BS: The physics of a fall

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: Amos
Date: 23 Apr 07 - 09:46 PM

A square second is an uninteresting young lady who... well, never mind that. I think you mean a second squared, which is a term used to describe a rate of change of velocity. Gravity accelerates things at 9.8 meters per second squared (i.e., 9,8 meters per second increase in velocity, for every second of fall under ideal conditions).


A

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: TIA
Date: 23 Apr 07 - 09:49 PM

a square second is a second per second or 1/second/second. A rate of change...a change of one second per one second of actual time.

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 23 Apr 07 - 10:02 PM

I once was struck on the forearm. The whole forearm swelled. I began to suffer anoxia - lack of adequate blood flow to the area. Any attempt to use the muscles for more than a few seconds resulted in excruciating pain to the point of blacking out if I bumped the arm, and lack of ability to sleep - even the doctor was unhelpful.

I immersed the whole forearm in ice water till it was completely numb - this eased the pain. I let it warm back to feeling again and repeated this cycle a few times - basically till I could not cope with the 'going to sleep and waking up again' of the nerve sensations.

This caused the swellng to abate - later discussions with those more experienced revealed that there must have been some obstruction to a vein that prevented the normal blood drainage from the limb - this meant that anoxia - lack of sufficent oxygen reaching the tissues - the pain was the cells complaining that they were 'dying'... :-)

The cold cycle caused something useful to happen to heal the problem - the cold can reduce swelling - and the reduction of swelling means that normal blood flow can occur. Once normal blood flow occurred as the arm warmed up, whatever the obstruction wsa to the blood flow was relieved.

Trust me this method DOES work - footballers etc do it all the time - but the complete numbing and rewarming process IS 'difficult to tolerate'.... :-)

When I did my AZSMF Sport Trainer course, I found out why it works... :-) or at least that it DOES so often that it is highly recommended if the swelling stays up for more than a day - some Aussie footballers made it into the media by sleeping on ice packs - thighs are difficult to get totally numb because that have massive noirmal blood flow and deep veins.


Robin

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 23 Apr 07 - 10:05 PM

"AZSMF Sport Trainer "

ASMF Sport Trainer - damn typos - no browser spellchecker in Linux Mozilla!

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Apr 07 - 10:40 PM

Maybe we should go back to just before the fall.

Amos, you're too quick, I saw that also. :)

This conversation could have taken a huge turn to the right with that remark!

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: Mrrzy
Date: 24 Apr 07 - 09:20 AM

LOL! And yes, I use a lot of ice. I'm back at work but doing a full day is very difficult... I can sit but then trying to get up again is a real pain.

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 24 Apr 07 - 08:35 PM

"I can sit but then trying to get up again is a real pain"

Me too - but I'm told that's just laziness.... :-P

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: GUEST,Rebecca
Date: 26 Apr 07 - 01:28 PM

I did the same thing last Friday! They took x-rays at the ER and told me that the swelling and bruising would begin to move down my leg due to gravity (yes, I sit at a desk all day at work, too) and let me tell you, by the time I get home at night, my right leg is twice the size of my left. It's been almost a week and seems to be getting worse instead of better... I guess it's another trip to the doc for me. GOOD LUCK HEALING! I feel your pain. I won't be wearing skirts or heels for a while!

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: Mrrzy
Date: 26 Apr 07 - 01:33 PM

No, no, wear skirts! i show my bruising off and nobody knocks into me...
yes, the swelling has reached my toes, now that it's been almost 2 weeks - not so much pain as pressure, now, though, so that's good...

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: GUEST,Rebecca
Date: 27 Apr 07 - 02:38 PM

Ha! That would be lovely! My right leg from the knee down is TWICE the size of the left! And the cut... and bruising? YUCK! =) Does anyone really want to see that? I do like the oohs and aahs when I lift my pantleg at work though, to show off my battle scars. I only told ONE person here at work about my fall (I fell at work while leaving last Friday at the end of the day, so I had to report it to HR and our legal department) and now everyone knows... so I know it's our lawyer who's been telling everyone! Nice, huh? I do enjoy the sympathy I get though when people see it. After a week, the pain is definitely less, but it's still as colorful and impressive as ever!

I'm glad you're feeling better. (And sorry I can't contribute "physics-ly". I barely made it through my 12th grade physics class! But we did get to go to an amusement park and calculate physic-y things on the rides that year... that was fun. LOL)

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: Mrrzy
Date: 27 Apr 07 - 05:20 PM

Yes - 2 weeks ago today, and my foot still swells if I don't have it up all the time.
The bruising has reached the bottom of my foot...

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: Mrrzy
Date: 04 May 07 - 08:53 PM

OK - anybody want to know the really really yucky continuing saga?

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: Amos
Date: 04 May 07 - 09:17 PM

Oh, please don't keep us hanging!! Do you still have a leg?


A

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: Mrrzy
Date: 06 May 07 - 07:16 PM

Yes... for now!
Brace yourself...

The whole bottom leg was showing lots of bruising, turning the pretty colors of old bruises on the inner side and back, but the bruising on the outside (which went all the way down to the bottom of my foot) kept staying that dark blue of new bruise. That should have been clue # 1. Also, there was still a huge swelling where I had actually hit the step, with the little scrape on top having turned into a tadpole-shaped (sperm-shaped?) scab; if there started to be redness around it I'd put antibiotic ointment on it, and cover it. If I did that, the cover always ended up bloody, even though the scab itself wasn't bleeding. That should have been clue # 2.

So then, last weekend while at the Rally Against the Veto, I managed to fall again - onto some nice, soft, comfortable bricks - and on the exact same shin. Ouch. The swelling got even bigger, and the scab started bulging out a little. I'm OK, I go home, and I pick the teeniest tiniest bit on the tail end of the scab - and a squirt of dark blood comes out. I go to the bathroom to wash it off, and I guess the washcloth loosened the head end of the scab, and my leg practically EXPLODED. The whole swelling was apparently blood, under tremendous pressure. I mean, there were gobbets of black, goopy, dark bloody gobs all over the mirror, the far wall of the bathroom, the far end of the shower... it was the most amazing thing I've ever seen or experienced. The swelling vanished and I was left, after standing with my leg over the toilet while it lavaed out (making those horrible horror move squelching noises), looked like it was vomiting black goopy things - some of them came half-way out and if I helped, it would come out in blobbly chains of tissue and clot and wowie gross stuff. It was FASCINATING.

Anyway, I was left with no swelling, no scab, but a hole the diameter of my thumb that went through my skin all the way into the insides of my leg. And since the swelling had lifted the skin layer away from the rest of my insides, I could SEE for absolutely inches into my leg in all kinds of interesting directions... you could see the severed ends of things that looked like muscle, and things that looked like the big vein I probably busted in the original fall... it was wild.

So, back to the doctor, who says there is no way to repair something like that - I get to keep it covered with antibiotics and wrapped under pressure, and I'm taking oral antibiotics too, and I change the dressing thrice daily and with the pressure, now, the hole just goes through to the underlying tissue but there is no more great internal cavity (I could have put my whole hand into it if I could have gotten through the hole). And the bruising on the outside of my leg and foot is finally turning colors so I think there is no new bleeding going on.

And I'm probably going to miss float trip this year, since the chances are basically zero that the hole will have filled itself in by then, and I can't take showers (and trying to take a bath with one leg out of the tub is really hard on my back!)... we go down the New River every memorial day... rats!

But wowee. Really wowee. Thanks for letting me spew the info here too!

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: Amos
Date: 06 May 07 - 09:48 PM

Great Gawdamighty, lady; that is the most vivid description of explosive putrescence I have ever had the honor of hearing!!

Do keep it dry and healing. Wow.


A

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: JennyO
Date: 07 May 07 - 12:04 AM

YIKES! That was - er - very colourful! Well, we were warned!

I wonder what would have happened it you hadn't had that second fall. It was probably fortunate that it happened. It sounds like something you are going to have to look after very carefully, so good luck with it!

While you are resting it - what about a song challenge? I have the unfortunate habit of writing bad bush-style poetry about my mishaps. It seems to make me feel better at the time, although sometimes it's hard to see the humour in these situations. I think yours has possibilities!

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: Mrrzy
Date: 07 May 07 - 10:09 AM

Yes - homeopathy works! The second fall fixed the swelling from the first - kinda like the cartoon character who gets their memory back from the second blow to the head...

Ooh - song challenge - Great black gobs of greasy grimy Mrrzy leg?

And I'm not going to resist picking scabs any more. If I'd been picking this one instead of abstaining, I might have burst the dam a lot sooner... and prevented the lake from forming in the first place.

Thank you for letting me tell you about it! Everybody else is running away...

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: GUEST,Keinstein
Date: 08 May 07 - 04:54 AM

Two components: kinetic energy (walking speed) and potential energy (fall). Kinetic = 0.5mV^2 = 0.5 x 85 x (5000/3600)^2 = 82J. Assuming centre of gravity at 1m, PE = mgh = 85*9.81*1 = 834J. Total = 916J. that's not very much, is it, enough to raise 1kg of water 0.2 degrees?

But that's only a part of the problem. It's not difficult to absorb that much energy in your shin if you do it slowly. The real problem was that the ground broke your fall, and all that energy had to be absorbed in the time it took for the flesh of your shin to decelerate your moving body to a halt, or at least that portion of your body that halted before you sprawled out and your hands took the rest of the crash.

The extent of the bruising is probably caused by internal bleeding.

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: Mr Red
Date: 08 May 07 - 08:04 AM

no time to read all above - but if you were rotated in the fall some energy is transferred to pole moment of inertia. If you didn't break a bone most of the enrgy would have been transferred. Bones - particularly old bones - don't bend - especially round acute corners. You may still have bone damage - local crushing which will be lumpy even after the swelling/cushion subsides. But compared to the other possibilities that is a small problem.

Arnica is good at reducing haemoragging but not on broken skin.

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: Mrrzy
Date: 08 May 07 - 07:33 PM

All bruising is aging (coloring) nicely, thank you. The hole is still quite, well, whole!

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: Rowan
Date: 08 May 07 - 11:09 PM

A comely young lassie named Mrrzy
took a fall that was really a doozie;
while the bruising has healed,
the hole hasn't sealed
and its contents have made us all woozy.

Cheers (and best wishes), Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: Mrrzy
Date: 09 May 07 - 09:22 AM

LOL!

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: Amos
Date: 09 May 07 - 10:16 AM

Rowan:

How did you figure out how to pronounce "Mrrzy"? Or did you just use your poetic license?


A

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: Mrrzy
Date: 09 May 07 - 12:09 PM

It actually is pronounced like the Mersey, of ferry fame. But that's OK! It WAS a doozie!

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: Amos
Date: 09 May 07 - 02:09 PM

Mercy on Mrrzy,
Who tripped on a stair,
Who staggered and stumbled,
On the concrete edge there.
Her poor leg is swollen
And purple and green
The yewgliest Owie
That we've ever seen!
She cannot go dancing
On the staircase from hell,
So mercy on Mrrzy,
Let us hope she gets well.

Meriwether Phogbottum III
Doggerel from Northwestern Climes
Gravite, Masse, and Fource, eds.
Sheboygan, 1967

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: Rowan
Date: 09 May 07 - 06:11 PM

Amos, it was poetic licence combined with an Oz comprehension of possible accents.

Plus the fact that I thought a haiku might be too difficult to balance. All I could come up with was

She tripped down the stairs;
her shin flew, banged, then bruised black.
Dead blood left its hole.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: Amos
Date: 09 May 07 - 06:16 PM

Feminine leg meets
Stone staircase
Gravity always wins.

A

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: Rowan
Date: 09 May 07 - 06:50 PM

Nicely put, Amos

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 May 07 - 08:18 PM

Wow. For as gorey as that sounded, it also sounded like the relief was tremendous.

   / / / > ~ ~ ^{. . .} . . @

: : : : - - - - - _{@ - - - -} . . @

    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ . . . @   @   @ @@@


html blood and gore is difficult. Poetry does seem to be a better answer.

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: Mrrzy
Date: 09 May 07 - 09:26 PM

Ooh, very well html'd! A little more spray, perhaps?

Yeah - but I gotta say the hole is showing no signs of closing... I hope I wake up one morning suddenly with my outer integument contiguous again! (Name that reference!)

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: Rowan
Date: 10 May 07 - 03:42 AM

I suspect you not only want your outer integument contiguous but you want it continuous. Do take care.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: Amos
Date: 10 May 07 - 09:59 AM

The reference is clearly to The Perianth and the Taxonomic Affinities of Eucalyptus Cloeziana by LD Pryor, LAS Johnson, MI Whitecross and DJ McGillivray.

A

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: Rowan
Date: 10 May 07 - 07:00 PM

Garn, Amos! You're having us all on. You didn't read that paper, or you wouldn't have capitalised the specific epithet. And you forgot that, in italicised text like book titles, scientific binomials are not italicised.

CHeers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: Mrrzy
Date: 13 Jun 07 - 02:06 PM

Sorry - it's Star Trek. Some alien or other, describing humans (I liked the ones who called us Ugly Bags Of Mostly Water better)...

Anyway, update - hole still goes all the way through, and here we are 2 whole months later. No more swelling or bruising but I am missing going swimming! I don't know if it will ever close since the edges are healed...

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: Ebbie
Date: 13 Jun 07 - 02:19 PM

Mrrzy, I'm surprised that the hole wasn't packed. I've seen two instances of 'hole-itis' and in both cases the doctors packed it, a dressing that had to be changed every day or two. In both cases
(the people are friends or relatives of mine) the hole did eventually fill in, although in my sister's case there is a definite dimple there.

I know a little about the relief- years ago I dropped a building block on my big toe. After a few days my foot throbbed so badly that I took a needle to a spot under the nail and whooooosh...

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: Rowan
Date: 13 Jun 07 - 06:27 PM

Fill us in, Mrrzy. Has it filled in yet?

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: Mrrzy
Date: 13 Jun 07 - 08:56 PM

Hee hee - it's just very small, now, but it still leaks interstitial fluids if pressed, so I know it's still all the way through.
I was surprised they didn't pack it, too, but they had me cover it and goop it with that extremely expensive extra-strong antibiotics - probably caused a whole new species!

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: Sorcha
Date: 13 Jun 07 - 10:16 PM

Mrz, here is something to try that can't hurt I don't think. See if YOU can pack the wound with plain granulated sugar. Cover both sides. Irrigate/flush if you can every day and re pack.

Honest, sugar is what is used for those nasty spider bites that rot out and leave holes. It is what the Dr told my mom to use when she was bitten by a brown recluse/fiddle back.

Now, if you can't irrigate it, I wouldn't reccomend trying this. God knows what rotten sugar might do, but you could ask your Dr? It might just melt away.....

Subject: RE: BS: The physics of a fall
From: Mrrzy
Date: 14 Jun 07 - 11:10 AM

I don't think I can irrigate it - i really have to press to get it to leak, now. But I'll ask - that sounds intriguing. What did you mean by "both sides" though - the inside and the out?