# Pedal to the Shin



## T-Rob (Jul 17, 2014)

This wasn't my first pedal strike and I'm sure it won't be my last. But it was definitely my worst thus far. About a month ago I went riding with my buddy and when I went off a small drop my foot came off the pedal and I took a pedal to the shin real hard. I have the VP Vice Pedals so the pegs dug pretty deep. I had 3 good cuts from them. 

Anyways getting to the point, they healed up, but it's still like somewhat bruised looking, and I noticed today there are multiple lumps under the skin in the general area I took the blow. I am inclined to think it's hemotoma's, but am wondering if it could be something worse? I have heard of guys getting cellulitis after taking shin strikes like that.

Any experience/input is appreciated!


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## *OneSpeed* (Oct 18, 2013)

you've surpassed my medical knowledge. are they soar? does it look/feel infected?

if your at all worried about it i would go have it checked out. they may be able to tell you on the spot what it is. and if not, they may be able to take a sample with a needle and send it to a lab for analysis. or maybe an x-ray? 

i've had my foot come off a pedal before and took it in the shin. that hurts! luckily it was in the winter and i was wearing neoprene pants which kept the damage to a single cut. but i put a hole in my pants and had a good bruise.


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## Alex (May 1, 2004)

I got the opposite effect, and now have small depressions in the skin.
I slipped off the pedals when it was icy and got 'centre-punched'. Ouch, but it was cold so the pain went away pretty quickly.

I wore shinpads for a while after, but now use longer pins which grip my shoes better (I also got proper flat cycling shoes). For me it was a freak occurrence on MTB, but used to happen regularly riding BMX.

I hope you haven't experienced any further issues from it.










Edit 6th July>> I'm sort of regretting the longer pins now. Dummy here went and did the same thing again today - longer pins, other leg.

The cause was a bald front tyre which slipped out on a muddy track. Right foot came off the back of the pedal, all my weight went on the other pedal which spun it around against my shin - I shouldn't cheap out on tyres. I was going really slow, but tired from a climb.

I now see what the OP meant by raised bumps, it's the bruising and inflammation. Eventually that changes to sunken scars where the pins went in.


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## Doublebase (Aug 29, 2015)

I had a nasty pedal strike cause a blood clot...the dangerous type (deep vein thrombosis, not superficial).


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## Mentor (Aug 14, 2015)

I once had a bad pedal scrape on the back of my calf. I was in a swampy area at the time, it got pretty filthy. I didn't give it any mind, only standard first aid once I got home. About 6 weeks later, the wound had still not healed, and was if anything getting larger and angry red. At the urging of my wife I finally went it to get it checked out at a clinic.

They took a swab, and prescribed me some antibiotics. Within a couple of days it had pretty much healed up, at which time I got a call from the clinic as they wanted to discuss the swab results with me. I advised them that the wound was healing nicely, and they said it probably wasn't necessary to come in, in that case.

To this day I wonder what bugs they found. Glad I got it looked after.


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## gregnash (Jul 17, 2010)

Done it way back when I first started riding and took a good smack to the shin. Mine resulted in a nice deep scar that "pits" into the skin where it happened. Never resulted in anything other than that. Sounds like more than likely you severely bruised the bone which is causing the hematoma. If it doesn't go away after a few more weeks it may be worth while to get it looked at (possible Xrays) to ensure that you did not actually chip the bone or anything.


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