I am 26 years old and have been riding dirt bikes and quads for twenty years. I have had my close calls but all in all just bad bumps and bruises un til this year. This past September I hit a 30 foot jump on my Raptor that shot me straight up in the air to the point of having to dismount midair. Upon impact I cracked my sacrum(a$$bone) in three places and slipped my L5 vertbrae out of place. Big oouch! Well after 7 months of rehab I've been back for a couple of weeks riding around. Well thursday night I was riding my woods trail and hit a newly dug grounghog hole that threw my shoulder into the tree and I am diagnosed with a complete AC shoulder seperation and three cracked ribs. I am going to surgery on Tuesday. I have never had such bad luck in my life. And it's my good arm too. Has anyone else had this particular injury if so please let me know some details. Also share your battlescars!!!

 

I have been riding for over 10 years and also have not been hurt until the last two years. Two years ago I landed stiff legged from a small jump and tore the ACL ligament in my right knee without even crashing. I never knew how serious of an injury tearing the ACL was until my doctor said I would have been much better off breaking my leg. After reconstructive surgery, $20,000 in medical bills, and 4 months of rehab I was back to racing in May of 2000.

At the end of August 2000 I got out of shape in a rhythm section of a motocross track and went over the bars. The quad landed on top of me and I was knocked out cold. I ended up with a broken jaw, a huge cut where my jaw was broke, broken ribs, separated shoulder, and one of the broken ribs punctured a hole in my lung. I was taken to the hospital in an ambulance where they told my girlfriend to call my immediate family because they considered my injuries to be life threatening. They cut the side of my chest and inserted two different suction tubes to reinflate the lung. The lung was not cooperating and kept collapsing, hence the seriousness of the injury. After they got the suction tubes in place they did surgery on my jaw and inserted two plates to repair the jaw and then wired the mouth. I spent a week in the hospital, missed three weeks of work, my shoulder and ribs were sore for several months, and I now have about a 4" scar along my jaw line and two nasty scars on the side of my chest from the suction tubes.

I have not ridden the quad since the accident but I started working out several months ago and I am ready to ride again. Some people assumed I would quit riding after getting hurt but for some of us it is in our blood. I would be more miserable by not riding than I was laying in the hospital and recovering from my injuries.