Riding after Traumatic Brain Injury

[AKmotorider]

So guys, I need some input from someone who has suffered a debilitating head injury, or TBI. A mild concussion doesn't count. TBI is essentially a concussion, but far worse. To put things into perspective, I was in a coma for five days after my motorcycle accident (this was on the street). Am I saying that you need to have gone through the same thing? No. However, I would like some input from someone who has suffered a debilitating injury, maybe just an injury of any kind, and had to make the decision about whether to ride the following year.

I'm twenty-one years old, and have raced motocross every summer since I was fourteen old. It makes me feel... well, I'm not really sure how to describe it. My life is rather mundane, but when I get on that bike and race, I feel alive and in control for however long I'm riding it. I live in Alaska, by the way, so summer is like five months max.

Point is, the injury will not be the hardest thing I've ever had to go through, if I do indeed decide to stay off the dirt bike this summer. The hardest thing, guaranteed, that I will have gone though, is to have stayed off the bike this summer. It is one of the very few things I truly love in life, and I fervently look forward to it every year. I do nothing in the winter.

Buuuut, and this is a big but, I'm also not an idiot. My brain injury occurred in very late September of last year. If you all think it's more than just wise, but critical, to stay off the bike this year, just like my doctor thinks (but you know doctors... always over-protective of your physical health, like parents), then I will stay off of it this year. Looking up at that bright sun, experiencing the peak of summer greatness, it will undoubtedly be monumentally difficult to put riding into the back of my mind, but I can do it.

What do you think?

Thanks!

 

[2strokesteve89]

My daughter took a couple of dingers during the same year at the anchorage track, one of which knocked her out for a couple minutes, that winter she had noticeable memory loss, headaches, and problems with focusing at work (as a pharmacy tech) that was 4 years ago and the symptoms have dissipated, however she she still has the headaches. For the most part she has quit the track as crashing on the jumps are what caused all this to begin with. Now she has concentrated on trail riding and has become a damn good rider. But she has given up air time, because one more dinger and it could be serious.

 

[Trfsrfr]

I have never had a TBI, but have been seriously injured while skydiving.
I too asked the doctor when I could jump again, and he said "I dont recommend you do that".
In my mind if you're asking the question...then maybe you already have your answer.
Just my $.02.

 

[2Wheels]

If you love riding you always will. It will be just as fun as you remember when you decide to have another go. The time between rides isn't down time, it's just time, how you spend it is up to you.

 

[Trfsrfr]

If you love riding you always will. It will be just as fun as you remember when you decide to have another go. The time between rides isn't down time, it's just time, how you spend it is up to you.

I agree with this as well. You'll know if it's right, or not right.
You're a big boy. You know the risks.
I've made 2500 jumps since my doc said I shouldn't.

 

[Mihylo33]

This is a serious injury and you should take the year off with continued cat scans.

 

[Trfsrfr]

This is a serious injury and you should take the year off with continued cat scans.

I dont disagree with this statement, but I totally disagree with western medicine.
I casted up my own broken fibula in my garage in 2013 (skydiving injury (not the serious one I mentioned above but another after)) cuz of no health insurance, but I watched a doc cast up my other broken ankle when I was 14 and thought "thats all there is to it?!" so I had an idea of what needed to be done.
No problems since.
I suggest that you will know if it's right or not. The body has it's own warning system.
But to be safe, if you can, just take a year off and get rid of the question.
If you've been doing it as long as you have, then you've been there, done that.
A year wont hurt.
Hell, if I never made another skydive, I'm all good. I've made 4500, which is about 4499 more than most.
Again, been there, done that.
Also - time off from anything makes you appreciate it more when you come back.

 

[Rolls]

If I understand your post correctly, the doctor isn't saying to stop riding permanently, just that it's too soon to start up again. I would follow that advice. Broken bones are pretty simple. The brain is a whole lot more complex. Definitely error on the side of caution.

 

[MikeinFresno]

I would think that motion sickness/dizziness could be an issue. If you can do some things that could possibly get you into a situation like that then maybe it will give you an idea of how you might fair on a bike. Something like a amusement ride that spins, roller coaster, etc.

 

[Trfsrfr]

I would think that motion sickness/dizziness could be an issue. If you can do some things that could possibly get you into a situation like that then maybe it will give you an idea of how you might fair on a bike. Something like a amusement ride that spins, roller coaster, etc.

I like Mike's thinking here.
Go for a "test ride" on something else first, and see what happens and how you react.
Dont just jump in 100% first thing.
I think that is great advice.

 

[AKmotorider]

My daughter took a couple of dingers during the same year at the anchorage track, one of which knocked her out for a couple minutes, that winter she had noticeable memory loss, headaches, and problems with focusing at work (as a pharmacy tech) that was 4 years ago and the symptoms have dissipated, however she she still has the headaches. For the most part she has quit the track as crashing on the jumps are what caused all this to begin with. Now she has concentrated on trail riding and has become a damn good rider. But she has given up air time, because one more dinger and it could be serious.

Pharmacy tech? Funny, my roommate works at Geneva Woods, and I was looking into getting a part-time job there as a pharmacy tech. I currently work in optics as an optical lab tech, and have been for two years now.

That's a shame she has suffered head injuries, especially on dirt. Even though I suffered an injury on the street that put me in a coma, I have never suffered a serious injury on the dirt, much less a serious brain injury. I've never gotten a concussion on the dirt at all. The only time I've gotten a concussion, which just so happened to make me momentarily lose consciousness, was while snowboarding.

I've contemplated giving up motocross, i.e. the track, considerably since the accident, but it is so deeply ingrained in me that I'm just not sure it would be a smart thing for me to do, even if I could. I cannot presently imagine a life without motocross. The big jumps and racing make me feel alive. But at what cost?

On a side note, interestingly enough, I haven't had a single headache since the injury. I used to get migraines as a child/teenager, but haven't had many as an adult, and they don't seem to have popped up since the injury, so that's good. I'm not sure why I haven't had any, though. I've had lots of other mental problems, like a really strange case of OCD and anxiety that isn't founded, along with minor short-term memory loss.

 

[AKmotorider]

I would think that motion sickness/dizziness could be an issue. If you can do some things that could possibly get you into a situation like that then maybe it will give you an idea of how you might fair on a bike. Something like a amusement ride that spins, roller coaster, etc.

Mike, I didn't think of that. You're right, it might be an issue, but so far I haven't been able to test it. Thank you, I'm going to take you up on your advice.

 

[AKmotorider]

Rolls, you do understand that correctly. The doctor simply said to take this summer off, but to give up street riding completely.

Trfsrfr, that's a lot of jumps! Wow! I've only been skydiving once, and man was it an adrenaline rush! Like, wow! I don't think anything I've ever done compares to the feeling of jumping out of an airplane.

Also, thank you, everyone, for all of your advice. You guys are right, as much as I love riding, I should take this year off, at least. I have learned, and continue learning, that the brain is inconceivably complex, and that it controls just about everything overseeing the function of the body's many, many processes that often go on in the background without our knowledge.

 

[ossagp]

Well, sooner or later you are going to give up being a "racer". I mean I can name people who are probably still going out to the track you mention, and still riding around and signing up and paying entry fees. At the point you got hurt, you were still growing as a racer (I am betting). So you feel you are going to short change yourself if you don't go back to it. Very understandable. You may be the exception. I thought I was. When I was 12 I was put into a coma in a 'friendly' fight. My skull was fractured and the bone depressed and settled against the brain with all the abrasions and bruises that come with that. I fought again. I boxed again. Never thought about what could happen.

When I was 17 I started racing and did well (I lived in calif then). When I was 20 I got hit by another bike (first trun crash). My legs went numb, feet went numb, I couldn't stand and I was afraid to talk. About the time they got everything untangled I was lifted up and my friend told me he had my bike running and almost put me on it. I could feel my feet by then, but my head was not exactly working. I rolled to the line, we restarted (TT race) and I ended up 3rd and went home. My next race was 7 weeks later, and I hadn't forgotten about that feeling or how much it hurt to move for weeks. I went over a jump practicing for a race in West Germany, landed badly and roughly, and my legs were lost to me. I didn't crash, but fell over when I stopped since my legs weren't working. That time I went to a hospital. Broken transverses and disks split horizontally. I went back to racing, but it was never far from my mind. I went at it for two more years, still in the pro and expert class. I wasn't really a racer anymore. I just couldn't get past that feeling. I have been back on various kinds of tracks, but each time I think about what can happen and I just don't feel like pushing the envelope anymore. 46 years hasn't erased that, or the fun and the faith I had in myself. Maybe it kept me alive.

We all know our time to get out is going to come. There isn't a number you can put on it, if you are me. Maybe it is time for you to find a new way to enjoy a motorcycle with less risk. Maybe it staying off the street. Maybe it is time to find that thing you will try to replace motocross with. Good luck, and I am not hard to find.

Andy Thickstun

 

[bweighmaster]

I myself took off almost ten years , Had to learn how to walk all over again . Full year in bed , only to restroom , just to the left of bed , about 8 ft. Away ,then back on bed . Almost three years of self rehab , took 4 wheeler to get around at work . On crutches for almost a year . Couldn't even go to our own stock car track to see my own car run . Lots of time up and down bleachers , almost unbearable pain , did not quit !!! Finally got back in car after 5 yrs. Such joy !! Last year i went to local shop looking for a ride , found nice , freshly rebuilt drz 125 did not hesitate !!, let's GO!,!!! Now back to riding mx track , 4 wheeler track and enduro trails. !!!! Take your time , you will know when it is time !!!, Good Luck , !!, Bernard.......