Mountain Bike Reviews Forum banner

Concussion with loss of memory

1K views 4 replies 5 participants last post by  dr.dirt 
#1 ·
So last week I went on a ride, a loop that I can normally bang out pretty quickly up here on the North Shore of Vancouver. My last memory was entering the trail after the 35min climb and taking a picture of my bike and trail, bragging to co-workers in our text group chat.

My next memory is hazy, thinking "Ok I'm done riding for the day." Then another hazy memory of me riding my bike down the fire road towards my truck. Then my memory becomes coherent as I'm deciding to drive down the hill a bit to assess how I'm feeling. Meanwhile I had been texting in my group chat and repeating myself, forgetting that I had messaged the same thing over and over again.

The girlfriend came to get me and we went to the hospital. CT scan is normal. Have a headache and a big red imprint of my helmet on the side of my forehead. Obviously my TLD lid is cracked right through in a few spots.

Fast forward almost a week. I feel pretty good. Some sore muscles and bruises, although the 5 or 10min before the crash I don't remember, and the 5 or 10min after is completely gone. Scary feeling.

Be careful out there.
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Healing vibes ChristopherRobin. My balance was affected following my head injury. It's taken almost 18months to slowly improve. I test myself by doing one legged dumbbell lifts; one side was worse than the other but my balance has improved since my bike accident. yes it is a scary feeling
 
#3 ·
Ouch, now that is scary. Scary being you continued on out of the trails and then got in your truck to drive with that knock to the head. FYI, in case they told you and you don't remember, 2 weeks off the bike minimum/don't knock your head for at least 2 weeks ;) Heal up fast, but don't rush it, head injuries aren't something to mess around with.
 
#4 ·
LyNx is absolutely right: No Biking, no strenuous activity, no contact sports of any kind, and even try to avoid taxing mental things - like doing taxes or taking exams, studying, writing computer code, and so forth. I would not do any contact like sports stuff till I felt normal for two weeks.

Thank the helmet, write the manufacture tell them your tale, sometimes they will give a free one in return, they love these stories of their products saving a life - and that is exactly what the helmet did.
 
#5 ·
The symptoms that you have when you strike your head are due to a number of factors but it is primarily a phenomenon related to disruptions in electron transport. These evolve into disruptions in neurotransmitter function within about 72 of injury. While the terms minor closed head injury and concussion are often used interchangeably the pathophysiologic processes really delineate these as separate entities. This is likely why 70% of minor head injuries are asymptomatic within 3 days. The maximal benefit you will have from cognitive rest is in this window.
I would not use your memory deficits as a marker for whether you are still concussed as this often will never fully return. If you are a "normal" mtb and just doing light trail and cardio you don't need to be super conservative. But if you are a super rad rider doing high risk stuff, you need more formal assessment before returning to that level.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top