was.

 

[BRAAAP]

Yes it was done at work, But being done at my shop and being the owner of the company workers comp doesnt do sh!t. He did a great job putting it back together he's one of the best in the area! was very happy when I found out he was doing it. Now i just got to find a set of gaff's that dont rub on my ankle bone, so if any one with the same kinda injury or problem any help wound be great!

 

[pdqdl]

I'm very much an expert on living with that kind of injury.

That tibia fracture (outside bump on your ankle) will be very tender for quite a few months. It has a great blood supply, heals well, and hurts like hell when you bump it. Regular above-the-the-ankle boots are your best friend. Winter insulated boots have nice padding on the ankle, too. Don't tie those boots on tight, it will ruin the comfy padding effect and put stress on the fractures. You will also probably discover that your old footwear no longer fits, and that you will need to buy boots at least one size too big. Rubber boots are a particular problem, since your ankle isn't likely to bend "toe-down" as much as it used to.

Since your gaffs will be located on the instep side of your ankle (unless you are one of those really funny guys), the tiba fracture shouldn't be a problem, and those screws on the instep side will have enough padding to not be problematic. Is the doc going to remove any of the hardware later? It all looks permanent to me.

My ankle never bothered me any while climbing, since that doesn't require a lot of bending. My problem is after I get back down on the ground and somebody starts asking me to drag brush. My greatest difficulty has always been flexing the joint enough to walk normally. It doesn't, and I can't.

So...get that therapy, and stick to it! The discomfort you get now might very well pay off later in normal walking ability. I was injured in 1982, and no one offered any rehab. The doctor gave me a rubber bungee and told me to use it. It hurt a lot, I didn't, but I wish now that I had.

 

[RVALUE]

A jackstand failure has always been a worrisome concern of mine. I never felt safe with those stamped-steel jackstands; whenever I am stuck using those I always back them up with something, usually a stack of tires. Any more info on the incident would be appreciated.

Thanks for sharing, and I hope you heal up back to 100% soon!

I've had those steel ramps 'shoot' out when on a slab because one tire was not all the way on the top, but still on the 'ramp' part. Very unsafe.

I'd use tires (without rims) whenever I can't find foam seat cushions.






















Sorry. I couldn't resist.

 

[MANORMAN]

Small injury compared to what I've seen here/ INTRODUCTION

Just joined after a long time lurking. Guess my bout with the splitter was the selling point.
Thanks to all for great reading, volumes of knowledge and experience, and for making this forum a must read daily activity for us.

So yes, working some oak on a I & O 26 ton. 37 years without gettin bit. Working with another splitter to my side and all was going so smooth but the other operator was doing things that kept catching my eye. He has 40 years hard exp splitting. Had a really bad gut feeling !

Then bang, felt the pinch, hit the return quick , and prepared for the worst.

Caught the tip of my thumb from sitting in the pinch zone. peeled off the glove and saw the top hanging.
Grabbed my tape from the tool table we keep and strapped the top back on. Cut another piece to slow the blood flow and set out to clean up and secure the area.
Of course my buddy had to over react, insisting that we call the ambulance, police etc... To this day he swears I was going into shock and making no sense but it looks like I had it under control !

No, I just cleaned up and called my wife who got there about 15 minutes after the cut.
Reluctantly went to the local chop shop Emergency room and they kept me waiting over an hour, blood dripping, wound throbbing.
Finally the wife's rottweiler protection personality kicks in and sets the ER straight telling them that if I lose the piece of thumb it wont go well,,,,,cell phone in hand,,,,getting ready to dial the family attorney, who is tight with that Hospital.

They take me in, tell me that i'm gonna lose the finger,,or worse,,,and I'll have to wait for xrays and the surgeon. Again wife kicks in and suggests stopping the bleeding, cleaning the wound to get a good starting point and doing something ......anything.....
15 minutes later they sent a small army, cleansed the wound and found that they needed to close the area before the damage could not be reversed. Radiology came for me, did a lot of screens , and the splitter had stopped,,,,,at the bone,,, so no break, no fracture,, and a lot of people scratching their heads.

It ends with a great set of drs etc.... putting it all back together, actually doing a picture perfect job, and me leaving with the hope that I'll still have 9 good fingers after the heal, less complications from bacteria, MRSA, etc.... ( AND FOLKS THESE BACTERIA INFECTIONS FROM EVEN THE SMALLEST WOUNDS SEEM TO BE 1,000 TIMES WORSE THAN 40 YEARS AGO ).

Optimistic

Down for 3 days due to pain. No Narcotics! Splitting again in 73 hours. Saw work will take a bit longer.


Not sure where this post should go. Seemed like a good spot. If not feel free to move.


Hello Arborsite, Chris here from Eastern Long Island. Glad to be here amongst some great people.

 

[NHlocal]

Just joined after a long time lurking. Guess my bout with the splitter was the selling point.
Thanks to all for great reading, volumes of knowledge and experience, and for making this forum a must read daily activity for us.

So yes, working some oak on a I & O 26 ton. 37 years without gettin bit. Working with another splitter to my side and all was going so smooth but the other operator was doing things that kept catching my eye. He has 40 years hard exp splitting. Had a really bad gut feeling !

Then bang, felt the pinch, hit the return quick , and prepared for the worst.

Caught the tip of my thumb from sitting in the pinch zone. peeled off the glove and saw the top hanging.
Grabbed my tape from the tool table we keep and strapped the top back on. Cut another piece to slow the blood flow and set out to clean up and secure the area.
Of course my buddy had to over react, insisting that we call the ambulance, police etc... To this day he swears I was going into shock and making no sense but it looks like I had it under control !

No, I just cleaned up and called my wife who got there about 15 minutes after the cut.
Reluctantly went to the local chop shop Emergency room and they kept me waiting over an hour, blood dripping, wound throbbing.
Finally the wife's rottweiler protection personality kicks in and sets the ER straight telling them that if I lose the piece of thumb it wont go well,,,,,cell phone in hand,,,,getting ready to dial the family attorney, who is tight with that Hospital.

They take me in, tell me that i'm gonna lose the finger,,or worse,,,and I'll have to wait for xrays and the surgeon. Again wife kicks in and suggests stopping the bleeding, cleaning the wound to get a good starting point and doing something ......anything.....
15 minutes later they sent a small army, cleansed the wound and found that they needed to close the area before the damage could not be reversed. Radiology came for me, did a lot of screens , and the splitter had stopped,,,,,at the bone,,, so no break, no fracture,, and a lot of people scratching their heads.

It ends with a great set of drs etc.... putting it all back together, actually doing a picture perfect job, and me leaving with the hope that I'll still have 9 good fingers after the heal, less complications from bacteria, MRSA, etc.... ( AND FOLKS THESE BACTERIA INFECTIONS FROM EVEN THE SMALLEST WOUNDS SEEM TO BE 1,000 TIMES WORSE THAN 40 YEARS AGO ).

Optimistic

Down for 3 days due to pain. No Narcotics! Splitting again in 73 hours. Saw work will take a bit longer.


Not sure where this post should go. Seemed like a good spot. If not feel free to move.


Hello Arborsite, Chris here from Eastern Long Island. Glad to be here amongst some great people.

Welcome to AS Chris,
glad to hear all turned out well(eventually :hmm3grin2orange: ).
Work safe. :msp_thumbsup:

 

[griff154]

Tko with a sprung maple snot bubbles and a broken orbital. And widow maker to the top of my hard hat two heriated discs in my neck also a tko. That's it and that's all I ever want too happen , somebody is watchin out for me. Thank you very much!

 

[TreeGuyHR]

If this was done at work, and you are covered by worker's comp; I wouldn't take the first settlement offer if I were you. That last x-ray looks like permanent ankle damage to me.

Sure, the Doc fixed it real well. It looks beautiful. I would be very concerned about arthritis in the long run. Be sure to get lots of proper therapy after the cast comes off. It will make a huge difference.

BTW: I have a similar (but more severe) ankle fracture to yours. It never healed great due to all the ligament and cartilage damage. The orthopedic surgeons do a great job putting the bones back where they should be, but that does not restore everything in the joint to the way it was.

Forgot to add it to my earlier post in the thread, had the end of my tibia break completely off and re-attached with two screws (broke it in the car wreck I mentioned -- something has to give if you are 6 ft. 2 and total a little car at 60 mph by crumpling the front end -- lucky for me, it was a transverse engine -- no doubt saved my life :msp_thumbup:. It's still a lump, but I wear gaffs and the only problem I get is blisters on my calf if they move around too much. Hurts like hitting your elbow if I wack my ankle into something :msp_ohmy:.

With all the metal in my ankle and neck, why I don't set off metal detectors at airports I don't know:msp_confused:.

 

[pdqdl]

If they went off on nail and screws, everybody's shoes would set them off. They are set less sensitive than that, probably so that they don't continuously get false positives.

At airports, all the bull about taking off your belt and shoes isn't so that you can pass the metal detectors without holding up the line...it's about checking for stuff where the metal detector doesn't.

I'll admit to setting off an occasional metal detector, but I am pretty sure it was never any of my internal metal...just the stuff that I wasn't compelled to take off or hand in.

 

[bootboy]

My worst injury:
Two stitches in the back of my hand from accidentally smacking it with a handsaw. That's it. No broken bones, no other stitches, no surgeries. I've been extremely lucky, and careful.

 

[RVALUE]

I am not the most injured person here. However , close. My fake back doesn't always set them off, but they set me off. Head strait over to the strip area. I'd rather drive to 'a long ways' than to fly.


Carry on.

 

[treesmith]

My worst injury was unrelated to trees. Aged 15 my bike threw me over the handlebars and landed awkwardly. I was standing on the pedals when the cable snapped at the lever, the unbroken cable between the brake arms jammed the mud tyre and weeeeeeee! Threw my arms up and split my right humerus lengthways from my elbow to halfway up my arm. Eldest sister's boyfriend said it was just sprained and that I should move it around, I never thought much of him before that and even less after. 3+ hrs in theatre and its almost perfect 20 years later. Otherwise been real lucky with no permanent damage, a few near misses from not quite understanding just what can happen in certain situations but that's experience.
Almost killed a driver taking down a big Beech over a road in rural Scotland, he wasn't stopping and no traffic lights, road signs or waving panicked groundies were getting in his way.
I've seen a groundie instinctively reach out and catch a running hedgecutter by the blade and I've seen the scars when a climbers 020 caught his sleeve and run up his arm into his neck. They were both ok after a while.

My biggest near miss was in 01 while I was new at Arb college and only had basic rope/harness/prusik. I was helping a farmer friend take down an old dying (trunk covered in black canker) storm damaged European Ash, took off a big limb over the road and we were going to leave the main barrel but everything else off. All went well until we came to the top, under the farmers instruction I put a rope up top to pull it into the field with the tractor. "Put a cut in each side about 40' up then I'll pull it when you're down and clear" he says. Don't like the idea of that, but I had no spurs and he's been working with trees for a long time and knows more than me so I put an inch deep cut (or so I thought) as high as i could reachon two sides in a 14"+ diameter stem and came down.

I remember this as clear as day, my feet touched down, I pulled slack through my prusik and opened my karabiner. At that moment I hear a "crack" from above and I ran, didn't look up, just ran and yes the top 30'+ landed right where I had been. That'll be the big hollow I hadn't seen right where my cuts were.

I learnt some very important things that day. If things go wrong in a tree it can happen real fast and once they do there's not always much you can do about it. Think things through and if you know doing something is wrong, just don't do it.

Life is too short, why make it shorter?

 

[Undy]

Hmmm. I just noticed this thread. Funny what gets dragged up from the past. Worst injury (plural)? None of 'em are saw-related for me. Probably poor impulse control. But how am I still alive?

July 6, 1974, dove into Stewart Lake chasing a girl, landed on my head on a rock and blew C4,5,6 out, bruising the spinal cord, quadriplegic for some time, Dr. wired my neck together again, eventually the swelling went down and most movement returned. I broke the wires within a week of getting out of the hospital. I still suffer from Brown-Sequard syndrome, one in a million or less I'm told...

'76 riding down a ski hill on a air-filled water-bed bladder and got wrapped backwards around a tree, hyperextending my middle back. Still have issues with core stability.

'78 head-on crash in VW Beetle convertible with a drunk driver. Door lock handle went through my left cheek. Smashed my knees.

Mar. '90, major crash at Copper Mt. Colo. skiing, concussion, fractured ribs, both thumbs and ball in right shoulder, and sprained my neck. Hurt so bad I puked from the pain. (Skied A-Basin 2 days later...)

Spring '95, major crash at Powder Mt. Utah skiing in the woods in a whiteout. Out cold for a long time, and remained senseless even after I woke up. Endless ambulance ride down to Ogden. Broke my beak and another concussion.

End of '99, crushed lowest two lumbar discs hauling building materials around.

Three concussions in past 3 yrs. of skiing, out cold twice. I'd probably be safer playing hockey or pro football!

Today I'm headed out to clear 3 trees that blew down over my pasture fence. And just when things were looking up...

 

[lumberjack48]

Third generation logger, ran chainsaw felling and bucking up timber, ran skidder, drove truck, ran knuckle boom for 30 yrs. I was falling on a windy day [35 mph] it was bitter cold [-57 with wind chill] working against all my rules. That day, 2-8-89 at a little after 4 pm, a tree hit me, broke my neck crushing 4 vertebra, breaking the 5 th, leaving me a quad. The wife had to feed me the first yr, i got my right hand back good enough to hold a spoon so i can feed my self and type with one finger. I didn't have any insurance so its been tough all these yrs. just keep on, keeping on is all we can do.

 

[pdqdl]

Ok. It's about time.

I am officially off the list as the most injured participant. You guys got me beat hands down.

 

[Undy]

Third generation logger, ran chainsaw felling and bucking up timber, ran skidder, drove truck, ran knuckle boom for 30 yrs. I was falling on a windy day [35 mph] it was bitter cold [-57 with wind chill] working against all my rules. That day, 2-8-89 at a little after 4 pm, a tree hit me, broke my neck crushing 4 vertebra, breaking the 5 th, leaving me a quad. The wife had to feed me the first yr, i got my right hand back good enough to hold a spoon so i can feed my self and type with one finger. I didn't have any insurance so its been tough all these yrs. just keep on, keeping on is all we can do.

Quad, Jesuz that's rough, my condolences. My folks always told me not to dive into lakes, but I did it anyway, against all my rules too. I consider myself to be blessed just to be able to get out of bed, wipe my own rear end, and feed myself again. Glad to see that you're able to get out, even via one finger and the keyboard. It's great that this forum is around, even for some of us busted up old woodcutters.

In '96 my Mom got run over by an airplane landing, and it broke her neck leaving her with really minimal movement of her hands & arms. I always imagined some sort of voice-recognition software to allow her easier use of a computer, while she was alive. Any chance you could find and use something like that?

Anyway, glad you're around to tell the tale. Hang in there.

 

[bushy79]

respect.

respect to all of you doing your job with no NHS or medicare.

i had a whole list of stupid hurts to post but i think ill wait a while.

big love and thoughts to those of you seriously injured on the job.

hope these few words find you happy and as healthy as can possibly be.

easy.

bushy

 

[jefflovstrom]

respect to all of you doing your job with no NHS or medicare.

i had a whole list of stupid hurts to post but i think ill wait a while.

big love and thoughts to those of you seriously injured on the job.

hope these few words find you happy and as healthy as can possibly be.

easy.

bushy

Spam,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Jeff

 

[farmer steve]

guess i'm just lucky.all my injuries were fixed with a band-aid or spit. reading and looking at all these posts made my butt hole pucker. i won't be able to poop for a week.