Garden Injuries

[karstopography]

So, have you gotten injured while working in the garden? This morning, I absentmindedly stabbed my heavy Hoss tools, one of the sharp tines, of the garden fork into my left big toe at the base of the nail. Hard enough to bleed into the sock I had on and crush flesh around the toe. I had canvas shoes on and those might have helped blunt the blow a bit. Anyway, the big toe is still throbbing a little after several hours post impact. Seems like this is the first injury of any note from garden work, besides ordinary aches and pains from being old and maybe a split nail or splinter. I realize that there are a million worse injuries than a hurt toe. Maybe you have your own story to share, might help others to stay alert. I will tell you pay attention to garden tools, even the human powered ones can cause significant pain and suffering.

[pepperhead212]

Sorry to hear about your accident, @karstopography. I hope it heals quickly, and doesn't get at all infected.

You can't stay too careful in the kitchen, workshop, or garden! Or anywhere, for that matter.

[Tormahto]

My mortal enemy, the garden rake, like in this scene...



I've been lucky, as it's zipped by my head a few times, one time just barely clipping an ear, with no harm. I hope that I've finally learned my lesson, and that I'll no longer just drop it anywhere.

I just realized, one of the carrot varieties for trial this year is ...Over the Rainbow.

Now, where did I drop that rake?

[Sue_CT]

Sorry to turn on the nurse in me, but keep some Bacitracin in the cabinet for stuff like that, bacitracin is the only antibiotic ointment available otc that is effective against MRSA. Also, you should get a tetanus if you are not up to date on that, tetanus spores are in the soil. Certainly pass this by "daughter the nurse". Cut my finger once cutting mushrooms, and since they grow in soil, Doc said yes I needed a needed a tetanus. The mushrooms had been rinsed off, so I called him to ask. I do follow my own advise. That had to be 20 years ago. I am not good with keeping that up all the time, but when you have an injury that draws blood by anything contaminated with soil, it is advised. That said, as always, your body, your choice. Hope it feels better soon!

[Tormahto]

I believe that people should call their doctor, along with much welcomed advice from nurses.

Sue, if you feel comfortable talking about it, what are your thoughts on Bacitracin vs a triple antibiotic, like Neosporin?

[Sue_CT]

Bacitracin all the way. None of the triple antibiotics are effective against MRSA. MRSA is one of the most common causes infected wounds require hospitalization. Triple antibiotics were great before MRSA became so common. I used to them myself. Now only Bacitracin. The other ointment that is effective against MRSA is Bactroban, but that requires a prescription. Triple antibiotic is better than nothing. But I would always go with the Bacitracin. This change by the way, came years ago when we were seeing a big increase in MRSA infections, from our head of infectious disease. People who had colonization of MRSA in their nares she would have us swab the nares with bacitracin or Bactroban, can't' remember which now, but when I asked her about the triple antibiotic she advised me to throw it out and get bacitracin. I would have trusted her with my life. She retired 2 years ago, right before COVID. I saw her well into the pandemic and asked if she was saying damn, I missed the biggest infectious disease event of my lifetime, or whew, thank god I retired when I did. She laughed and said a little of both. I really missed having her by my side when COVID hit. But I still rely on what she taught me. Honestly, if you have a triple antibiotic and you get injured, use it until you get the Bacitracin, would be my advise. If I see her again I will ask since neosporin contains bacitracin now, but honestly I would have to compare concentrations and dosages in each to see if the neosporin would be as effective as the pure bacitracin. I will ask her if I see her again. Sometimes infectious disease experts don't like using multiple antibiotics unless necessary because it can promote the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria, so that might have been part of her reasoning. Also, irritation caused by what you are putting on it can make it hard to tell early on if you are reacting to the ingredients which can cause redness and itching, etc. vs an infection. Any serious wound should be seen by a physician not just treated with a topical antibiotic.

I should note that cleaning the wound and keeping it clean and covered is more important than putting anything on it.

[Sue_CT]

Coincidentally, I just remembered, my Mother had a mole removed a couple of weeks ago and she has a remote history of MRSA. I took her to see her primary and she first told her to keep using Bacitracin then decided to give her a prescription for the Bactroban. So I still have yet to see a doctor recommend a triple antibiotic for some reason. We always use bacitracin or bactroban at the hospital for some reason. Matter of fact it was also recommended recently by a wound care nurse for a minor skin wound on a patient. I doubt if you tolerate Neomycin fine and there are no signs of infection and you don't have any history of MRSA, anyone would tell you it was bad to use the neomycin, they would probably just say if you already have it and you want to use it, that's fine. Just watch for signs of infection. I think you can probably tell, I am writing this as I think about it, lol.

Update: I was able to look up the labels and neosporin contains a lower dose of bacitracin, about 20% less.

[zeuspaul]

About 30 years ago I stabbed the top of my foot with a garden fork...ouch! I remember it hurting for several weeks. I recall drinking some kind of tea blend and the pain went away for a few hours. I never made note of what kind of tea blend it was. I only know it was Celestial Seasonings.

[worth1]

I stepped on a pop top and blew out my flip flop.

[bower]

Ditto the rake nemesis here. I actually did myself a serious blow with it once, but not while gardening, it was at night. It was stood up by the back door, and we were putting in a fire for a halloween party. I trod on the rake while going to the door, and ended up with a big goose egg over one eye. Yeah, the halloween that I didn't need a costume. Very mindful of where and how the rake is put away ever since.

For small and shallow cuts in the garden I use a fresh sage leaf under a bandaid or piece of tape as first aid. The sage cleans the wound and seems to prevent anything like an infection, but will heal the cut open, so is only for the first day.
The big risk for a cut of any size in the garden, is tetanus or other getting in under the skin. My Dad always used to say if it bleeds a bit at first it's good, because it's washing out whatever may have gotten in there. The more dangerous cuts are those that don't bleed much and are driven deeper in... My Dad was a medic in WWII - boiling water was the go to for infected wounds. Boiled and applied 'as hot as you can stand' either to soak the affected part or apply as a compress. Any small gardening wound that didn't bleed would get a hot soak before a bandage.
But in this day and age, you should definitely get that looked at by a doctor! Even if you have topical antibiotics for first aid.

I've had several crushing (not wounding) injuries to the feet - one involving a horse, another a big spruce tree - and it can take you out of service for months. So please do see your doctor and make sure it gets proper care right away.

[pondgardener]

My worst garden injuries involved the use of a pruning saw. Over thirty years ago, I had a lot of fruit trees that needed periodic pruning. And it seemed that no matter how careful I was, I ended up ripping the flesh off a number of fingers. Now I have just a single tree where we moved to and my wife still gets concerned when I want to remove some bigger limbs.

[Yak54]

I stepped on a pop top and blew out my flip flop.

I picked a tomato that was so big I got a double hernia carrying it to the house

[Julianna]

I weed whacked the top of my foot once. It went through ny shoe and then into.my foot. That was fun.

[Sue_CT]

Ouch. Can't say I have had many wounds from gardening other than a sore back and other muscles, a bit of a turned ankle from stepping on uneven grass, lol. But I wish I hadn't gotten rid of the picture I took of the 12-15 foot branch that fell off my neighbors tree and the pointy end of the 3+" thick branch where it broke off from the tree impaled itself with such force into the ground right along the edge of my garden it was standing up instead of laying on the ground. I remember looking at it and thinking, OMG, if I had been gardening in that spot when it fell I probably would be in the hospital or dead. It took some pulling to get it out of the ground so I could cut it up.

[rxkeith]

i was roto tilling the garden one year, we have a front tine tiller.
things were going along well until i leaned into the tiller at the wrong time.
the tiller bucked unexpectedly, and struck a sharp blow to my lower rib cage on
the right side, knocking the wind clean out of me. i hunkered over with my hands on
my knees to catch my breath. that didn't work, so i ended up on the ground on all fours
until i could get my wits back, and assess the damage. nothing broken, but lordy mercy
did that ever hurt. i was helpless as could be for several minutes.


keith

[Growing Coastal]

Ditto the rake nemesis here. I actually did myself a serious blow with it once, but not while gardening, it was at night. It was stood up by the back door, and we were putting in a fire for a halloween party. I trod on the rake while going to the door, and ended up with a big goose egg over one eye. Yeah, the halloween that I didn't need a costume. Very mindful of where and how the rake is put away ever since.

For small and shallow cuts in the garden I use a fresh sage leaf under a bandaid or piece of tape as first aid. The sage cleans the wound and seems to prevent anything like an infection, but will heal the cut open, so is only for the first day.
The big risk for a cut of any size in the garden, is tetanus or other getting in under the skin. My Dad always used to say if it bleeds a bit at first it's good, because it's washing out whatever may have gotten in there. The more dangerous cuts are those that don't bleed much and are driven deeper in... My Dad was a medic in WWII - boiling water was the go to for infected wounds. Boiled and applied 'as hot as you can stand' either to soak the affected part or apply as a compress. Any small gardening wound that didn't bleed would get a hot soak before a bandage.
But in this day and age, you should definitely get that looked at by a doctor! Even if you have topical antibiotics for first aid.

I've had several crushing (not wounding) injuries to the feet - one involving a horse, another a big spruce tree - and it can take you out of service for months. So please do see your doctor and make sure it gets proper care right away.

Hot water and salt. Salt water is my first got to for small infections and even as an eye rinse. When I was a kid I had an infected finger from a graze by a dog's tooth. I was feeding him tasty bits and he got a bit excited. By the time we saw the doc on Monday the infection had gone away after much soaking in epsom salts water. The nail eventually fell off and regrew so it was quite infected. The doc said there was nothing further required.

[Sue_CT]

Salt water is good for wounds.

[zeuspaul]

A string trimmer with string or a blade?

I weed whacked the top of my foot once. It went through ny shoe and then into.my foot. That was fun.

[Julianna]

A string trimmer with string or a blade?

I weed whacked the top of my foot once. It went through ny shoe and then into.my foot. That was fun.

String. It bled a lot but was maybe only 1/8 inch deep since my shoe took most of the force.

[Tormahto]

Salt water is good for wounds.

As in sterile saline solution, correct? I still have a few supplies left over from visiting nurses that treated my mom. The pressurized saline wound wash will now be thrown out, as I found an expiration date of 2018.

There are online "recipes" for making one's own. If one does, keep everything sterile. My info says that a 0.9% sodium chloride solution would be ideal.

Sue, I'd like to thank you for the Bacitracin info. Next time I shop, I'll be getting some. It's something to have in a first aid kit. The not so funny thing, is that with all of the visiting nurses working with my mother, I asked them all what they had in a first aid kit (with my understanding that a store bought all-in-one kit is basically junk). All of the nurses were honest, and said they didn't have a first aid kit at home, and never thought about what to have in one.