Caching while injured...

[+SanityEndsHere]

Well last night I broke my leg in two places while sliding into second base, and I decided to start this topic. I can't drive right now for caching so it started to make me wonder about others with injuries. What kind of injuries have you had while being a cacher? And, how did/ does the injury(s) effect your caching? I have a feeling this may slow me down a bit and now I'll have to filter the caches a lot more for park and grabs.

 

I know this is a random topic for caching, but the boredom is kicking in.

[Magician's Apprentice]

Well last night I broke my leg in two places while sliding into second base, and I decided to start this topic. I can't drive right now for caching so it started to make me wonder about others with injuries. What kind of injuries have you had while being a cacher? And, how did/ does the injury(s) effect your caching? I have a feeling this may slow me down a bit and now I'll have to filter the caches a lot more for park and grabs.

 

I know this is a random topic for caching, but the boredom is kicking in.

 

The boredom is kicking in already..

 

Wait three weeks...lol.

 

Seriously, I fell off the bottom step in mid September and broke one ankle and sprained the other. Surgery to put two screws in the broken one and a non-weight bearing cast followed. That not only put an end to driving, I had to use a wheelchair for six weeks cause ya just can't hop on a sprained ankle..

 

How did it affect my caching...well, for my first trip out I carefully chose only caches that had a 1 or 1.5 for terrain. My caching partner and a friend pushed the wheelchair and I held the gps...lol. Mostly it meant that I had to sit on the trail while they went the last 10 or 15 feet. There was only one cache that I could've found but two feet are faster on grass than a wheelchair and no one gave me a headstart...

 

It didnt' stop the caching, just meant I got to sit around lots while others got the joy of actually 'finding' the cache. Mind you, we live in the bush and cache in the bush..city dwellers may have different results...lol

 

Once I had the cast off and was cleared for crutches and a rocker boot, I found that crutches don't do tall weeds well..I hear I looked like a duck trying to take off...you'll understand when you try it yourself....

 

Crutches and a cast don't do well going uphill or dowhill on uneven terrain, nor do they do well in mud and deep sand...lol....yep, I've tried it!!

 

The other thing is that you are ever conscious of the danger of falling flat on your tush or face as the case may be, so you tend to be a whole lot more conscious of where you're putting your feet.

 

Because it was my ankles, and I've injured them more times than I have fingers and toes, I'm waiting for TWO ankle braces to arrive...then - watch out world...

 

My best advice, choose the caches very carefully, email the owners if you're in doubt, lift weights so your shoulders won't hurt when you hike 1/2 mile on crutches AND make your caching partners spot you a quarter mile headstart...

[+Team Cotati]

OMG!! This is going to be sweet.

[+kyoteh]

Well last night I broke my leg in two places while sliding into second base, and I decided to start this topic. I can't drive right now for caching so it started to make me wonder about others with injuries. What kind of injuries have you had while being a cacher? And, how did/ does the injury(s) effect your caching? I have a feeling this may slow me down a bit and now I'll have to filter the caches a lot more for park and grabs.

 

I know this is a random topic for caching, but the boredom is kicking in.

 

I badly sprained may ankle while caching one night. I was on crutches and a brace for a month. It did slow me down some but thankfully my BF loves to cache as well so I'd find easy urban caches and he'd do the driving. If we found one that was off solid ground then I'd do a lot of looking/suggesting (since I had the GPS most of the time) and he did the actual searching. Often times I'll say "hey, what about that spot?" and working as a team we found caches.

 

Like Magician's Apprentice said, crutches and tall grass/weeds don't mix well! I tried on that was off the side of a road and it wasn't pretty and got frustrating! I ended up finding a place to sit still and assist in directing! I would have gone nuts if I didn't have someone to help out and do awesome teamwork with!

 

As I got better and went from 2 crutches, to 1, and then to a walking stick, we'd venture away from concrete a bit more. took about 6 weeks for me to start being able to navigate grass and bushes and then finally uneven ground. So it did slow me down a lot but thankfully we have a ton of urban caches so it didn't sideline me totally!

 

Now I'm finally down to just a brace as I'm no longer staying on solid/flat ground. The brace itself isn't slowing me down AT ALL other than I can't climb rocks like I use to but with winter time we're not out in the rough country as much right now anyways.

[+The Leprechauns]

First off, sorry about your injury, and best wishes for a speedy recovery!

 

Use this as an opportunity to see geocaching from the perspective of a person whose mobility is limited. Go out to caches with terrain ratings of "1", and if you have trouble getting to any of them, describe this in your log. Add pictures for effect. I bet that cache owners will adjust their inaccurate ratings, and will do a better job when assigning terrain ratings in the future.

 

The longest that an injury has taken me out of action was one week -- a badly pulled muscle in my leg after a ten-foot fall into a creek. I've been very fortunate, and I'm thankful for that.

[+elmuyloco5]

I broke my toe a few months ago. Banged the darn thing on our coffee table while trying to walk around my husbands shoes. I pulled the pinkie toe at a right angle from my foot; didnt' feel to nice. I pulled the thing back into position and spent the night on ice. It altered my footwear choices and my gait, but we still cached. We stuck to things with more flat surfaces for a while and were forced to avoid hiking and rock scrambling for a bit. I don't think I set it quite right as it still hurts, but oh well. I've broken every toe in both of my feet over my life and even have screws in one. I just couldn't see going to the ER for another broken pinkie.

 

I think injuries are a good time to get a taste of what handicapped people have to deal with on a daily basis, though. I spent 2 of my three pregnancies in a wheelchair with 5 herniated discs and a cracked pelvis. I learned just how few stores are wheelchair friendly (the Sears where we lived at the time actually had a sticker that said "call clerk for assistance with door".....huh? Would they hear my screams from outside?). I now only take the handicap stall in a restroom when all others are full. I know what it's like to be 9 months pregnant and have to wait on that stall while others are open.

 

Hope you have speedy recovery!

[+waterwitch2]

I broke my toe a few months ago. Banged the darn thing on our coffee table while trying to walk around my husbands shoes. I pulled the pinkie toe at a right angle from my foot; didnt' feel to nice. I pulled the thing back into position and spent the night on ice.

 

OUCH! That brings back memories of my broken pinkie toe. I caught it on my dining room table leg and bent it 90 degrees. I went to the ER for mine and they pulled it back and taped it to the next toe. There was no way I was going to pull it back myself.

[+SanityEndsHere]

 

Use this as an opportunity to see geocaching from the perspective of a person whose mobility is limited. Go out to caches with terrain ratings of "1", and if you have trouble getting to any of them, describe this in your log. Add pictures for effect. I bet that cache owners will adjust their inaccurate ratings, and will do a better job when assigning terrain ratings in the future.

 

 

 

I think injuries are a good time to get a taste of what handicapped people have to deal with on a daily basis, though. I spent 2 of my three pregnancies in a wheelchair with 5 herniated discs and a cracked pelvis. I learned just how few stores are wheelchair friendly (the Sears where we lived at the time actually had a sticker that said "call clerk for assistance with door".....huh? Would they hear my screams from outside?). I now only take the handicap stall in a restroom when all others are full. I know what it's like to be 9 months pregnant and have to wait on that stall while others are open.

 

 

I definitely agree this is a great opportunity to see what handicapped people have to deal with and because of this I'm definitely going to take this in consideration when I place caches. I now have plenty of time to make some new caches so I'm thinking a lot of handicap accessible caches will be placed in the future.

 

Thanks for the shared stories. Please keep them coming.

[+michigansnorkelers]

Here is my log (edited) from July 20, 2006

 

BROKE MY LEG!

 

I was on my way to the final coordinate card when I slipped down a little hill and landed on my ankle, with a loud SNAP.

 

Luckily, I was able to crawl to the trail. Then, using a strong tree limb, I limped about a mile back to the car. It took a couple hours and the pain was excrutiating at times. But I managed to get back before dark.

 

After a couple of hours in the emergency room, it was confirmed that I had a broken fibula.

 

Guess What? ONE WEEK LATER, I resumed geocaching on crutches with my leg in a cast! For that cache and many others, I had to get down on my hands and knees some of the time. This was a lot harder to do than you might think. The first couple caches were LPCs and drive ups. But soon, I was hobbling down forest trails, crutches, cast, and all! It was EXHAUSTING! And it was quite difficult, and even dangerous, trying to get up off the ground using my crutches. I took A LOT of chances, but always took along my cell phone and a loud whistle just in case! I fell THREE times while geocaching in the woods like this! Well, I WAS geocaching, after all!

[+briansnat]

Timely topic. I injured myself playing soccer a few weeks ago. First it was thought to be a torn Achilles tendon, but it turned out to be a ruptured plantaris tendon and torn gastroc muscle. Considerably less serious, but still painful.

 

I was on crutches for two days then in a rigid walking boot for two weeks. Two weeks ago doc told me I could take the boot off and I started feeling ok so I went to place a cache over the weekend.

 

I stepped the wrong way and was on the ground in severe pain for about 5 minutes and had to limp out of the woods. I started feeling better again and had a repeat last weekend. I was caching with the wife on deliberately easy terrain and I stepped on a root the wrong way and went down like I was shot. Couldn't walk the next day and the ankle was swollen to the size of a softball.

 

Things are feeling better again, but this time I'm not fooled. I was scouting new cache territory today and I put that walking boot back on. It's slow going with the thing on and and it doesn't grip very well on leaves, but it's better than another setback. Hiked 3 miles with the thing over some pretty hairy terrain. I relied on my trekking poles more than ever.

 

Tomorrow I may go with a group of cachers for 5 or 6 mile hike. They say the terrain isn't too difficult. I'm hedging because I know I'm going to be a bit slow and don't want to hold the group back. That and the boot is extremely uncomfortable for long walks as I discovered today.

Edited December 2, 2007 by briansnat

[+Team Cotati]

I knew that I should have given odds. Talk about your 'sure thing'. Beautiful.

[+horsegeeks]

I received a call from our sweet Sanity this morning. She was due at our geocaching "class" at the UNC Chapel Hill Burn Center. We taught 12 teen burn victims the ins and outs of geocaching and we had as much fun as they did. Sanity was driving 2 1/2 hours to get there and of course had to cancel. We felt for her so much and wish her a speedy recovery.

 

My story started a few years back. Ms horsegeeks and I had a four day caching tryst in Nashville, TN over a Thanksgiving holiday. We were just getting ready to go back to our hotel from a really neat historic park in Franklin, TN on the last day of our vacation. We had a listing but no details (I believe it was called the Martha Stewart Stash Cache) and thought just one more. We started down the hill (we heard later the listing said to start from the bottom and work up.....well you know what we did. Ms horsegeeks decided she wasn't going down and I started the trip. She saw me go down and heard a loud "SNAP". I didn't hear the snap and got up to finish the trip, took one step and knew I wasn't going anywhere. It was a bad break and I had to be carried down off of the hill by four fireman. Anyone that knows me realizes they had to be and were great BIG fireman.

 

Well the story progresses a few weeks later when I finally got my walking cast. Up to then I had been carrying the rest of the horsegeeks around in the cachecar, walking some of them but mostly just providing transportation and my infinite wisdom. I got a bit better and started doing some mile long walks in my walking cast and remember more than once having to be helped back. The one that got wifey and doctor furious at me was going for a cache in a Durham swamp. I sunk down to my knees filling the cast with sticky mud. I tried to clean it up but the cast had to be replaced. I ended up getting in trouble several times but finally healed and was able to do more.

 

It's tough being a cacher with a mobility problem but the stories are great and are told over and over. Incidentally it took a year for my doctor to get over being mad.

 

Get well Sanity

[+briansnat]

I knew that I should have given odds. Talk about your 'sure thing'. Beautiful.

 

[+StarBrand]

This summer, I injured my lower leg badly during a 4th of July gunny sack race. (don't ask) Had planned on doing a feww caches while in the area. My knee and just below was swollen as big as a softball for 3 days.

 

I couldn't get to very many caches for a month. Even now, if I kneel down on it just right (wrong), it causes some fairly severe pain for a minute or two. Slow to heal but I think the more I work it the better it will get.

[+Capt Biggins]

 

in the bush..city dwellers may have different results...lol

 

Once I had the cast off and was cleared for crutches and a rocker boot, I found that crutches don't do tall weeds well..I hear I looked like a duck trying to take off...you'll understand when you try it yourself....

 

Crutches and a cast don't do well going uphill or dowhill on uneven terrain, nor do they do well in mud and deep sand...lol....yep, I've tried it!!

 

 

I can understand a cast- but if ya wanna learn from a master who has to use crutches look up Sneaky Snakes here in Florida- this guy is amazing at getting into think brush and swampy areas fast than I can get thru without! I myself have be told I have 2 bone spurs in my rt foot that are PAINFUL!!! But as long as I don't rush thru and have good cushion shoes it's not so bad- but I'll just stick to PAG till I get the nerve to gett'm removed!!

[+W7WT]

Just about a year ago, I was lowering an antenna when it broke loose and jerked my right arm. As a result I lost three of four tendons connected to my right roto cuff. I am almost 83 and they are not reparable. Can't raise the right arm above my shoulders. I can still drive and scratch my bottom but not my nose. Just have to be careful. We still managed to find 500 caches, 49 states, all of Washington State Counties. Had to give up fly fishing, driving stick shift cars, sold my boat, golf, etc. Two days ago, I went caching by myself and one of the caches was between two rocks, I had to lay down and drag it out with my left arm. Had a heck of a time getting back up as I can't put any pressure on the right arm. But I have adapted well to the injury and still enjoying geocaching. Dick, W7WT

[+briansnat]

Just about a year ago, I was lowering an antenna when it broke loose and jerked my right arm. As a result I lost three of four tendons connected to my right roto cuff. I am almost 83 and they are not reparable.

 

There goes your pitching career.

[+W7WT]

My pitching career never actually started. But Brian, I did find your cache in Vermont with the bad shoulder. I enjoy finding caches from what I consider the top geocachers like you and CYBret. With a trip to Kauai to celebrate our 60th wedding anv. by geocachng we got our 49th state. Next summer we will brave the Alaska HW to visit our son in Fairbanks to pick up number 50. Thanks for your contribution to the geocaching community.

[+Canadavey]

Torn muscle fibers in my back (left shoulder, by shoulder blade). I was limited to doing 1/1 caches for a week and a half. Yay for parking lot caches!