Have you had any of these injuries? Let us know. 👇

I heard somewhere that when your collarbone breaks, it's actually a built-in safety device that the body has. Your collarbone takes the shock and breaks so the force doesn't transfer to your spine/neck. Neat stuff.

No. 6 Upset tummy due to large intake of coffee, cake, ham sandwiches, fruit juice, chocolate, gummy bears, more coffee ...

Great work, Emma and Kevin. Very educational and well presented.

if you practice hard and have not experienced road rash you are excessively lucky hope you never will be faced to any problem

Great interview Emma! Provided a nice inside look at the team Doc’s role and some tricks if the trade. Especially liked the musculoskeletal ultrasound. It has gained significant acceptance and utilization over the last 10 years or so in clinical practice and I find it great to see cycling has employed the capability.

Keep up the awesome work guys

Fascinating video. Thanks Emma.

My most common injury is a bruised ego.

This is a great dialogue. I love it wholebrainly.

Emma Pooley does it again with a great medical piece to camera that was fascinating to listen to. Well done GCN...well done Emma👍

Dr. Kevin is such a chilled dude, perfect for a man making serious decisions as a living. Thanks for the great info guys. Had my first hard fall today, lots of nicks and cuts and road rash, luckily nothing broken. (Bike is fine too...!) Tomorrow is gonna be a total different beast. Ouch!! Stay safe my Peeps!!

Great show. I've always wondered how they managed all the injuries we see. Thanks for doing this piece.

Great to have interviews with team professionals, keep em coming

really great content guys. Really enjoying all of Emma's videos.

best GCN vid in a while - well done!

Once again, Emma Pooley demonstrates her value to GCN, as many have testified. What we need now is for someone at GCN to have the wherewithall to employ Nicole Cooke. If you want someone to tow the corporate line, look elsewhere. if you want a pro cyclist with gumption, pay what it takes to get this woman on board....

Medical video = great! Thanks GCN, Emma and Kevin

Very interesting topic on injury and remedial controls thanks for that discussion

I had an over use knee injury with muscle in balance in March which then caused plantar fascitis. FTP went from 360W to zero cycling for 2 months! Take time out to rest and have a massage every now and again.

Great video! For road rash I’ve found that slathering the gel inside an Aloe Vera leaf works particularly well. It seals the graze with a natural latex film and soothes too. Having tried non-stick pads, they always seem to pull new tissue away.

GCN keep up the good work. It is kinda ironic that I stumble across and watch this video after just getting hit by a car on my bike commute home from work today. I got to check 3 of the 5 today, road rash, broken clavicle, and concussion. Would have liked to hear more about treatment of the broken clavicle. Again awesome video. I love GCN.

Nice ... this video is bloody informative.

That was good. I think I knew the types of injuries but not in the technical way that the expert Dr does of course. I learned from this vid, mostly to be more aware of concussion. I’ve had all the injuries explained in this vid and dread the next one. I carry a first aid kit, because I want to help others who might need some help, as well as tending to my own scrapes. Thank you for an enjoyable vid.

Head , Shoulders , Knees & Toes.....all together now

Very insightful! Loved this video.

Great discussion. Cycling related concussion a few years ago showed me how difficult, but important, this diagnosis can be.

Some great content lately, cheers.

Great video, very informative.

The doc was very eloquent. This was far more interesting than I expected. Well done.

This is awesome. Tq

very interesting. thanks!

Thank you Emma for another fascinating vid for cyclists.

Really good vid! More of the tour physicians please!

@GCN...thanks for the video! 100% of the time (unless you have a previous injury) bad positioning will kill the knees! i grabbed this video because i'm coming back from a broken leg. was averaging 70km per day before shooting for back to back century rides. cleat positioning and seat adjustment are the two largest factors in comfort!

Could you do a video on how to crash/how to fall such that you minimize injury? (Drawing straws for who will demo it, of course) For example, if the broken collarbone is usually from “reaching out” to break the fall, is it better to hold onto the bike and go down with it?

Growing up in gymnastics, I was taught to never reach out with your hands. By falling with the bike (essentially shoulder first), the surface area of the force of impact is greater versus reaching out with your hand. Your body essentially diffuses the impact (as long as it's on a flat surface). Relaxing your muscles will also help absorb some more of the shock. In regards to some of the concussion comments below, just because your head doesn't hit the ground, that doesn't mean you don't have a concussion. Like the doctor in the video said, symptoms of concussion don't appear right away, and a lot of times cyclists (really athletes in general) are allowed to continue competing or training just because their head wasn't hit. In any case of impact (especially involving the upper body, neck and head), keep an eye out for symptoms. The worst thing you can do is continue riding or working through a concussion, which will make it harder for your brain to heal. (Disclaimer: I'm not a medical professional, but life experiences, uni and the internet are great resources of education. That said, if you have an injury or suspect a concussion, please have it checked by a doctor)

Very interesting...

Probably injured my wrist by knocking on wood during this video

🤙 Thanks Emma!

Emma, you generate really interesting stuff. So far I've only dealt with road rash. Lucky.

I've had plenty of road rash, ITB syndrome, had a bursa removed from my knee after a crash, plenty of stitches (some of them on my shin, ouch!) but never broken anything...hope it stays this way :)

I'm enjoying emma's series on the science

For road rash I highly recommend 3M Tegaderm film..... it’s about the thickness of packing tape, creates the ideal wound healing environment, and it’s completely waterproof so taking a shower is not a problem. It’s designed to be left on for 5-7 days, so you don’t have to keep changing dressings and because it’s transparent you can verify that the wound is healing properly. I believe it was originally created for burns and skin graft donor site covering. I came off my bike a few weeks ago in California and the emergency care center used it on the road rash on my leg, really great stuff!!

I have broken both radii, both sides of my clavicle, metacarpal of my thumb and index finger of my right hand, two concussions, a tale bone injury and ripped the extensor tendon of my right thumb when I broke my right radius. I don't recall ever having road rash unless it was combined with one of my other injuries. Three incidences involve a collisions with cars. Never had a problem with my knees, but when I was rear ended I did have problems with my hip joint and went through physical therapy. Being rear ended also involved the broken left clavicle and concussion.

You forgot pepper spray and being tackled by police 😉

Good info. and to your question, YES. Concussions are not particularly subjective IMO. If you hit your head (even sometimes if you don't- external impact is not required), you have a concussion. Do your requisite Glasgow scale assessment, do a scan and give it a couple weeks to make sure everything still seems ok. Don't make the mistake to think they did "ok" on the quick field assessment so they are good to go. Big mistake. Also, look at each retina carefully. Have every athlete do a baseline test prior to racing- or before the season starts and note retina size- amongst other things. If a person hits their head, you, as the medical professional MUST ensure they avoid getting second impact syndrome. Frankly, this is on YOU. If they do, you might well be liable as well. Understand, riders are riders and they are fiercely competitive. When their adrenaline is flowing, they will almost always want to keep going and get back in the race immediately. They don't know about this stuff and how it can effect them days, weeks and years later. You have read the literature and you know this info. well- and it's sobering. You know that pulling them from a race if they smacked their head is the ONLY safe approach. Putting myself in your shoes, I can imagine that you have a lot of pressures. You probably have to try (in vain) to balance the competitive nature of the sport and various interests with the riders long term safety. We all know that imaging tests often don't reveal much. If safety is prioritized, you hit your head, you don't ride- period. As a doctor, you are well aware of this- even if you can't comment for other reasons. It would be extremely dangerous if a concussed rider was allowed to ride, then suffered a subsequent concussion (2nd impact syndrome.) That can certainly be fatal. It also drastically increases the risk of long term health issues. I had one mTBI "years" ago and still feel the effects today. Various tests were, as expected unremarkable. It can also effect a persons balance and vision- which is why it is very common for future concussions to happen (which at first I didn't believe but it is a thing.) Putting a concussed rider back in the pack irresponsible as it is now endangering the other riders. This conflict of whether or not to allow athletes to continue playing is also very common in sports like Football, Ice Hockey, Soccer, Rugby and Lacrosse. Sadly, the interest of the sport (read $) is almost always prioritized over the health of the replaceable athlete. I won't judge you. Maybe you are the exception but I would be very curious to learn, out of the last 10 riders you assessed who clearly smacked their heads on the pavement, how many did you greenlight and allow to continue riding? If your answer is 1, that is 1 too many. I would guess however that many docs will allow ~80%+ get back on their bikes and that should be criminal IMO (legal term=Negligent.) Just know this is very wrong and not safe (you well know this.) Professional sports put pressures on docs that can create strong biased- despite professional denials to the contrary. If these same docs were in private practice, with zero connection ($) to the sport (they work for), I bet that they would often advise much differently. Probably 10 out of 10 times, if someone hits their head, they would strongly advise them to "NOT RIDE" until all test are done and at least weeks has gone by- with a reevaluation (I know this is ideal world talk- I actually do get it.) You even, and very accurately commented that symptoms can often take weeks to develop. Please protect YOUR athletes. Great video to bring awareness to common injuries. Maybe advocate for mandatory bike airbags that protect the head and back. They can greatly reduce the extend of many injuries.

Currently off work. Broken scapula, plated, broken clavicle, plated, 7 rib fractures, punctured and deflated right lung, had a tube sticking out of my ribs with a nice little lunchbox collecting blood for a week, road rash. Fondo not so Fundo.

Emma and Kevin should talk about concussions in a follow-up vid. How to identify a concussion and the follow ups that are needed. On my part, a clavicule broken in a bike fall when I was eight, at 17, lost my front wheel and ended up unconscious at the hospital with a big concussion. Lost three months afterwards of memories. Severe road rash, could see my elbow bone. My wrist injuries i got from skateboarding, knee injury from downhill skiing.

Great video 👍🏻

I had my share of road rash, my method is while riding neglect the pain and disconfort, wait till i get home, take a shower with alot of soap, scrub the road rash well ( neglect the pain ), dry it well, clean it with betadine, then wash it with some normal serum, then repeat, dry it with some gauze, put on it antibiotic, then put over it antibiotic gauze (bactigras), then wrap up with some peha haft ( bandage that sticks to itself ), then i must be tired so i go to sleep, and by the morning repeat at least for another day ( depends on the size of the road rash ) , by the 4 days it should be all guud and not much irritating and by 2 weeks it should be completely gone i only do this to big areas road rash especially on all over my knees, i know i can do nothing and it will heal, but this is only to make it heal faster and better and safer

I picked the wrong video to watch while eating a snack! 😛 Kidding, great video. Never had any major injuries in my 40 years, thankfully.

Good video Emma.👍

surprised saddle issues didn't make the top 5 list

Once I went down a steep decent and there was a heavy thunderstorm along the way. There is usually a lot of traffic on that road. So lightnings flashing a few meters away and the rain pounding down the road. Of course I couldn't see much and went high speed without realising it. Then the crash followed: slipped as if with a slide down for a while. Luckily no one was coming up or down this dangerous road and i got out only with a road rash. But the forecast said only 20% precip. dammit!

Live in Maine, just collided with a Moose while Mtn biking downhill at 25mph, broken clavicle(collarbone), miserable pain!

Had a massive road rash all over my left thigh from a spectacular(ly stupid crash and) fall about 30 years ago. No lasting scars from that, but signs of it took a very long time to fade. More recently (2015).. I was doored in the first coupla miles of a 30-mile bike trip which resulted in a broken clavicle and no bike rides for a month. :-(

Hi GCN great video! It would be also very interesting to ask doctor Sprouse more about his career. How did he end up with this dream job! Which speciality he has, any tips for young doctors who also want to be involved in professional sport especially cycling :)

I’ve had a concussion in the past from getting hit by a car while cycling and right now I have both a broken wrist and road rash all from cycling

Even better than Tefla, try Xeroform. Their gauze saturated with petrolatum and a bismuth solution. Hold them on the same way -- tape/gauze and "burn netting". Same wreck that snapped my clavicle gave me fun road rash on my hips, calf, and biceps. All three areas were nasty but healed -- without scaring -- inside of 4-7 days. 1st one goes on for 2 days then change daily. (Made by McKesson; I stocked up at AMZN. Zero relationship or investment with either company). AMAZING stuff. Truly.

On my first bike touring: dry cracked skin on fingertips, mostly from cleaning chain without gloves and too frequent tightening and pulling on something very little, with dirt stuck firmly in the wounds and head sunburnt through the helmet openings (see my profile picture :-) BTW 3:16 - in my experience, you often hit the ground with your hands on the handle bars, since the crash happens so quickly that you have no time to throw the hands out - that's how I lost my front teeth when I was 10.

This may be off topic. Could you please do a show on how to treat snake bites? By this I mean, to be actually bitten by a rattle snake while riding your bike. Should you worry or not, and what should you do in order to stop the poison from reaching your heart. I recently spoke with someone who happened to be bitten by a rattle snake while cycling. Luckily he is a doctor, and temporarily treated the bite until he reached a small town and called an ambulance. I never thought of this type of scenario, so I think it would be good if you do an episode dealing with "Deadly encounters during cycling". For example, what to do if bitten by a snake, or if you encounter a bear, or a moose, or a wolf, etc. Greetings from Canada!!

Has the UCI or other organization or GCN even analyzed Crash data? especially for the Grand Tours & Classics. For examples, number of crashes per race by year, increasing or decreasing? Injury(s) Resulting from Crash? Type of Crashes - Single Rider vs Group? Flats, Climbs & Downhill? Speed involved? Weather? Road Conditions? Causes = Wheel touch, Rider error ie; braking error or too fast for turn? Water bottle, Musette in wheel? Fan Camera Strap (Nibali Tour '18), Road debris, etc, etc. You get the idea. As always enjoy GCN content

“Kevin, concussion. I remember this all too well.”

I hooked up a ladyshave to my ipad. Didn't work.

Forgive me for not reading through ALL the comments if someone else already asked this, but is there a preferred way to fall that does not involve putting a hand down? Should we just slam down on our shoulder?

Indeed, i broke my clavicle 5 days ago, and i'm not even pro... yet...

I Should be Inducted Into the Pro Hall of Fame Left and Right AC Shoulder Separation Cause I Couldn't Unclip at a Stop Sign! Matt Stephen's Look Out.

great video. first time i rode more than 10miles today (12.3m) mostly climbs though and no flats. Im dying :)

GCN: can you make a video on HOW to fall so that we minimize devastating injuries?. We have seen recently Froomey ( for example) crash several times ( many at high speed) recently yet none of them have kept him off the bike #gcntorqueback

Interesting!

Broke my scaphoid on each had over the course of 6 simultaneously the same way😀

Broke my wrist (on my commuter bike) last summer one day after the purchase of my first road bike. Had to wait 6 weeks before riding again, had to painfully watch Le Tour de France dying to get out and ride, had to stare at my new bike sitting there not being used as it should. Got tired, by the 4th week I was on my road bike, still wearing my cast. I'm extra careful now, but I enjoy riding fast !

I have a broken collarbone right now. I had a broken shoulder blade 4 years ago.

I crashed riding a bicycle and my knee is hurt I can't even move it. I'm x-ray there is no broken bones but still I can't stand and move my whole leg. Please let me know what to do

Broke my collerbone a month ago. It was an open fracture so it broke through the skin. Car cut me off going down hill. Getting back on the bike now

Would be helpful to define road rash and explain causes up front.

Had an uncountable number of road rashes especially when I'm descending from a steep climb

I hit a wall at 30KPH when I rode down a descent and my brakes didn't bite hard enough. Always check your brakes before you ride guys.

Well I have broken/ fractured my wrist twice. Different places and these injuries occurred off the bike

Interesting video 🤔

Don't think clavicle fractures are really special when it comes to cycling...closed fractures to the collarbone are the single most common type of fracture in everyday life. Great video btw!

I checked on three of five :(

I have protective clothing while riding my motorcycle. What about protective clothing for bike riders? Crashing on pavement at 35 mph is the same for both riders.

got hit by a car going 45 kph... yep shattered my right leg went into a coma but dont have any damage to my brain or anithyng fully recovered and still not afraid of anything in my life. Just keep your chin up

Road rash during yesterday ride

Send this to Sagan

Yes finally first Edit: gcn you inspire me to push on even through tough times in life. Whenever I ride I watch your videos

Just had an accident involving a pothole and now I've got 3 out of 5

That thumbnail though, Porte injured his feelings during S9 of the TdF, nothing else.

Rib fractures didn't make the list? 🤨

Concussions - why dont they make helmets safer/more protective?

Anyone else use Tagaderm for road rash?

i had a head on...my left leg is Bait...

Broken my collarbone 3times and currently healing up on my 4th... My wrist has been broken 3times.. im 16 and think i qualify as a real cyclist haha!

What on earth... Watched the interview last night and guess what, I just hit the deck in the middle of nice after 70ks of fun :( so gcn please make a video about how to get an ftp of 450watts and let's watch what will happen to me :)

Clavicle fracture here, about a month ago. And I'm just an amateur cyclist

My most serious injury - a brusied ego while trying to do a matt stephens impersonation at a junction in front of stopped traffic

The clavicle is designed or rather evolved to break easily or you might end up breaking your neck.

So if a spectator was pageant and was having a baby and they need a ultrasound we now know where to find one