Bruising
- Thread starter Jude
- Start date
mrodoc
Well-known member
As a GP I frequently get asked about bruising! This is from non cavers. Women do seem to bruise more than men but I think they just turn up more and announce them more. My daughter usually sports a bruise or two after caving but then so do I. We just forget knocking ourselves. I did wonder if sefl medication with aspirin was contributing to the problem but no real evidence for that. Some older people on steroid inhalers seem to bruise more easily but these are bruises just under the skin - purple and known as purpura or ecchymoses. What people need to worry about is dirty great big deep purple bruises arising from trivial knocks i.e. disproportionate bruising. A friend of mine had these and after two years when he became breathless finally went to his GP and found he had virtually no platelets (or much of anything else).
Bottom line - don't worry and as you get more fluid caving you won't bang into the rock so hard and the bruises will diminish.
Bottom line - don't worry and as you get more fluid caving you won't bang into the rock so hard and the bruises will diminish.
I could get the boys to slow down but it is improving my caving speed enormously. To put it into perspective as well they're pretty hardy lads who regularly do 12hr+ trips down hard caves so my confidence not knocked at all by not keeping up. I suppose Im quite lucky to get pushed so much on a regular basis!
Rachel
Active member
hi Jude,
You can certainly have some sympathy from me. I bruise like hell whenever I go caving, although I'm not doing as much in a month as you are in a week! I have very narrow blood vessels (have been barred from giving blood after numerous time consuming fruitless attempts, but useful at the hospital because they get the med students to practice on me as a tame awkward patient), so I've always assumed that it's because they pop easily being smaller and less tough. There may be something in the theory about experience lessening bruising, as I've found that I bruise in less places now than I used to. However, my knees down to my ankles is always black and blue on any trip that involves crawling ... and that's with knee length wetsocks, furry, meander suit & kneepads on.
You can certainly have some sympathy from me. I bruise like hell whenever I go caving, although I'm not doing as much in a month as you are in a week! I have very narrow blood vessels (have been barred from giving blood after numerous time consuming fruitless attempts, but useful at the hospital because they get the med students to practice on me as a tame awkward patient), so I've always assumed that it's because they pop easily being smaller and less tough. There may be something in the theory about experience lessening bruising, as I've found that I bruise in less places now than I used to. However, my knees down to my ankles is always black and blue on any trip that involves crawling ... and that's with knee length wetsocks, furry, meander suit & kneepads on.
M
MSD
Guest
More than one of my (female) caving friends have been cross-examined by their GP/work collegues/friends about their bruising, as they suspected that the people concerned must be victims of domestic violence...
GemmaJones
New member
Jude - wear the bruises with pride!! I rarely wear skirts but make the effort when I have a nice big bruise on my leg to show off. It makes me look hard-core (in my opinion and probably mine only!!!) I think it makes me look hard-core to all my non-caving colleagues, but to any caver they'd probably just think I was a numpty for getting the bruise in the first place. Oh well, that's life I suppose. As a GP, my opinion on the whole embolism thing is it sounds like a load of codswallop to me. Saying that, if you think you are getting more than your fair share of bruises a nice little blood test will usually reveal if there's anything worrying going on!
