Oh no, that’s bad. And the picture hiding was perfect.
Hope it heals fully.
1 Like
Thanks @Canapin for flying to the rescue !
Good to know there is a macro like that so everybody can share in the thread without the dread of TMI visuals 
Quite why anyone gets upset by pictures when the thread is about “Your Worst Unicycle Injury” is beyond me.
5 Likes
It is the age old difference between hearing about it and seeing about it.
I don’t classify myself as particularly sensitive but I still draw the line at bloody pics with open wounds (YMMV).
From an informative point of view, it is interesting to hear the types of injuries that could happen while riding (or freak accidents like mine).
The visuals are an optional bonus for whoever is more curious and I am glad that we have the means to offer the choice to skip this part
2 Likes
This year I intend on not getting hurt. At 53 i’m feeling the need to start to be more cautious. From now on when I ride I will be wearing knee, elbow and wrist protection as well as my helmet. The only thing i have injured badly in the past are my toes, i don’t think there is anything that can protect them.
1 Like
I ride with Safety Shoes Uni. That’s always good because you don’t hit your toes and then you don’t notice that. . And I always use for Muni high safety shoes. They’re wear always for work and that’s the best shoes for uni that I’ve ridden in 5 years of Muni.
ROFLOL Yeah, I found it to be a disturbing revelation. 
Everyone has convinced me now.
Don’t join the circus, avoid racing, no stunts, no cross country riding, and don’t even consider buying a giraffe. Just go in a straight line, and then come home. I wonder if I can get full body armor? 
I think they should invent airbags for unicycles.
Now these guys are ready to ride a unicycle. 
2 Likes
This is far from my worst injury, but it’s neatly on top of the last time I mashed my knee up (see above somewhere).
I was feeling quite pleased with myself having ridden down a kerb and on my second pass of it I over-compensated and fell off. LOL!
Thankfully it’s little more than a scratch.
Well, you all have nearly scared me away from unicycling with all these horror stories. At first, I thought most of the injuries were from riders doing risky things, like riding very fast or doing big drops, but it is starting to look like many of the serious injuries (requiring a trip to the hospital) are just part of the sport.
2 Likes
Even getting out of bed in the morning comes with some risk. looking and an Active Living and Injury Risk study I’d put unicycling close to bicycling but less risky then horse riding. Maybe about at the same level as gymnastics. There are many activities more risky then unicycling and some less risky but it is hard to beat it in the fun to do and physical exercise department.
1 Like
Interesting chart. I wouldn’t group unicycling with bicycling though. I think the closest to it would be inline skating. Same types of injuries for the same reasons. Going too fast or doing progressively more challenging/risky things to keep it interesting. Still, I agree that the fun and sense of mastery one gets from unicycling seems very high.
I think it’s somewhat of a silly chart as it does not compare the seriousness of the injuries. The difference between the severity of injury one might receive while downhill skiing or horseback riding vs playing badminton is extreme. It’s kind of like equating car and airplane accidents.
2 Likes
Maybe these are injuries severe enough to make have person have at least 1 night in a hospital bed or surgery. I agree though, something like motor car racing etc can lead to severe injury/death though much more than some other sports.
I imagine these were injuries that ended up being treated by a medical professional and that’s why they were tabulated. Still, there’s a world of difference between tennis elbow and a broken collarbone. You might not have many accidents while skydiving, but the magnitude of the ones that do occur make it much more risky than squash.
I think the seriousness of the possible injuries is indicated by the horizontal line (minor on the left, up to major on the right). The Orienteering line would indicate this. The dot for each sport might indicate the likelihood of any injury.
Having spent a lot of time inline skating, and comparing it to unicycling, they both seem to come down to:
- Decision-making
- Speed
In both cases, my (this is specific to me) experience proved inline skating to be much more conducive to “wrecks”. I would put the inline skating on the same level as mountain biking. A person can ride a mountain bike slow and controlled, or race it downhill. Likewise, a person can inline skate slow and controlled, or race downhill, play hockey, ride skateboard ramps, in skating parks, and down stairs. Most of my time spent inline skating was spent traveling up to four times faster than I can go on a unicycle. And on my (non-trials) unicycles, the wheels never leave the ground. That was definitely not the case when I in-line skated, or rode bikes.
Unicycling can cause the same type of injuries, but I think the lack of speed most often keeps them limited to minor injuries. I did say “most often”, which definitely keeps the door open for examples where that is not the case.
I watched George Peck’s video, and felt comforted when he said that he had never had an injury that kept him off the unicycle for more than a day.
1 Like
I think that applies to most sports. I have always enjoyed bicycling and the risk there can range from a 6 mph cruise along bicycle paths to the Red Bull Rampage. The danger involved is what you allow it to be. I even found the same thing with scuba diving. A competent diver who doesn’t feel the need to go deep, enter caves or feed sharks is at very little risk, but there are plenty who have died while pushing their limits.
2 Likes
Don’t let any of this scare you, the vast majority of riders have never hurt themselves that badly.
As @Uni2ONE2 said, most injuries come about as a result of decision making and speed.
Now I’m responsible for two pretty bad injuries on here. Firstly I smacked my knees up really badly and a few weeks after that I broke my arm. However, in the 20 years prior to these injuries I had never injured myself in any way on (or falling off) my unis. Both of these injuries came down to decision making and or speed.
When I smacked up my knees I was speeding along on my 36er trying very hard to get in front of a runner so that I wouldn’t get held up behind him on a coming piece of pathway. A stupid decision made worse by speed.
When I broke my arm I made a really dumb decision! I’d only had my 26er for a week or two and was with a crowd doing some Muni. I had ridden across quite a large root without any issues and for some reason when we stopped, I decided to mount my uni and ride over the root again, but this time I mounted just a metre from the root. STUPID decision! The rest is history.
I liken it to skiing, beginners are not the ones who break legs (even if they’re fearful of such an injury), it tends to be competent skiers who for whatever reason take their eye off the ball (so to speak) and get a bit blase about what they’re doing. I’m pretty certain many of the injuries on here fall under that, mine certainly did.
2 Likes