Lovely. That's the word that best describes how it is catching up with Lorraine these days. This is my first time speaking to her since her accident, and, if anything, her English is better than before. It has become a terminally endearing blend of Swiss-Yorkshire English that is as unique as Lorraine. With the five hours in the car to get home from where she lives near Verbier, Switzerland, there is plenty of time to reflect and try and wrap my head around the right words. The cliché would be to say it's hard to talk to her, but that's bullshit. Mainly because it's not hard to chat with her. She's still fun, intelligent and full of life. She is still the pocket rocket. When we are finished with the photos she is eager to show off how she can skid her electric wheelchair. After an hour she is too tired to carry on speaking, she needs sleep. I climb into my car, put some good music on and hit the road homewards. Lorraine may never be able to do those things again. My side of things looks pretty easy when you look at it like that.
Imagine being young.
Those years in your early twenties are some of the best in this life. The awkward teenage years are starting to slip behind you and your future rolls out ahead of you like a thundercloud.
Imagine you're talented.
Not just in one direction, but two. Not only are you one of the best up and coming racers in the world, excitedly planning your races at the EWS and the World Cup DH, but you just landed your dream job as an engineer for BMC.
Now imagine crashing.
Not a big one, you can walk away from it, but you hit your head. Nothing seems broken so you keep going. The EWS is just days away and you can barely contain your excitement. You know, if you're honest with yourself, that something is not quite right. But you're too excited to slow down, you can still ride, still race. So you do. It feels so good.
Imagine crashing again.
You're at the EWS this time and again you hit your head and, again, it doesn't seem too bad. You even finish your run. Then the symptoms start...
This is when the nightmare begins.
"It was really hard to accept what was happening," Lorraine recalls. "I'm not saying that if you get paralyzed in a crash you accept it, but you know straight away. If you listen to the
TED Talk by Martyn Ashton, he said he was in the MRI and knew it. I thought I would be back on my bike for the next race. It could have been I recovered very fast. My doctor said, 'Okay, not the next race, but maybe the one after.' He went on like that for a couple of months when we were really hoping I would recover really fast. It didn't happen." That is one of the harshest realities of living with a brain injury, it is a field of medicine where uncertainty is the norm. There is no x-ray, MRI or ultrasound to check how damaged your brain is. Everyone responds differently, so what may have worked for one patient may be completely useless for another. You are thrust into a world where the prognosis is unclear and the future unpromised.
"Because I look ‘normal,’ I feel ashamed of how much I struggle. I never say anything and simply try to deal with it." When Lorraine tells you that, it's hard for your heart not to break for her. Then she goes on to explain the full depth of her symptoms and it is impossible to know what to say. "First there are the physical symptoms. Those are easier to explain, as these are things people can imagine. I have headaches all the time. I have kind of got used to it and with the medication and rest management, it is mostly at a level that I can tolerate. When it gets too much a silent dark room is still the solution. I also am nauseous most of the time. Here, too, it has become ok to just live with it. It just gets hard when I vomit or when the nausea is really strong in the night. Both of those symptoms are very sensitive to outside stimulation and cognitive effort."
"I also have a right side paresis, which is like a ‘soft’ version of a paralysis. It means that the function of my brain that controls my right side is not automatic anymore, so moving can get really difficult. I also don’t feel this side very well. It's as if a chunk of me was missing, or more precisely was not solid anymore. It can be quite tough because I can see that I have a right side, but my brain doesn't know it is there. For example, if I look down I often feel like my right leg is a prosthetic."
"Then there are all the symptoms that are much harder to explain in a way that people without a brain injury can understand. I call them 'scrambled eggs brain'. It's as if it all is mixed in my head. I know it is there, but I don't know how to access it and it can take a tremendous amount of energy to do so. It means that most of the time I feel lost, I am easily distracted and absent. I feel like I am in a fog and things that were natural can become a challenge. For me, this is really hard because it is constant. There is no way out.
"Finally my brain has a really hard time processing stimulation. A noise, a touch, a fast motion of my head or some little thing can be exhausting. It means that even if I still want to do a thousand things it is just not possible because it is always too much and even in a really protected environment my brain's fuel tank empties at an unimaginable rate. All of this is even harder to live with because it is ‘invisible’. If you have a broken shoulder, people will know not to tap on it but no one can see that I cannot stand the lightest of touches on my right side."
A life that was not long ago full of plans to travel the world, chase dreams and live every single second is now caged. Every night she needs 12-14 hours sleep just to recover from the day before. Reduced to a small radius around her home, constrained by the constant need to rest, rehab and medicate. It has also taken her bikes away from her. "If you injure your leg or something, you find a way to work around it and still follow your dream, you can still do something. With my brain injury, it isn't possible, working around anything isn't possible. Biking is not possible for me just now, because moving on a bike is so difficult. I'm doing a bit on a balance bike, like a kid. We've taken away the pedalling part, but even with that, after a minute or two, I'm just like, 'oof, that's pretty hard.' But just that feeling of the handlebars, just your hand on the grip, that's really good. I can skid a bit, which is quite nice. It's still the dream."
Lorraine doesn't like to dwell on the negatives. She acknowledges that there have been some "really, really, really tough moments," but doesn't linger on the topic. Aside from the physical symptoms of her injury, there is a huge emotional side – it is well-documented that brain trauma can lead to difficulties regulating emotions and depression. Add to that mix the obvious chance of situational depression – the kind of depression triggered by a life event, like a life-changing injury – then it is hard to imagine how she hasn't had to deal with life when it is as dark as it can get.
Asking her if she has any advice for young racers, her reply is the perfect reminder that although she's struggling, the same, smart Lorraine is still there underneath the symptoms. "To a young rider, I think I would say that if you hit your head, even though you can keep riding, you're actually not riding well. Because if you tell a young rider 'you might have problems in the future,' I don't know, I think the will to go riding is bigger than anything that might happen in the future. I think telling them, 'you would ride much better if you stop for a week or two than if you keep trying and pushing through the symptoms.' I think that hopefully is a message that will get through to them.
"I think to any rider who's really serious about competing, I would say, 'before anything happens, find a sports doctor. Just go, present yourself, so you know you've got one if something happens, like a concussion. In the ER they're just going to check that you're not going to die... The ER doctors are just going to send you away. Having a doctor who knows about concussion and brain injuries and that you can feel okay to go to and tell what's happening, I think that's something we should have."
Leaving, it is hard not lapse back into bullshit clichés. What you really want to tell her is "it's going to be ok, it's going to get better." But you cannot because no matter how much you may wish things were going to get better for her, the truth is that Lorraine doesn't know what the future holds. Medical science has little to offer. Miracles only happen on TV. The only certainty is hard work and, if she's lucky, a little progress. I admit this to Lorraine. Her reply will stay with me for the rest of my life.
"That's actually a really nice thing to say because for me it's much more touching to have someone saying this to me than someone telling me, 'Oh, you'll be all right,' and then walking away. For them, that's it. They walked away and it's finished. They start their life again. While I'm just stuck like this..."
If you would like to help Lorraine out then please check out the Just Giving page:
www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/matt-baggs
At the end of that week everything "snapped" back together. I know this because there was a clear moment while setting on the couch where I could remember things again. The crash and resulting brain injury cost me at least 3 days of memory before the event plus 7-8 days post crash. The crazy thing was that because I couldn't remember the crash I had no associated fear in my mind to slow me down, so when I got back on the bike I was just as fast as before.
I now purposely slow myself down on rides, I no longer chase any type of KOM, my taste in bikes has changed, and biking overall has moved from an obsession to a simple hobby that I enjoy when time allows instead of rearranging everything to ensure I can ride. I still don't know what the total cost of the crash was or will be; maybe I'm not as smart as I once was, maybe one day I will suffer some new condition that stems from brain injuries suffered in youth, etc...
The whole biking community owes Lorraine a major debt. By sharing her story she is giving each and every person who has never experienced this type of injury the gift of perspective without the direct experience. Often times in life we think that experience is what grants people wisdom, but most often it is the perspective gained through experience or learning from others that benefits us the most when making fateful decisions. Thank you Lorraine for doing this and keep up the fight, you are an inspiration. Thank you Matt for shining a light into the dark corners of our hobby.
"The whole biking community owes Lorraine a major debt. By sharing her story she is giving each and every person who has never experienced this type of injury the gift of perspective without the direct experience. Often times in life we think that experience is what grants people wisdom, but most often it is the perspective gained through experience or learning from others that benefits us the most when making fateful decisions. Thank you Lorraine for doing this and keep up the fight, you are an inspiration. Thank you Matt for shining a light into the dark corners of our hobby.”
Now I completely fine and recovery and back on my bike, as you, I couldn't remember the crash I had so no associated fear in my mind to slow me down. However, life is not only bikes so now when I ride I enjoy the lines but don’t pushing my limits. In addition, I use a Full face (at least when I go down). I sure if I were the full face during my accident the consequence where less. So maybe sharing my story as yours and hers could help others to prevent accident. Cheers
There is always someone worse off no matter how tough is is at the moment.
I'll keep doing my best with rehab and I am also trying hard to learn how to live "happy" with my broken brain...
Keep spreading Brain Injury Awareness.. our sport need it!
But all I am thinking about is that this is an easy part. The thing is, how to grow up to a situation when someone else takes a hit, how to tell him/ her, it's over for today, maybe weekend, maybe even week man/woman. And what to do with a stranger who just hit their head against a tree? How do we break the stoke, ride and beers, and take a bold stance: "you should call it a day pal". All that and then we put ourselves at risk of becoming an a*shole/bitch. Probably to everyone around. It's a damn hard situation to put yourself into in a sport where "have fun, get rad, be tough" can have a rather unpleasant spin to it where it becomes a grudge.
Any thoughts?
But, any day, I'll take the "risk of becoming an a*shole/bitch" against the risk of someone having a preventable brain injury. To not do call it out is simply a failure of courage, in my opinion.
In my private ride groups I am really ok with telling my buddys to stop going on if its necessary. I am old enough for that now.
Anyways im sure nothing will change, it's 2018, some people still don't use their belt when driving, people are still driving drunk, smoking, still not using condoms, why would they start wearing helmets?
After a few months in the Alps, I realised that wasn't the best policy. Everyone has an epiphany at some point. The more you're exposed to the idea of a helmet being mandatory, the more likely you are to get on board. Hopefully, that's before you smash your skull in.
I mean, the best freeskiers, bmxers, skateboarders are still not wearing a helmet. Somehow the mountainbike pros made wearing helmet look cool and now everyone under 50 ride mtb with a helmet. I wonder why this happened only in mtb.
1. Very difficult to do
2. Brave
3. Meaning you care
4. Potentially life saving - the second impact syndrome is a potentially deadly form of "light TBI" - suicide rate in people with TBI is high.
5. MEGA IMPORTANT!! - when you get concussed, your decision making process can be impacted (it definitely was/is the case with me), so you don't know you actually aren't ok (I still think I can take my DH bike and go riding and it's been almost 3 years!). You can't process the fact that something is wrong... you need to be protected from that, even against your will.
That's why I want to fight for protocols to be made, so no injured rider can keep riding at races. Even if all riders just want to keep pushing with all their soul.
I was very sad at the 1st DH World cup to see Brook jumping back on his bike after his crash. Sure he was braved and is tough. But what if it means all go wrong??
And I hope that if racing show the example, the whole MTB community will change how it sees concussions..
@sadem: I completely agree. There is a lot of pressure to keep riding, especially if you don't have X-rays to prove you have a broken bone or something...
Cheers everyone for this super constructive discussion
But unfortunately what happens to the helmet in term of stress and acceleration doesn’t always predict what happens in the skull or in the brain..
I don’t criticise the rider either. If you feel kind of ok, you sure want to ride down and avoid all the trouble of being helped down the hill. I’ve done that too many times...
And even the medics are not in fault. Because so far there is no protocol to stop a rider saying “I’ll keep riding”. That’s what I wish to change. I wish the race officials had the power to say NO-you don’t ride down..
And the rider can always give a thumb up to the camera
It’s not only for brain injuries. What if you have a broken rib and you puncture your lung on the way down?
Again, I’m not criticising anyone! I just thing we should push toward some safety in these situations. Taking risks is part of the sport and I really don’t want to stop that. But when your race is already ruined by a crash, why not be a little protected by the rules?
It will take me some times to read them all and respond to some, as I need help to read so much! But I am already very touched by all your support...
I was out with a mate and we looked at a line with a tricky gap - not much of a run in to a tight corner, then a gap immediately after - your standard gap filled with broken TV's, sharp reinforcing bar sticking out of the ground, bear traps, broken bottles and all that good stuff people like to put into the gap (*realistically it's not even particularly big. Not even a problem if you had a decent run in but it's awkward; the takeoff is rock and the front wall of the landing is rock, plus it is hard to get the speed to clear and it looks really intimidating because you just know if you come up short, it's going to be bad). I took a couple of runs at it but wasn't confident I had enough speed so didn't hit it. My mate was happy to say there was no way he would even consider it, but was giving me a hard time about not hitting it - exactly what you want from a mate - to give you the push you need to try something.
I went back the next day by myself and hit it....I cleared it, felt great and decided to hit it again after realising I had a camera in my bag. I set the camera up and gave it another nudge, but inevitably had to tweak the bars a bit, and push the back out a bit... sure enough I landed in a bit of a dip to the edge of the landing, and tweaked a bit quickly became 90 degrees and I was over the bars and hit my head really hard on the ground.
I wear glasses and when I got up I didn't realise they had come off, I had a vague feeling that my vision was bad when I got up but didn't really know why. I went back to the camera and turned it off and put it back in my bag, checked out the broken phone in my pocket, my ripped up shorts, both forearms pouring out blood, torn shirt, scraped up bike, found my shoe which had flown off (pro tip: every time I've OTB'd and my shoe(s) have flown off, it's been a pretty f*cking good crash) etc. and staggered around walking/cursing off the pain for a few minutes before I even noticed that my vision was blurring because my glasses had flown off and were way down the track. I just happened to notice them - if I hadn't seen them I don't think I would have realised they were missing until a lot later.
Embarrassingly I put my glasses back on and once I could see better I thought I was OK and took off down the trail. Unsurprisingly I crashed again not long after, it wasn't too bad in the grand scheme of things, just shouldered a tree but my head glanced it on the way past and I was back on the ground even more blurry and dizzy but this time my glasses were still on. I remember feeling sick after this crash but not much else - thinking back on it I know where the crash was but I remember thinking about it over the next few days and confusing it with a completely different trail.
I rode down the rest of the trail slowly and remember it being difficult to get my bike on the back of the car. Some other riders in the carpark were talking to me about something, and I remember being keen to get away quickly because they were asking about my crash (bleeding arms) but it was hard to focus on the conversation. I felt confused. Drunk.
Even more embarrassingly I drove home.
This was a few months ago and I have (to my knowledge) had no further effects from the two hits to my head (and have hopefully fully recovered) but reading this article really puts these into perspective. The first one was (to my mind) probably serious enough that I should have gotten checked out. The second one I don't think was as bad but due to my state at the time I'm not sure. But I certainly shouldn't have ridden away after a couple of head knocks and driving was really stupid.
This was in the winter, so come summer I was riding again. I'd have dizziness every once in a blue moon, and the odd day where I would just feel 'off' on the bike. Almost like my bars weren't centered left-to-right.
Come October, almost a year after my February accident I had 5-7 days the entire month where I didn't experience headaches, light/sound sensitivity, dizziness, vertigo, etc. Got diagnosed as post-concussive syndrome. I thought I was finally recovered this January but just yesterday and today I've had some very minor symptoms. It wasn't even that bad of a concussion based on what I've read from you and others, but it's been troublesome for over a year off an on. I still seem to have some short term memory/maybe attention span effects from it and issues where I have a sentence in my head and halfway through have troubles finding the words I'm trying to say.
Who knows how many concussions I've had between other sports and when I rode without a helmet before I stopped for a few years. It's all pretty darn minor by this point, but it's scary stuff man. Hope you recover or are recovered without any issues.
Caveat, I’m a mountain biker married to a pediatric neuropsychologist who trained at a rehab hospital, she was working with the TBI patients.
My helmet was broken pretty badly, with both the outer shell and inner hard foam significantly cracked in 5 or 6 places. (KASK Protone, so a decent one).
I immediately felt nauseous and had to sit for 15 mins by the side of the road to get my bearings back. I then decided to carry on riding to work. I was more concerned about my bike and the egg size lump on my shin at the time and carried on my day...
I was traveling back home (I work away) the next day and found myself throwing up while on the train, feeling like I had a severe hangover. My wife took one look at me and knew I wasn’t alright. She asked me what happened at work the previous day and I couldn’t really tell her, it’s still all very fuzzy - it was a performance review for the year, of which I have no real memory.
Back at home I managed to slip down the stairs as my depth perception wasn’t quite right, and my kids immediately saw that I really wasn’t myself. I was marched to the doctors in short order... I took 3 months off the bike as the symptoms persisted on and off.
If I’m honest, I’m probably still not completely 100% a year later - I still have some slight concentration issues and dizziness occasionally. I have days on the bike where I am just ‘off form’ with no confidence and give it up. I’ve sold the road, CX and DH bikes (still have the enduro and XC), but I take a lot less risk. I dislocated my shoulder in January this year which forced another 3 months out, which was a blessing in disguise and compounded the recovery.
Please people, if you do have a knock to the head, stop riding and get checked out.
My heart genuinely goes out to Lorraine, hopefully she can stay strong and I really hope she is able to see some further recovery with time.
I know how talking about the hard consequences of something as common as a "little concussion" can be hard.
But the more people talk about their experience and how long it can last, the more this will be taken seriously (hopefully)!
www.mybrainmyrules.com/welcome
www.lorrainetruong.ch
I literally have spent thousands of hours researching, looking for something that'll help, talking to hundreds of doctors, going to various therapies. What can be frustrating is the symptoms can feel a background annoyance (if even that) at certain times, and then be full on in your face "you are screwed" feeling at other times.
Out of all my time around this type of injury, this is the first case I've ever seen of a mTBI creating any sort of paralysis. I sincerely hope she gets a good doctor to look at her neck. Many doctors will miss the details of how a neck injury can cause all sorts of problems. (in my case, its where a lot of the dizziness comes from).
There are also pharmacological solutions she may want to seek or, or maybe she already is. (can really help with sleep)
Finally, physical therapy can be huge for someone in her shoes. Hoping she finds her stride again, no pun intended, with stuff like this.
Oh, and in case she is reading this, I'm going through a "hard" blip at the moment, but overall my life is pretty good. I am a financial analyst, I work for the "other" mountain bike site on the side, I race bikes, I ski, I consult for a few companies, I have a cool dog, I ride 150 days a year, ski 150 days a year, I own a house (that I bought with money I earned).
...but yeah, I still deal, like today. Total fog, total out of it, dizzy, blurry vision, and a bit depressed. But I know I'll find something else to help, just a merry-go-round to manage it.
J
My neck's been checked. My vertebra's are a little damaged, but that was from a previous crash in 2012 (that also cost me a moderate TBI). But thanks for asking!
I know some other people with mTBI dealing with paresis...
I have a great physical therapist. I'm also helped by a great occupational therapist.
It took some time to get the right medication, but I am quite stable now, which is great! I just wish they wouldn't have me taking weight...
Hoping to follow your path!
Cheers
This said, you don’t have to have cognitive issue to have brain dizziness.. but a good idea to get your neck checked!
I'm currently going through a much less serious version of what you're experiencing: I have complete control of my body, but I'm having to retrain my brain to use my eyes properly. For me, the most sobering part is how easily these symptoms can arise. I did not go unconscious during my crash, and my MIPS-equipped helmet didn't even look bad. However, I felt dizzy, so I stopped riding and went home. I took effectively four weeks off because it was the end of the season anyways, but felt better after two days. Yet, about a month and a half after the concussion, I started having vertigo that was the result of damage to the brain cells in charge of making your eyes converge on an object.
Morals of the story, which I've learned a lot about after seeing a specialist on this subject: it doesn't have to be a bad concussion, it doesn't have to be a successive concussion, and you need to go to a specialist knowledgeable of these things if you are experiencing more permanent symptoms, even if they took a while to develop and don't seem directly connected to the concussion. I did find a specialist after a few months, and I'm still in eye-brain rehab four months after finding her. There don't have to be a lot of damaged brain cells for your life to be turned upside down, just the right ones.
I've taken a pretty hard hit to the head and ended up getting my face stitched up and some dental work, but because I wasn't knocked unconscious there was no consideration of a brain injury and I didn't push it.
It was a very strange experience next time I tried to ride my bike knowing how to do something but with my brain being unable to control my body properly to make it happen.
The headaches, short term memory problems, depression and inability to control my emotions properly were very unpleasant and lasted at least a year. I don't feel that I ever totally recovered to how I was before. Could there have been a medical intervention at the time that could have helped? I'll never know.
Yes, concussion/TBI can easily be overlooked by medics, especially when there are other - more urgent - injuries to treat..
I know someone who was sent home.. but got lost on the way because she didn't remember where she lived!
This said, I am not complaining ebout ER.. they save life and that's already pretty awesome!
Secondly, the friend I mentioned hit her unprotected rear of her skull on thick ice while out ice-skating. She was completely out of the (social) picture for at least a year, the symptoms described in the article are very close to hers, too. Exhausted all the time, concentration issues, nausea, scattered brain feelings, etc. She used to be a journalist and can't work in her profession anymore, because it is too demanding on her head. BUT she made great strides in year 2 and 3 and now she's almost back to where she was in terms of day-to-day functioning. How you ask? I didn't believe it myself, but she managed to put herself out that hole a bit by immersing herself fully into learning and teaching Yoga (Kundalini, in her case). Her doctors almost wrote her off for good, but apparently, Yoga helps her a lot to focus on her body again in conjunction with her mind. In the end, so much depends on personal belief and the will to make it happen. If Yoga does that for my friend, I am happy to put all my doubts aside concerning this approach. Like the article said, it's different for everybody, but I wanted to put this out there to let you know there might be an option you didn't try out yet. My friend is Yoga teacher now, she passed the teaching exam post-concussion (alright, it took her almost 3 years in total, but so be it!), and she even can drive a car comfortably for an hour or so. All I am trying to say is, that there might be light at the end of the tunnel for you yet! Best of luck on your recovery!
I don't think it will be a massive life changing thing for me, but as it's adapted, I enjoy it without getting too frustrated with my disability.
By the way, I'm Swiss.. but I pardon you for this time
As a ski patroller I can’t tell you the number of times, some young buck got knocked out and refused to go to the ER. One day all I could do was tell his crying girlfriend what to look for, because this guy had it all figured out. I feel sorry for Lorraine but through her tragedy she is giving the best advice anyone can hear about a head injury. Remember it!
I"m glad you guys circled back on this story. I really hope she recovers. Sometimes it takes time and the brain figures out how to reroute everything. I'll hold out hope for that.
Many of us that have experienced TMIs or physical trauma can certainly relate. What many people don't understand is it's not just the physical part that is so agonizing. It is the mental part that is the long term hell. The worst thing I would hear is "it's going to be okay". Well, I didn't want it to be okay, you know like going to be okay later, I needed it to be okay now. I totally get her statement.
Play hard....Play safe. A split second can change everything!
The older I get, or perhaps the more obvious it becomes that I have a lot to lose, the more I find myself thinking about things like this. "Bones mend press send" and other similar slogans (that I have uttered myself on many occasions) work well for selling bikes and t-shirts but Lorraine's situation highlights the potential real world consequences, no matter how good a rider we are, as undoubtedly Lorraine is from the sounds of it. I think, as some others have said, attitudes to things like safety and head trauma in particular are slowly changing. People are getting things checked out, wearing proper protection...but it still feels like a long way to go, and as the article above suggests sometimes you can do everything right and be an expert in the field and still have awful things happen to you.
As with everyone else, thinking of you Lorraine, keep going and thank you for sharing.
It's important to know that the mechanism for many concussions (which clinicians call "mild traumatic brain injuries") happen because your head hits the ground which makes the soft, squishy brain get rattled around inside the skull.
My understanding is that current helmet technology is focussed on trying to divert the forces from impact (especially rotational forces), so your brain doesn't rattle around as much inside. Engineers develop helmet to meet the demands of mtb, which have different demands than moto, which thus results in different helmets for each sport. Crashes in moto and downhill look a lot different, which is why they have different helmets for each discipline.
There are a few things you can do to help prevent TBIs though. The best thing you can do to prevent a serious TBI, as Lorraine suggests, is to allow minor concussions to heal before putting yourself at risk for more. One single mild concussion is unlikely (although it does happen) to have longterm serious consequences, if you let them heal appropriately and follow evidence-based treatments that a doctor or physio trained in concussion management prescribes for you. Repeated insults to the brain are exponentially worse than single assaults. Other basic preventative strategies are to replace helmets after crashes, riding within your ability, develop appropriate risk-taking strategies (inspecting features before sending them), knowing the limits of your ability, taking conservative risks on trails you don't know, etc.
As @lalalalaura very well said, the helmet can't completely protect the brain, because the latter can move inside the skull. So the helmet can take some of the impact energy, but can't absolutely protect the brain..
I've wrote a little piece on that some times ago:
www.pinkbike.com/u/lorrainetruong/blog/insider-out-words-of-a-brain-injured-rider--1.html
I wish we could do something similar to was woodpecker do: to not get concussed when doing there crazy wood tapping, they stabilize their brain with their tong!!
Just need to work how to adapt this to humans now.. hahaha
I got lucky. Major concussion of course and stitches but all scans came back clean and I walked out a few hours later. I still get some headaches and my depth perception is a bit off but no other lasting affects as far as I know.
My helmet saved my life. It took most of the hit and then my face took the rest. I'm 100% sure I'd be dead with out it.
I really do hope Loraine can keep a positive attitude and adapt. I wish her nothing but the best.
straight down a rockface with trees all over if you crash. The hardest thing is to step away from your own ego. Not being the shit all the time.
I hope you can find a new and meaningfull path for your life, that can bring hapiness, and some sense to "fight the demons" and live another day... weeks, months, years, decades.
Has EWS now got a concussion protocol pulling riders?
Last time I posted on this i believe the response was they were looking at it
It's very sad. It's poorly understood. It has long term impacts; Mira and CTE
And the one thing that really bugs the s$$t out of me is the continued support of videos on Mondays of athletes banging heads and no helmet.
Kids watch them
Where is the editorial policy on this? Yes adults can choose to knock themselves out. I don't care if they do, but pinkbike has some responsibity for editorial content and recognising kids watch them and they can not make informed decisions leaves them exposed to materials that they think may be really impressive (dropping a flight of stairs and banging their head) but they are not in a position to understand the consequences of it.
This is a sad story. I hope in time Lorraine improves but there is a public health aspect to this that should extend beyond writing an article about someone that has had a serious (perhaps preventable) injury
And YES! I really agree that people don't wearing helmet should just not get any publication on websites. (you can't control social media unfortunately).
Nowadays helmet are "cool", so I think that there is no reason so support someone not playing the game.
I'm truly sorry for your accident, and hope that someday you'll be back shredding two wheels. While reading your story, a few podcasts I had listened to on post concussion brain health had come to mind, and the ways nutrition and supplementation can help. It's from a fitness podcast from New Jersey (as am I) so you'll have to sit through some Jersey Meatheads and associated language, lol. The information is good stuff though, and generally Europe is further ahead of us on this stuff, so this may be old news, but I figure anything that helps you out is worth looking into!
www.defrancostraining.com/operationrebuildjoed
(the info on brain chemistry is a little later, you can reference the show notes at the the bottom if you want to skip ahead)
www.defrancostraining.com/dr-rand-interview
(same story, there's a lot of general nutrition info, but the brain injury stuff is a bit later in the interview)
Hopefully it's something that you can get help for in Europe and helps your recovery! We're all pulling for you! Stay strong!!!
I never thought that being Swiss and paying all my insurances, etc. I could have a rough time financially after an accident.
Luckily I have great friends, an amazing sister and many people have donating towards my rehab!
I wish no one would ever be in my situation anymore... ❤️
A Movie with Alec Baldwin and Will Smith (brain game) years ago talk about the scandal of hidden long term brain damage caused by concussion in american football...
It's often hard to explain to people the difference between face safety (full face) and brain safety (light helmet). I wrote a little piece about that some time ago:
www.pinkbike.com/u/lorrainetruong/blog/insider-out-words-of-a-brain-injured-rider--1.html
I very strongly wish that you feel better at some point. I admire your strength, I can only imagine how difficult this must be for you. I hope that your perseverance and patience will give some good results
I love Lorraine's advice to find a great sports med doc early. I think that would help any athlete through the long process of recovery that has NO clear path or timeline. Education is key, because this is not a mind over matter condition. It is debilitating.
I hope the more this article and others, are shared and discussed, that people become aware of the cost and risk of continuing to ride after the first head hit. This is especially important for parents of little rippers!
I wish you continued progress Lorraine!!
Shocked to read about the brain injury... From that moment I follow you on social supporting #myBrainmyRules campaign...
a big hug!!!
It will take time, but you'll get there :-)
In the meantime keep it up and going and thanks for the awareness to others.
I have to admit that keeping my head up it the hard bit in this..
I wish I was remembered for my style on a bike.. not for being brain injured..
This said, I am super glad your experience still let you ride. Thanks for sharing and Enjoy
I think as a parent, just knowing that concussion are serious (and even more in kids) is a first good step toward a safer behaviour.
If I can give you a piece of advice, it would be to get your kid pass baseline concussion assessment (some googling can help here, hahaha). Having these test done before any concussion is important so you have something to compare to in case of crash (otherwise you are just compared to the general population). It really helps monitoring the brain safety of athletes!
I really wished I had done that in my youth..
Thank you for saying it! Everyone: go get a baseline test.
I found a place in Minneapolis that will do this for $20.
tria.com/programs/sport-concussion/baseline-impact-testing
In the USA, given the current recognition of the potential for TBI in the game which should be called "Hand Egg", there are similar facilities elsewhere.
For now it's mostly for studies purpose, to understand better how TBI occures in sport. But who know, maybe in 10years the helmet will be so equipped!
You should flag up that ER so people don't go to it. Its certainly not the experience I've had going to an A&E department
I am not criticizing what ER do. Making sure people don't die is actually quite a success already!!
But sometimes, when you look kind of ok, they don't always give you the good advice and follow up.
A friend of mine who got badly concussed asked the ER if she could race the next week and they just told her that it was up to her..
I totally agree. New interest makes comparing with the "old me" less obvious.
In my case the hard bit is to find occupations that are adapted to my disabilities..