Injuries whulst caching.

[+zarbi&zarbibird]

Is it just me, or have other people sustained injuries whilst caching? We're not talking about the usual nettle stings, brambles creating geostripes on uncovered flesh etc but slightly more serious injuries. I have just recovered from my latest injury, infected bursitis (very painful swollen tennis elbow) caused by stumbling rapidly into a stile with outstretched arms I have slipped on a rocky footpath, smacking my head and ear onto a large rock, splitting the top of my ear and coating the immediate area liberally with the red stuff I tripped coming down from Kinder Scout and caused a mallet finger (snapped tendon) Caching in Derbyshire I slipped on some rocks, landed on my elbow and split the skin, causing a three inch laceration I wouldn't mind so much if I went caching in stilettos but I do wear proper walking boots and am usually holding zarbi's hand I think it's because I get so carried away in all the excitement of finding a cache that I forget to look at where I'm going Anyone else have this problem? zarbibird (Chrissy)

[+NickandAliandEliza]

Don't go to Derbyshire - it's dangerous. Fractured elbow in the Peak District is my best so far.

 

 

......in fact spooky! Mine was also coming down from Kinder Scout.

Edited September 28, 2010 by Nick & Ali

[+Smurf]

I hope the forum hamsters can cope with the potential length of Keehotees reply to this topic

Edited September 28, 2010 by Smurf

[+The Other Stu]

There's this fella, right.

 

Every time I see him, he has a different injury.

 

Last time I saw him, he had a broken nose and a black eye.

 

This time, he had a broken arm in a pot.

 

I reckon his missus is knocking him about, but he reckons he gets them caching......

[+Munkeh]

are forum posts limited in length?

 

awaiting for sheer laughter factor

[+CnJnA]

I had to rescue a cacher who fell whilst attempting a 4* 4* cache- she thought she had broken her arm, fortunately it was very severely bruised.....we are going out with them again soon, the first aid kit is packed....

[+ratcliffe]

Nothing other than nettle stings and sharp branch pricks so far, but then again I'm a relative newbie

[team tisri]

Nothing major for me... a few nettle stings, criss-cross scratches from forcing through brambles in shorts (not a smart thing to do!) and the like.

 

I did fall straight on my backside on a slippery rock covered in brambles in Cornwall... the trickiest part of getting up again was that anywhere I could put my hands was covered in brambles. So I had to edge forward sliding down the rock until I could turn and lift myself... luckily the camera gear in my backpack survived the fall (I was more concerned about it than anything else).

 

I did sprain my wrist when I came off my bike on a sheet of ice at one cache... one wheel went one way and the other went another way... so I put my foot down and that just went another way. Nothing serious, but it had me off the bike for a couple of weeks.

[+speakers-corner]

Two broken toes. Dont go caching in sandels and get your feet entwined in roots and branches on the ground. Pulled my foot free and SNAP, that was it.

[+*mouse*]

I reckon his missus is knocking him about, but he reckons he gets them caching......

Oi Stu! I wasn't even there when he smashed his face in!

 

I hope the forum hamsters can cope with the potential length of Keehotees reply to this topic

We will be here all day!

(not least 'cause it will take him most of the morning to post a reply to this topic as he has to type everything with his left hand at the moment!)

[+Stuey]

A local caching team had one of them airlifted off Dartmoor after breaking a leg. Tis a dangerous sport y'know.

[+cooper troopers]

Don't go to Derbyshire - it's dangerous. Fractured elbow in the Peak District is my best so far.

 

 

......in fact spooky! Mine was also coming down from Kinder Scout.

we are like mountain goats up here in the peak district! i usally just fall on my bum!! did you tell you rescueres what you where up to? i always wonder now when we see the local fell and mountian rescue reports in the paper if the people where caching!

[+Munkeh]

I reckon his missus is knocking him about, but he reckons he gets them caching......

Oi Stu! I wasn't even there when he smashed his face in!

 

I hope the forum hamsters can cope with the potential length of Keehotees reply to this topic

We will be here all day!

(not least 'cause it will take him most of the morning to post a reply to this topic as he has to type everything with his left hand at the moment!)

 

well it will fill his time in ....or result in RSI

[+FollowMeChaps]

Does being bitten by an adder count?

 

Lesson learned = ALWAYS wear gloves before groping in a hole/under a log for the cache!

[+Pharisee]

I twisted my right knee when I slipped crossing the boulder field coming down Schiehallion. It wasn't exactly a caching trip but it was to scatter a cacher's ashes The injury is still giving me problems after 4 years and key-hole surgery.

Edited September 29, 2010 by Pharisee

[+Von-Horst]

I broke a leg at my own pub event.....those 1/1s can be tricky!

[+Write and Mane]

Ooops haven't posted here for ages ~ wanted to Quote the previous post, but got it wrong.

 

Had to send a message to VH asking where the fracture was in order to get us South Wales cachers to actually realise it wasn't a leg pull!!!

Edited September 29, 2010 by Write and Mane

[+keehotee]

A smashed cycling helmet, broken rib and a punctured lung a few years ago - but in fairness I was between caches at the time

 

Made a mess of my nose and had a trip to A&E in July at Carry Yer Own Camping 2010 - sorry to say alcohol was a contributory factor

 

(I'm the ugly one on the left - Sam Sonatella's the hero on the right )

 

Fractured radius last week at Higher Bal, 10 in the morning, sober as a judge - I just fell off the wall the cache was hidden in..

 

 

(and you don't want to know how long this has taken to type, left handed, one key at a time ..... )

Edited September 29, 2010 by keehotee

[+keehotee]

Whoops - another o'them kittens bites the dust

Edited September 29, 2010 by keehotee

[+ratcliffe]

Daft bugger

 

GWS!

[team tisri]

Does being bitten by an adder count?

 

Lesson learned = ALWAYS wear gloves before groping in a hole/under a log for the cache!

 

... which is why I declined to search too far for a cache in a conservation area in central Pennsylvania. They have rattlesnakes and copperheads here

[+abiherts]

Luckily I've not acquired any injuries from caching so far other than being scratched by brambles and frequent nettle stings. I've heard of someone having injured their hand due to a sharp twig becoming imbedded in the skin.

 

There are of course the psychological injuries of having dnf'ed on a cache and reading that others have instantly found the cache or failing to get the all important ftf!

 

I hope Keehotee has better luck in the future.

[+frenchtart]

I managed to fall down some stone steps in Northampton town centre because I was too busy looking at my GPS and not my surroundings. Brusied my ribs and arm badly.Lots of people around but nobody asked me if i needed help.

[+nasogastric]

I was seeking a cache in Cornwall with mr. gastric, me following the GPS, he his common sense. I was crawling under a barbed wire fence, when I heard his excited cry of "found it!". This caused me to abruptly raise my head hitting it with force into said fence. I feltlLike I'd been smashed over the head with a pointy mallet, and both spectacle lenses filled with claret. During the half hour walk back to civilisation I kept thinking of the car crash scene in David Lynch's film "Wild at Heart", convinced my brains were leaking

 

The local A and E glued my head back with superglue and gave me a tetanus jab.

 

I had the cast taken off a broken radius 3 weeks ago, although that was non-cache related. Barney the wonder cache-hound has tripped me up more times than I care to count in muddy conditions with his over enthusiastic proffering of various sticks, causing multiple bruises and injury to dignity. He is a little sod when trying to replace stickoflague, as he thinks it is fun to remove the sticks as you try to replace them

[HolleyR]

Two broken toes. Dont go caching in sandels and get your feet entwined in roots and branches on the ground. Pulled my foot free and SNAP, that was it.

 

Ahhhhh thats horrible my eyes are watering thats just so…horrible!!! Ick!

 

My 2 worse injuries are both barbed wire inflicted. Blindly following my boyfriends phone to a cache in a field. Realised it was in the other field and went to vault a stile, not noticing it was wrapped with barbed wire for some reason!!! My poor hand! Other was rummaging about in some grass and there just happened to be some laying hidden and I nicked my palm. Stung so much!

[+Graculus]

Last weekend in Oxford doing the Constellation series I put my hand into a hawthorn bush to pull out the cache container and got a thorn jabbed into my thumb - the knuckle. Never thought much about it (apart from obvious pain). It started to hurt during the early evening and really hurt later. Couldn't move the thumb at all! 4 hours in casualty for that one. Got an infection in the joint........

 

Chris

[+NickandAliandEliza]

Last weekend in Oxford doing the Constellation series I put my hand into a hawthorn bush to pull out the cache container and got a thorn jabbed into my thumb - the knuckle. Never thought much about it (apart from obvious pain). It started to hurt during the early evening and really hurt later. Couldn't move the thumb at all! 4 hours in casualty for that one. Got an infection in the joint........

 

Chris

 

As a reviewer I don't think it's right that you put yourself into situations that risk personal injury - which potentially prevent you from carrying out your cache publishing duties. Can I make a suggestion that you send MrsB into the bush next time?

[+MBFace]

The cache was in a hole under a flat rock about a foot square and the surrounding grass was wet. In trying to replace the rock I slipped and the bridge of my nose had a close encounter with the edge of it leading to a nosebleed and a repair bill for my glasses. I logged the cache as TN, left blood .

[+Munkeh]

Last weekend in Oxford doing the Constellation series I put my hand into a hawthorn bush to pull out the cache container and got a thorn jabbed into my thumb - the knuckle. Never thought much about it (apart from obvious pain). It started to hurt during the early evening and really hurt later. Couldn't move the thumb at all! 4 hours in casualty for that one. Got an infection in the joint........

 

Chris

 

As a reviewer I don't think it's right that you put yourself into situations that risk personal injury - which potentially prevent you from carrying out your cache publishing duties. Can I make a suggestion that you send MrsB into the bush next time?

 

she came back from oxford not a lot better from what I hear

[+The Blorenges]

Last weekend in Oxford doing the Constellation series I put my hand into a hawthorn bush to pull out the cache container and got a thorn jabbed into my thumb - the knuckle. Never thought much about it (apart from obvious pain). It started to hurt during the early evening and really hurt later. Couldn't move the thumb at all! 4 hours in casualty for that one. Got an infection in the joint........

 

Chris

 

As a reviewer I don't think it's right that you put yourself into situations that risk personal injury - which potentially prevent you from carrying out your cache publishing duties. Can I make a suggestion that you send MrsB into the bush next time?

 

she came back from oxford not a lot better from what I hear

 

I am suffering from a couple of rather weird, itchy swellings - one on my left hand, the other on right foot instep. It may be a slight case of bubonic plague or possible a couple of red ant bites. Either way, I can't claim they were caching related. Fortunately, Graculus was still able to publish caches - he only requires one fully functional index finger to press that Publish button.

 

MrsB

[+Graculus]

Last weekend in Oxford doing the Constellation series I put my hand into a hawthorn bush to pull out the cache container and got a thorn jabbed into my thumb - the knuckle. Never thought much about it (apart from obvious pain). It started to hurt during the early evening and really hurt later. Couldn't move the thumb at all! 4 hours in casualty for that one. Got an infection in the joint........

 

Chris

[+NickandAliandEliza]

Last weekend in Oxford doing the Constellation series I put my hand into a hawthorn bush to pull out the cache container and got a thorn jabbed into my thumb - the knuckle. Never thought much about it (apart from obvious pain). It started to hurt during the early evening and really hurt later. Couldn't move the thumb at all! 4 hours in casualty for that one. Got an infection in the joint........

 

Chris

 

Did you get a bump on the head as well?? (See post # 26 if you've forgotten)

[+Original A1]

I twisted my right knee when I slipped crossing the boulder field coming down Schiehallion. It wasn't exactly a caching trip but it was to scatter a cacher's ashes The injury is still giving me problems after 4 years and key-hole surgery.

Wasn't caching, but Schiehallion did for my left knee 11 years ago, almost to the day. I've probably mentioned it somewhere here before, but I was 1/3 of the way back down, and never fell. However, as you've just mentioned, it's full of boulders which move under your feet and my ligaments went. Have never been the same since, and descents are the worst.

 

 

Fractured radius last week at Higher Bal, 10 in the morning, sober as a judge - I just fell off the wall the cache was hidden in..

 

 

(and you don't want to know how long this has taken to type, left handed, one key at a time ..... )

Is that a TB/GC attached to the plaster? If so, can I discover it please (given I just have!)?!

 

[+HazelS]

Oh bloomin heck - I seem to constantly pull bramble thorns out of my hands...

 

Y'see, I'm just so attracted to falling over whilst caching that there's even a TB in my honour...

 

Clicky Linky to TB page!

 

Now, when out caching, when I fall over, people always say - Oh well... at least now we know it's a proper caching trip!

 

My latest wasn't too bad, tripped over my own foot on a good concrete path, and had two scabby knees, a scabbed elbow and a bruise on my chin for my efforts..... Ho hum!

 

Still.... glad I'm not as bad as Keehotee!!!! (sorry Timmy!)

[Eeyore 1]

Down in Plymouth i think it was, a few years ago, on the day we were moving all my daughters stuff back up north, Mark and I went to do a cache in a country park while she was packing. well the tree was covered in ivy or some such stuff, no prob we found the cache, but then I found first my hand, then my arm then my face swelling up and itching off, I had a very very bad allergic reaction to whatever it was and had to go straight to a chemist for anti histamine tabs, it took over a week to go down and I looked a right mess, hence I will not go foraging in greenery any more.

 

Joan

[+Harry the furry squid]

Got avalanched on the way to the virtual on top of Snowdon, rolled and bounced several hundred feet down the hill, imho very, very lucky to get away with a sore neck and some bruises. And no, I didn't do the cache.

[+The Biffas]

Got avalanched on the way to the virtual on top of Snowdon, rolled and bounced several hundred feet down the hill, imho very, very lucky to get away with a sore neck and some bruises. And no, I didn't do the cache.

 

There will be many cachers who have taken up the hobby in recent years who will not have heard of Billy Twigger, a Scottish cacher who sustained very serious injuries in a fall whilst caching. He never fully recovered from his accident, and , sadly , is no longer with us

[+pendragon9321]

Oh dear - this thread makes me relieved that thorns, nettle sting and a large quantity of mud have been the extent of my adventures so far!!!

 

I have to chuckle at nasogastric's comments re Barney the wonder-cache hound! I have similar problems with caching pup Tyree! Altho his penchant for sticks was a blessing for Stick Around AWhile. His WORST behaviour caused the muddy puddle incident at Are You Addicted To Caching but it seemed appropriate to be soaked thru having been towed into a muddy puddle en route to that one!

Edited October 2, 2010 by pendragon9321

[+Birdman-of-liskatraz]

I had my arm viciously nibbled, three times, by a passing Rottweiler whilst wandering across a park, on my way between two caches.

[Copepod]

Does being bitten by an adder count?

 

Lesson learned = ALWAYS wear gloves before groping in a hole/under a log for the cache!

 

Off topic - I'm very impressed that your Marine Biology course included snake handling! Actually, I had handled snakes when local reptile club members came to tropical fish club in Birmingham. My MB highlight was a sea survival course before going on research cruises on North Sea, plus cycling round Isle of Cumbrae to visit many rocky beaches. Course didn't really help with our major incident when a student went towards bow to be sick (very rough North Sea), then became unconscious leaning over rail, where fortunately she was spotted by another student who pulled her back onto deck, then had to call for help as she landed on top of him. Student was dragged onto a rubber mat on cabin. As there were 2 of us who were qualified nurses, we were left to get on with maintaining airway in a semi-conscious vomiting person, which is a fairly serious situation. Kneeling on metal deck was pretty cold, too. Deckhand was a real star, handing cloths, plastic bags, mugs of hot drink at regular intervals. Biggest challenge was not falling onto casualty, as boat rocked from side to side. All went well until my fellow nurse started being sick, leaving me in sole care. After about 30 mins we reached port, and casualty's sea sickness ceased as soon as she got off the boat. After more hot drinks, everyone was fit and well. However, she never came on another research cruise - and gave a box of liqueur chocolates for all involved to enjoy on river cruise just before Christmas.

[+NickandAliandEliza]

Does being bitten by an adder count?

 

Lesson learned = ALWAYS wear gloves before groping in a hole/under a log for the cache!

 

Off topic - I'm very impressed that your Marine Biology course included snake handling! Actually, I had handled snakes when local reptile club members came to tropical fish club in Birmingham. My MB highlight was a sea survival course before going on research cruises on North Sea, plus cycling round Isle of Cumbrae to visit many rocky beaches. Course didn't really help with our major incident when a student went towards bow to be sick (very rough North Sea), then became unconscious leaning over rail, where fortunately she was spotted by another student who pulled her back onto deck, then had to call for help as she landed on top of him. Student was dragged onto a rubber mat on cabin. As there were 2 of us who were qualified nurses, we were left to get on with maintaining airway in a semi-conscious vomiting person, which is a fairly serious situation. Kneeling on metal deck was pretty cold, too. Deckhand was a real star, handing cloths, plastic bags, mugs of hot drink at regular intervals. Biggest challenge was not falling onto casualty, as boat rocked from side to side. All went well until my fellow nurse started being sick, leaving me in sole care. After about 30 mins we reached port, and casualty's sea sickness ceased as soon as she got off the boat. After more hot drinks, everyone was fit and well. However, she never came on another research cruise - and gave a box of liqueur chocolates for all involved to enjoy on river cruise just before Christmas.

 

..........but did you still find the cache?

[+Cache U Nutter]

A deep 'i can see the bone' cut which was caused whilst carrying out maintenance on one of my extreme caches.[Take your punishment Seaman Staines] - an appropriate cache name I feel

I cut it on a steel beam over a river and I saw the water go red with all the blood !

At least I now have a permanent reminder of the day by way of a 2 inch scar !

Edited October 3, 2010 by Cache U Nutter

[Jester1970]

Last weekend in Oxford doing the Constellation series I put my hand into a hawthorn bush to pull out the cache container and got a thorn jabbed into my thumb - the knuckle. Never thought much about it (apart from obvious pain). It started to hurt during the early evening and really hurt later. Couldn't move the thumb at all! 4 hours in casualty for that one. Got an infection in the joint........

 

Chris

I've had that! Nasty

I slipped and banged my head setting one of my caches. Blood all over my jacket and a surreal night in hospital.

Mind how you go!

[+mickyz]

I fell out of a tree and landed flat on my back []

 

The mechanism of the cache had failed and the only way to get to the cache

was from the tree, and as I made a grab for it the branch

I was standing on gave way and down I went, about 8 feet down

but seemed a lot more. []

 

A nice graze on my back and bruising to go with it.

 

No more 4/5 * caches for me, although the next cache in

woods I did was a 2* and that was in a tree. argh... Ha

[+Alibags]

Fractured radius last week at Higher Bal, 10 in the morning, sober as a judge - I just fell off the wall the cache was hidden in..

 

 

(and you don't want to know how long this has taken to type, left handed, one key at a time ..... )

 

smack in the gob from Alibags too, for nicking her photo

[+Alibags]

(gripping some wood tightly as I say this)

I am lucky that I have never injured myself caching... apart from many unrecoverable injuries to my dignity.

 

I was doing a local cache near a badger set and we had to clamber up a steep slippery bank. Needless to say, I fell over and slid down the bank through all the mud. But then my head and shoulders slid into a large badger hole neatly pinning my arms and as my body was uphill, it was a bit difficult to wiggle myself free.

 

Luckily, there were no badgers at home to chew on my head and, once he had finished laughing at me and composed himself, my caching companion did pull me out.

[+purple_pineapple]

both pineapples currently remain injury free, although MrPP had a near miss last summer while abseiling on Box Hill Quarrys (yes, looking for a cache). very chalky cliff face, and one piece, about the size of a beach ball, dislodged near the top, plummetted straight down on to my head. If I hadn't been wearing a climbing helmet then I doubt very much I would have survived!

 

Considering the extreme caches we do, you'd think there's lot of potential for outrageous injuries, but fortunately the (often) 1 hour preparation time is time well spent!

 

Dave

[+The 5 Raybould Ramblers]

Last year the Ramblers were out with Whitelaws and Dave from DFnJF doing the Mugswell Meander. Dave slipped off the edge of a path and twisted his ankle....but bravely hobbled on for the last mile or so of the walk. He phoned later in the evening to say what a great day it had been and that he had just got home from hospital after breaking his ankle!..............He's only recently been allowed out unaccompanied by JF when we did the other half of the Mugswell series last month but this was following a full health and safety risk assessment and having the Surrey Ambulance Service on standby

[+The_Street_Searchers]

I had this one on one of my caches.

[+purple_pineapple]

Last year the Ramblers were out with Whitelaws and Dave from DFnJF doing the Mugswell Meander. Dave slipped off the edge of a path and twisted his ankle....but bravely hobbled on for the last mile or so of the walk. He phoned later in the evening to say what a great day it had been and that he had just got home from hospital after breaking his ankle!..............He's only recently been allowed out unaccompanied by JF when we did the other half of the Mugswell series last month but this was following a full health and safety risk assessment and having the Surrey Ambulance Service on standby

 

obviously the pineapples remain injury free but pineapple caches are dangerous things! Glad to hear you didn't need the air ambulance last time..!