Oh, I guess I should actually contribute to the thread!
My worst injury was learning that cars don’t always stop when they’re meant to on roundabouts…A broken thumb and toe (and unicycle) taught me a lesson!
Since then I’ve had a lot of near misses on roundabouts, that would have been guaranteed collisions, if I wasn’t on my guard for the nutters in their cars 
Scary…I’m uneasy enough about riding a bike on the streets with cars, let alone a unicycle.
I second that elpuebloUNIdo! I also wear the Volt ankle guards!
Pedal bites worst learning injury for me learning to ride on the street, but if I were smarter I would’ve been learning with plastic pedals without the pins (nasty with the scars on my calves). Learning to ride muni I had a minor MCL sprain that has fully healed.
wheel walking: worst injury yet to happen
I have been avoiding practicing wheel walking because of the prospect of falling on my a**. I’m posting in the “worst injury” thread, because I can imagine having my worst injury while practicing wheel walking. You have to lean back to make it work, increasing the chances of falling backwards. Regarding the typical mechanics of the unicycle, wheel-walking is a game changer. I have big feet, and I don’t feel graceful enough to do the foot-shuffle necessary to wheel-walking. I’m too chicken to practice it on a smooth, paved surface, and I end up going onto the grass to try it.
I am currently okay at transitioning to one-foot idling; instead of putting the second foot on the crown, I could put it on top of the tire momentarily, then return it to the pedal or the crown. Once I get good at that, I could get the other foot on the tire and start the wheel walking. If I were not middle-aged, I would probably be “going for it”, rather than seeking out a safer, incremental approach. I’m wondering if hillbilly shorts are recommended for wheel-walking practice.
Distal radius fracture
This is the injury I am most concerned about, monocyclism. How long did it take you to heal? Did you fall on your back?
My learning injury came on my first day – distal radius fracture. 3 months in a cast. No wrist guards and just plain nieve about mastering the basics before leaving the wall. This is a fairly common injury for 12 yr olds on skateboards. I purchased a 20’ learning uni after that and made sure I took it one small step at a time. Now back to a 24" muni. I just needed to go really slowly to gain both skills and confidence. Only one or two minor falls since then.
My worst injury while learning was to my brain. It was hurting my brain because it was frikking impossible! I gave up over and over. I would throw my P.O.S. unicycle into the corner of the basement and give it up. But there it would sit, leering at me, daring me to keep trying. And I would. And it would continue to be impossible. Ow.
Fortunately it gradually got less impossible, and I started being able to ride it. Then the thing fell apart because it was made of tricycle parts, by a company that makes tricycles (Troxel). Moral of the story: Don’t try to learn to ride on a unicycle that’s made of tricycle parts.
No, I didn’t make that up. I learned (sort of) on a crap Troxel unicycle with a 16" solid plastic tire, short, wide cranks and nylon bushings instead of bearings. Then when that broke, I had a 3-year gap with no working unicycle after which I was able to borrow a Schwinn Giraffe from a neighbor who had one. I do not recommend this sequnce for learning to ride, though it did work out pretty well in the end, for me. 
My first thought on “learning” injuries was of that. I remember a time, about a year after learning to ride, when I was practicing some form of wheel walking in my garage. Nice, smooth concrete floor. Something caused me to fall backward with my feet going upward, and I landed on my tail bone. I remember laying there for quite a while, deciding if I was ever going to get on a unicycle again. I got over it.
Get off the grass; that’s a lot harder than practicing on a smooth, predictable surface. Your method is methodical, but will probably work. You can also try just using one foot. It’s a little harder than using both feet, but not a lot, and much more secure in terms of making controlled dismounts.
Practice it with each foot if you plan to move on to using both feet.
I trust you are feeling increasingly confident after your injury. I fell onto my side on tarmac. Both feet came off the pedals and I tipped backwards and fell horizontally straight down from the 36 onto my pelvis.
After four months I was making tentative attempts at mounting. No riding, just mounting. Up-and-down, up-and-down. Apparently this was foolish but I needed the confidence factor. Some time after that I stayed on for increasing distances until I got back on form. Interestingly I did fall off during the ‘riding rehabilitation period’. That was scary since I only ride a 36 and it was a long way to fall!
Mind the Gap!
My worst unicycle-caused accident has been a pretty painful bruise/lasting swelling next to the bone at the lower inside of my knee… received when boarding a train with a unicycle and two suitcases (and a backpack): I placed the unicycle and a bag into the train, tried to keep one foot on the stair of the train when turning to pick up the last bag from the platform… slipped and had that metal stair ride along my leg.
My most painful UPD was placing my calf between crank and wheel. I had wondered before how people manage to do that, and I’m still no wiser.
Generally: few bruises and the occasional blood from (non-pinned) pedals when learning to free-mount. I use wrist and knee protection, later added a bicycle helmet, often gloves; I’ve hurt my elbow only once, so I’m still shirking protection there. After some energetic UPD in my basement, I often use protection even there. My worst fear though is a pelvis injury, followed by ankle injuries (esp. from drops or in uneven terrain). Glad to hear that yours has healed, monocyclism!
Having done this twice I now consider myself an expert.
Simply let your foot slide off in front of the advancing pedal while going down hill. The wheel continues forward, the calf slips between the end of the crank and the wheel which rolls forward until it stops with the crank on the ankle.
One night, not long ago, I was driving home and got a text from my mother-in-law (A.K.A. mbalmer): “Are you guys home?” (we live with my in-laws). I figured it was a group text with my wife. I assumed my wife was home and would respond. When I got home mbalmer was still not home and my wife had not heard from her. I check facebook and found a post from mbalmer about being stuck out on a trail. Feeling guilty I called her cell. She had been out for a muni ride and fell hard. Unable to ride or walk she scooted out on her rear, dragging the unicycle along. When she got back to the road the gate into the park was locked and she couldn’t get out. A drunk couple happen by and helped her jump the gate. She just got back to her car when I called. Turns out she broke her foot and I’m the horrible son-in-law that didn’t show up to help.
Yeah, for me I ride alone, without any reception or another soul within miles. The trails can get pretty gnarly. That scenario crosses my mind once in a while. Im not young anymore so I (try)to play it safe. I used to trip up on a trail downhills and stubbornly repeat it til i get it right. Now I play it a little bit more conservatively, I "ll only attempt it 3 or 4 times, “because it aint gonna happen today”, rather than chancing of hopping back on one leg and pushing the damn wheel down. I dont mind to wuss out*( darn that sounds old), if i figure its beyond my level, because i would rather ride another day. My family is not good at taking broken bones, i would be the first if it happens, and that wouldnt be good for my anticipated retirement hobby 
Haha obviously this thread has captured the imagination from what I read. So, I really wanted to add a caveat to my earlier post about falling and fracturing my pelvis. Because of the humour involved!
Someone mentioned using a cell-phone (‘mobile’ in my case). So, two comical things when I fell off. I dragged myself to the side of the road along the floor - but remember hestitating each time a car came past as I didnt want to look weired! 
Then lying on the pavement, in increasing pain, but still on the mobile I was talking to the emergency-line contact - after dialing 999 - the emergency service number. He was the only thing I had to establish help and support.
I said to him I have just fallen off my bike and I am lying on the pavement and I feel badly injured. Notice I didn’t say ‘unicycle’. It’s so easier than to explain the one-wheeled syndrom. …and in any case joe public says, ‘another clown!’
Wow I couldnt want to be in a better situation for medical support. The man asks me to describe my situation. ’ I am lying on the pavement in increasing pain - I think I may pass-out’. My man on the mobile tells me OK a ‘fast responder is on the way’. This means a person with some ‘gas’ will be with you asap. Lovely, a man arrives within minutes and administers something in a gas bottle though a mask. Feels good, blocks the pain, but I relapse and the pain creeps back.
No need for the mobile anymore. I am being tended to and the ambulance is on its way. The ambulance arrives - with the drug that kills all pain. Its called morphine and it makes you feel so relaxed yet still cognitant to a good degree.
So, the ambulance men say, ‘lets get you to hospital’ and start to strap me to a stretcher and load me in the ambulance. “Whoah! no you cant do that!” There is a bus pulling up opposite and everyone in the bus is goosenecking at my predicament! I tell the medics to wait until the bus has gone! So there is a ‘Monty Python’ pause as we wait there me on the stretcher half in the ambulance, and the medics frozen in time! I think I remember saying to them…Could you just wait a minute because this is so embarrassing and for a few moments we are hung there frozen until the bus went off! The look on the medics faces was classic.
Other humerous recollections include the four ladies in the car that stopped to help. Then curiously asked where’s the rest of your bike? They imagined it was worse than it was and I had been run-over by a car that split my bike in two! But they did cheer me up when they said I was as white as a sheet.
Lou Read should have done a song that included morphine. Perhaps he did. When I got to hospital it was classic. Spaced out on morphine perfectly happy I had to laugh at the exclamations coming from the staff in the next room. “What is that!” “How do you get on it” " That is impossible". Yup the 36 that came with me in the ambulance was introducing itelf…
+1! Awesome resiliency you are!!
I love that she posted on Facebook about being stuck on a trail but didn’t bother to include that info in the text. I’m glad she’s okay! And that video of her on the scooter cracks me up! She seems like a pretty cool lady.
Just figured I’d mention SPOT beacons to those who are worried about remote areas without cell service and getting hurt. I’ve yet to need to use mine, though a friend wasn’t nearly so lucky. It definitely brings a lot of peace of mind.
as I explained in a previous post my worst injury while learning was smashing my Achille’s tendon.
I was learning to freemount the Coker , missed a freemount, falled forward and the saddle handle cut my Achille’s tendon.
The most curious thing was that my MD didn’t realize I had a severed tendon and so I tried to walk for 2 weeks … and ended up in the emergency ward ! 
(incredibly you can walk with a severed Achille’s tendon!).
The sad thing is that ever since I fear freemounting the Coker and so stick to Muni.
So, yes, after a year, I am feeling more confident. Sounds like my rehab regime was similar to yours – months of practicing in the safety of my small back yard. Looking back, a big waste of time, as I could only go back and forth 12 ft. Barely enough space to mount and get a few peddles in – but I did slowly regain my confidence and am now doing 3 - 5 miles.
you were determined to get back on – I can relate to that. Up-and-down, up-and-down…did that for several months too.
Assisted Mount Injury
My worst injury to date wasn’t even from a UPD, though I’ve certainly had plenty of those as well.
The first weekend of learning to ride my uni (just over a month ago now) I was using a chain link fence for an assisted mount and then riding along while using the fence for support. Somehow i torqued my left shoulder, probably from maintaining a death grip on the fence while falling off :o. Its just now feeling better, but its been a steady regimen of Advil and stretching for the last month.
The upside is that it pushed me into using a curb mount early on, and I’ve recently graduated to the tire grab mount as my go to.
I’ve brought it up in other threads, but mine involves a little math.
20mph
+a Nightfox
+a small bike path
+a group of high school girls
-knee guards
-helmet
-dignity
=my life.
Hey, wfcentral! I was out your way back in late December and early January, and it was COLD! Not so cold lately.
Like you, I started back a couple of months ago after not riding for years and had to re-learn to ride. The worst injuries in my youth learning to ride in '86 were from the pedals hitting my shins and calves, but I was pretty used to that from the nasty pedal bites I’d get from the BMX style bike I rode at the time. I still have chunks of shin bone missing from those days.
Thankfully, I haven’t had any injuries from re-learning to ride recently. I think that it’s because I’ve been increasingly more active outdoors in the last year doing things like rollerblading, bicycling, and even a little skateboarding and snowboarding here and there. I used to do many of those things in my youth, and I think it helps doing all of it again. They all seem interrelated.
Good luck with everything, and I hope there are no serious injuries going forward. Maybe consider getting some good protective gear if you’re still getting injured (which may make you feel more confident) and take it as easy as you need to.