I thought that I could jump it

[Tormato]

The other day, I took a short walk through the local woods on the dog walking/mountain biking/dirt biking trails. The latest is e-mountain biking. I do this about once a week to keep one section of the trail safe, by removing any fallen tree limbs, cutting back thorny bushes, etc...

So, this one section is basically a gully where heavy rains accumulate. And the lowest section of the gully erodes very quickly, creating a deeper narrower gully, with about a 4 foot drop off from the initial gully. This secondary gully expands about 3 feet each year into the upper gully. All of the people who use the trail, cross it just above the drop off. So, I am continually throwing debris into the drop off so that there is a visible sign to not go any further. The drop off is not vertical, as it has an unknown undercut bank to it. Me being me, I tried to take the shortest route in getting from one side to the other, by jumping over the undercut bank. I miscalculated, but won't go into detail.

I sprained my wrist on my writing hand, the one where I've been having severe cramps, and can't really hold a pen, or it will immediately start to cramp up. The wrist is still a bit sore, never any swelling, but the cramps...they have gone away.

And, I'm only a week into having senior moments.

[rxkeith]

our minds are still young, but our bodies are not.
there is still a lot we CAN do. it just takes longer to
recover from some of them. then there are the things
we THINK we can do, and try to do, that don't always
work out so good. we need to listen more to that inner
voice. i am in the same boat. hope your recovery is quick
and uneventful.


keith

[GoDawgs]

our minds are still young, but our bodies are not.
there is still a lot we CAN do. it just takes longer to
recover from some of them. then there are the things
we THINK we can do, and try to do, that don't always
work out so good. we need to listen more to that inner
voice.

keith

Oh, I've been there a while and still sometimes doing that. I've been listening closer to that little inner voice a lot of the time now but not always. We won't go there!

@Tormato, I wish you steady recovery!

[MissS]

That's the hard way to make those cramps disappear. Although I'm glad that your wrist is better now.

[karstopography]

Sorry about the injury. I can definitely relate.

[bower]

I'm just a few months ahead of you in the 'officially senior' status, but I've already run into problems for the past several years.
Exactly what Keith said. In my mind I'm young as ever and can do all the same feats.. you don't see the injury coming.

WRT fixing an injury and preventing the repeat, you can take the injury as an opportunity to learn more about maintenance for your wrist, especially since you had trouble already. Once you're past the pain stage, physio exercises are great, and there's lots to see online, find the ones that suit. There are diagnostics as well to figure out which exercise is for you.
This is what I'm doing for the various body parts I've injured or keep having trouble with.
Basically, things I took for granted now need deliberate maintenance.

A couple of years ago I had a sprained arm and lost the use of my hand for a week, that was actually caused by my sleeping position. I still have to remind myself at times, not to twist my arm and lay my palm flat when going to sleep. The physio I found online was a saving grace, I would not have known what to do to first heal (find the no pain position and stay there) and then rebuild the injured bits with exercise. I never do as many repeats as they tell you, but it still helps to do a few here and there.

Some examples of wrist physio for a sprain, easy to do with no special gear:

[bower]

Here's a channel I've seen before and really like the advice. Longer and more detailed for long term maintenance and strengthening the wrist. It's sadly true, I pretty much need an injury to keep me immobilized long enough to watch an 11 minute video.

[AKgardener]

I hope for a speedy recovery.. we all do things we think we still can do ..

[PlainJane]

We’ve all been there. It’s the mountain goat gene still floating around in our DNA that I blame.

[Cole_Robbie]

My own handwriting keeps getting worse. I'm glad I finally broke down and bought a label maker.

[crunch1224]

I used to be a concrete finisher way back in the day, and tore something in my shoulder/arm to the point where I couldn't use it worth a damn. So I learned how to finish concrete with my other arm and many other things. I eventually healed up after about 8 months and could use my arm again. I found out that by using my other arm for so long I could finish concrete with both arms equally well, and I could go all day without getting tired by switching out arms doing stuff. In the end it just made me a better worker, kinda of a mixed blessing you could say.

[Tormato]

My own handwriting keeps getting worse. I'm glad I finally broke down and bought a label maker.

We have a (retired) pharmacist in the MMMM swap.who hand writes labels on his seed packets. And, he doesn't even make the top three for worst penmanship. The worst writing almost always goes on a pack of seeds with a long Russian name that is hard to read even if it had a printed label.

And this year, the cake goes to hand written labels, with the longest and most detailed information, fitting into 1"X 1" zip baggies.

[Stitchingmom]

I hope you feel better soon.

[Julianna]

Oh no! I hope you recover soon.

[peebee]

If you injured your writing hand you must be tapping out your messages with the other; been there, what a pain! Hope you back to normal soon!

[Acer Rubrum]

Oh, that's rough. I hope you feel better soon.

I will say it's not strictly an age related thing, though. I managed to hurt myself by miscalculating something like that when I was in my thirties. I had bruises for a while and also young kids who thought nothing of just flopping down on top of me at random times. So that was fun.

I don't know if it will help, but my dad swore by turmeric to reduce inflammation when he was recovering from a shoulder injury. He'd make up the capsules himself and stain his fingers yellow, lol. But it seemed to work for him.

[worth1]

I haven't jumped a gully or anything like it since I was in my teens.
Seen too many people get hurt growing up doing crazy stuff.
Not saying anyone is stupid here but you have to look at the results of your actions.
What would be the outcome if you fail your attempt.
In my situation growing up in the forest I was miles away from anyone and if I got hurt by not being really careful I could end up in a really bad situation and possibly even freezing to death.
Then there are rattlesnakes to look out for in the summer.
It's pretty obvious on these survivor shows where someone is miles away from anything and they are jumping from rock to rock in a river or off a cliff that it's all fake.
No one in their right mind would do something like that in the wilderness.

[karstopography]

There are old jumpers and bold jumpers, but no old, bold jumpers.

[Sue_CT]

Took a bad fall myself recently, so I sympathize. In my case fortunately I hit my head, which just so happens to be the hardest part of my body, lol. Taking the “short cut” is what usually gets me in trouble. Hope you feel better soon and those cramps don’t come back. You may have inadvertently been your own chiropractor and cured the problem!

[Tormato]

I haven't jumped a gully or anything like it since I was in my teens.
Seen too many people get hurt growing up doing crazy stuff.
Not saying anyone is stupid here but you have to look at the results of your actions.
What would be the outcome if you fail your attempt.
In my situation growing up in the forest I was miles away from anyone and if I got hurt by not being really careful I could end up in a really bad situation and possibly even freezing to death.
Then there are rattlesnakes to look out for in the summer.
It's pretty obvious on these survivor shows where someone is miles away from anything and they are jumping from rock to rock in a river or off a cliff that it's all fake.
No one in their right mind would do something like that in the wilderness.

The outcome of my attempt could have been much worse if I had jumped about another 6 inches forward.

As it was, I landed right over the edge of the unseen undercut bank, with my leg plummeting through about a 6 inch layer of sand, with about a 4 foot air space below that. I went in up to about mid-thigh, my other leg landing with my knee on solid ground. If I had landed with the front of my foot on solid ground and the back of my foot over the undercut, I likely would have fallen backwards into the log strewn gully.

I briefly visited the path yesterday evening. A motorcycle had just recently crossed to the other side of the path. That part of the path is now about 1 foot lower than before. I think that there is a shallower undercut than runs several feet further up than the deep undercut. In a few weeks it's clearing a new section of path about 40 feet further up from the present one. That should last about a decade. I need more logs. For now, I think that I'll quickly cut down a couple of small white pines, and drag them over, to block the dangerous area. And, the thorn bushes are starting to leaf out, so it's bringing a bow saw and pruners, next visit.

In those survivor shows, there is always a crew filming, and a medic nearby.