Basejumper.com - archive

 

Sorry to hear about your friend, and I hope he recovers quickly.

To your friend: Go somewhere warm and tropical to recover! Try not to get sand in your cast though, and don't party too hard.

And wear boots with ankle protection. From the pic it appears the jumper was wearing black skate shoes.

know of any super duper stuff that facilitates bone growth?

Yea, ask bryguy about his magical elixir.

I think “just watch over him carefully” might be code for "he needs more supervised jumps with mentor".

 
What was his mentor thinking? Mentor has failed!
We need to educate these types of mentors. Rigging first. Think about it.
Take care,
space

Glad to hear your friend is ok and I hope he heels quick. Bet he learned what LRT stands for after that experience!

Is that CB ? The feilds out there are rougher than shit. Shitty landing areas and low top sneakers don't mix. Did he try to PLF (usually a good idea if you've never done a rear-riser landing).

Nothingbie question:

What's the red stuff that appears to be coming from the canopy? Tape?

Brake lines and toggles.

 

IMHO, just get the brakes right first.....

Ronald

Sort it out if you got the goods.

I was taught to stow my brakes wrong when I learned skydiving packing. Took me 2 lineovers to figure it out. I did sort it out with my instructor. Kinda blew his mind when I demonstrated the forces and subsequent brake releases.

I packed commercially for 5 years and figured out that stowing the brakes was 25% of pack time for the easy packing rigs. So I would give a reduced cost if they stowed their own brakes. Wow! the crap I saw.
Just do a tabletop demonstration.
That white loop/ring can confuse Skydivers.
Take care,
space

thanks for posting this epibase.

i too made mistakes with my brakes. no task is so simple that it cannot be done wrong.

for example, when packing slider up, i used the white loop on my riser in combination with my LRT toggles and it resulted in a slightly locked brake line.

no that dude who broke his leg has no insurance and no means to make a living while he recovers. high price to pay for a goofy rigging error.

base283 is spot on that understanding rigging is the first rule of base.

I hope all those in a big hurry to BASE read this and ask themselves, "why rush?"

 
PRP Therapy....(Platelet Rich Plasma)....Platelet rich plasma therapy......Its using your body's own cells to help facilitate the healing process. The Doc grabs some tubes of your blood and the spins the shit out of it to separate the platelets. Once they get enough, they inject the platelets into the injured area. Its what your body does naturally except this make shit heal faster and sometimes even better, its platelets from your body so its o-natural. Not to $$$ either.

I'm not an expert, and maybe you are, but I highly doubt PRP Therapy will help with a broken talus or tib/fib.

Platelets (thrombocytes) are the smallest formed elements in the blood. They're not cells like the name thrombocyte (cyte means cell) suggests, they're cell fragments shedded from huge megakaryocyte cells in the bone marrow. Platelets initiate blood clotting when there's an injury, but it's not platelets actually plugging up the holes, or reforming a bone in this theory, it's a reaction that platelets start that creates the clots:

1.Thromboplastin is released by traumatized tissue or ruptured platelets.
2.Thromboplastin and other blood clotting factors combine with calcium ions and forms prothrombin activator.
3.Prothrombin activator reacts with prothrombin and calcium ions and forms thrombin.
4.Thrombin converts the soluble blood protein, fibrinogen, to fibrin, an insoluble protein that forms a fibrin protein net because it's insoluble
5.The fibrin protein net collects blood cells (all types), platelets and more fibrin and becomes a jellylike mass/blood clot.

Again, I'm not an expert, just a medical enthusiast/combat medic, who just finished an awesome medical terminology class that coverred a lot more than terminology.

The body's a very complex machine, so there's lots I don't know, but I'd suggest high calcium diet (lots of dairy), letting it heal thoroughly and then beginning physical therapy.

the dude was a construction worker most likely making it pay check to pay check so any thing beyond basic medical care is most likely not possible.

i noticed a long time ago that many of the very active base jumpers had jobs working on computers as desk jockeys. it's very convenient when you break a leg when your job involves sitting. also, all the long term jumpers drive cars with automatic transmissions. no way you can drive if you significantly injure even just one limb if you have a stick shift.

 
I agree with Nic. Mistakes and accidents can happen (like blown toggles or ther malfunctions), but you really ought to prepare for that! Sneakers? Jeans & t-shirt for protection? Not to twist the knife, but I'd say he was asking for it. Surprisingly he does seem to value his brain, wearing a helmet. Is it cool to jump without "protection"? I don't know, I'd rather walk back to the car looking uncool.

I know my hiking boots have saved my ankles plenty of times. Other armour has saved friends from injury and worse (like Jason).

base 1184

He may have had it coming but he certainly wasn't asking for it. It makes a big difference how you view it.

You really can't judge someones values. He has few jumps. Chances are, armor and head protection wasn't taught as a *must do* procedure. Do you jump with people that do not wear good body protection? I'd prefer my jump partners wear it but I'll still jump with them. So as not to be hypocritical, I will come clean. There are some jumps I don't wear all my armor.

Many people I know jump with armor. That choice is based completely off suggestions from people they looked up to while coming into BASE. Secondly, a jumper or 2 messed up and realized how lucky they were not wearing any, so they do now. Other folks I know jump with a parachute and nothing more.

If you know me, you'd know I'm an advocate for body armor. That said you simply can't tell what people value or don't. People don't know.... until they know. or choose what they choose just because.

While boots may have helped the ankle, it depends where the break was and what the definitive cause of the break was. (ie: foot in hole, crashing onto rock...)

I broke my fib skidding to a stop swooping my skydiving parachute. My foot hit a very uneven surface and rolled my foot straight under. Boots would have saved my ankle. I'm not wearing boots to skydive.

Injury:
The Root Cause. Improper rigging.

The second link in the chain was not knowing what to do once the toggles were not an option.

Friends, please don't let friends misunderstand how brake settings work. (basic rigging).

 

How about if I rephrase that? Reacting a bit slower than necessary is the second link.

By the way, my post was not interned to sound harsh but it probably reads that way. People get hurt for whatever reason. This one just started with a mis-rig. I appreciate you posting the details.

Well, as long as its just one upper limb, you might be okay

I would imagine an upper limb injury could effect your ability to do those desk jobs. Such as typing html.

I am slow enough with both arms fully functional.

Giant hands come in handy for one-handed typing.... my left hand can comfortably reach both the left arrow key and the 1 key at the same time

But whoever designed my laptop pulled an epic fail when they made it so you have to hold down two keys on the opposite side of the board to print screen or adjust volume. That's even annoying with two hands.

</hijack>

Is the injured really without insurance? If it was due to a recent layoff, or if hes a dependent of someone recently laid off and he used to have insurance, he should look into COBRA. Otherwise, I recommend coming to Cape Town once you're able to fly, because the private docs here are pretty good, and less than 1/10 of the cost of the US. My insurance ended abruptly when my dad was laid off in March, and COBRA doesn't apply to me because he's still covered by another policy (but I am not). I've been able to pay for many doctors visits, X-Rays, physical therapy, and a healthy supply of booze to aid in my recovery, all out of pocket, and didn't break the bank. It's saved me thousands of dollars. It could easily more than offset the cost of a plane ticket

 

Insurance company's seldom pay "retail" for anything. That is why most plans incentivize you to go to "in-network" facilities...because they have negotiated rates that are frequently a fraction of "retail".

Glad to hear the dude can work! Hope he heals fast and fully!

"titties"
~J
981

I have found the hard way that you can get many surgeons to work at medicaid prices. Usually 40% of what insurance pays. Insurance has set the rate they will pay. Many times the Dr. will do the work for less.

Hyperbaric Oxygen
http://www.angle.org/...sue=02&page=0304

EXCELLENT! Now I just need to fill a scuba tank with pure 02 and go chill out at a depth of 33 feet or so for a while, a couple times a week. Thanks for the tip!

edit: 02, not h20. That would be a silly error to make.

Long term use of pure O2 causes blindness.

The body adapts so well that I assume recreational use of O2 could cause problems (lung problems, malaise, maybe even tissue damage do to hypoxia). Your body might get used to a higher amount of O2, and then if you cut yourself off for a while you might notice negative effects. Purely speculation, but your atmosphere is what it is, and your body has to be able to deal with it to survive. You don't want to adapt to things that you might have to stop getting.

e.g. People can develop diabetes from their diet.

Way to kill my oxy-buzz.

If you're going to breathe pure 02 (100% Oxygen) keep your max depth to 20 feet or less. At 20 feet, at rest, you'll already be over 1.6 po2 and already dangerously close to Oxygen toxicity convulsions. If you tox your regulator will fall out of your mouth and you'll drown.

If you're going to run a po2 over 1.6 use a full face mask and have a buddy present.

30 feet on pure o2 has do not do written all over it... leave that to Navy divers.

that's 30PSI dude. I don't think O2 is good at high pressure. put some helium in there. or something.

The study said they used pure o2 at a pressure of 1-3 atmospheres. At a depth of 33 feet, I'd be at 2 atmospheres, so that was my logic. I'll stay above 20 feet then. The shark cage is only about 12 feet deep, anyway

I know a little about this. A buddy that had compartment syndrom in a part of his body from a blast and was operated on a few days to late and I feel that it was a huge piece of the puzzle that got him back to the "fight" quickly.

hyperbaric chamber therapy is thought to be a benefit to children with cerebral palsy. i looked into it extensively as a possible therapy for my daughter, nothing i ever read convinced me that it would be a benefit.

it's a pretty expensive way to go, my suggestion is to take multivitamins and drink alot of milk. : )

Hey 460, not in it for as long as you but 12 yrs is a reasonably long time. I still drive a manual, prefer it all the way around, and although your general point is well taken, you can, infact, drive a manual with one useable leg and one useable arm, its tricky, with turns from a stop being the most difficult, but totally doable. I managed for 2 months after I got all busted up in '99 (but then maybe that was only because I had traumatic brain injury too?).

cheers bro hope you're well! and I hope the injured heals up quickly.