The best cure for road rash is....wait for it...
prevention. I have discovered that by not racing at all, and doing 75% of my training solo or in a very small group, I have completely cured my road rash troubles.
Okay, I know this isn't the answer. We aren't going to stop racing, and we aren't going to stop doing the 7am Saturday rides or the Sunday Bicycle Place thing. It is just too much fun. The fun ends, however, when you feel the asphalt peeling off sequential layers of epithelium and exposing denuded nerve endings. The fun is
definitely over when you lie down in bed that night and try to sleep, and you feel every little particle of movement over these freshly uncovered nerve endings. Wow, does that build character.
While I have found my own cure for road rash in the abstinence category, I have been closely entangled in the dilemma of others. I am one of the ORs (officer representatives) for the West Point collegiate cycling team. Essentially, I am their den mother. I chaperon them on trips (that means free trips to Fort Collins, CO for nationals and the like), I mentor them, and I clean up their boo-boos. This last task isn't really a function of being their OR, but more a function of being their Physical Therapist. Almost every Monday morning during the collegiate road racing season I had a cadet waiting for me at sick call with some oozing wound somewhere. They came to me because I had
the goods.
The best road rash treatment I have found is some type of
occlusive dressing. An occlusive dressing is an air- and water-tight trauma dressing used in first aid. These dressings are generally made with a waxy coating so as to provide a total seal, and as a result do not have the absorbent properties of gauze pads. (wikipedia) The most well-known occlusive dressing is Tegaderm, a product by 3M (interestingly enough they also produce the
adhesive spray I use to stick my numbers to my kit during cross season, a miracle in itself!). Tegaderm makes a variety of products, but the one that is most useful for road rash is the
hydrocolloid type. Duoderm is another product with the same properties. This is an occlusive dressing that offers some absorption. If you are oozing (and most of us ooze), this is the type that is best for you. The other type is a
transparent film. This works very well also, but you will have to change it more frequently (they can be left on for up to 7 days, or until they start to leak, which is usually in a day or so).
The beauty of the occlusive dressing is simple -
it will take your pain away. This truly is a miracle. The minute you slap on one of these babies, you will be pain free (provided you have no broken bones, etc). Some of the other amazing benefits of an occlusive dressing:
- They allow your wound to heal from the inside out, no scabbing, so minimal to no scarring
- They are adhesive, so you don't need to stick them on with tape, etc.
- They come off easily, so there is no 40 Year Old Virgin Kelly Clarkson waxing effect.
- The barrier they provide will minimize the risk of infection, provided the wound is well cleaned when they are applied.
These wound care products are available commercially at pharmacies like CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens. They are not cheap. I guarantee you, however, that you will consider the expense a worthy one when you stick it over your screaming nerve endings.
