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Thread: Blackthorns

  1. #1
    Senior Member stumpy's Avatar
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    Blackthorns

    Anyone had a blackthorn foot injury?

    Last Thursday evening I ran through some undergrowth at the edge of a bridleway to give a wide berth to a walker when I felt a pain like a nail had gone into my foot, which stopped me dead - so distracting I even forgot to stop my garmin! The offending thorn had penetrated so far through the sole of my shoe and into my foot that I had to wrench the shoe off with both hands to get it off, almost as if it had been nailed on.

    With no option but to run home the next 2.5M miles, I was half expecting to get home with a shoe full of blood. Bizarrely, the run wasn't that painful, there was no blood and barely even a puncture mark. However, two hours on it hurt like hell and I couldn't move either of the two small toes on that foot without excruciating pain and slightly worrying is that the tendons above each metatarsal are also very tender to the touch. It swelled up massively, to the point I couldn't even get a shoes on the next day and my foot looked like how I imagine Johnny Vegas's foot does!

    I'm taking antibiotics on the advice of my GP, but am still convinced it's not actually infected, but even though it's getting better each day, four days on it's still a bit swollen and only today have I been able to properly walk on it.

    A cautionary tale for anyone who runs in shoes without a rock plate perhaps, but, although I've had small thorns and stones stuck in my shoe before, nothing like this in 18 years of running off-road!

    Here's the offending article!



    Blackthorn.JPG

  2. #2
    Moderator noel's Avatar
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    Ouch. I'm glad it's getting better. Amazing that it went through your sole - you must have hit it at just the right (or wrong) angle.

    I've not had a thorn injury myself but years ago or old dog managed to drive a similar looking thorn into his eyeball! He was chasing something through a copse at the time. We were lucky to save his eye - thankfully there's a veterinary eye hospital in the North-West.

  3. #3
    Master molehill's Avatar
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    I've had many blackthorn injuries when I was younger, in my hands from working with them (forestry clearing work). They are notorious for becoming infected so what you have is quite normal, we used to dread having a thorn in our fingers or hands as they often swelled up and went bad. There is something on the tips of these thorns in particular that does not agree with the human body .

    What usually happens and looks like has from your photo, is the very tip of the thorn breaks off inside the foot, you may htink you have it all out but I bet there is a tiny bit left in there. The infection should clear up with the antibiotics but one day the tip of thorn will find it's way to the surface and you can heave it out. Maybe days or weeks.
    Don't roll with a pig in poo. You get covered in poo and the pig likes it.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by molehill View Post
    I've had many blackthorn injuries when I was younger, in my hands from working with them (forestry clearing work). They are notorious for becoming infected so what you have is quite normal, we used to dread having a thorn in our fingers or hands as they often swelled up and went bad. There is something on the tips of these thorns in particular that does not agree with the human body .

    What usually happens and looks like has from your photo, is the very tip of the thorn breaks off inside the foot, you may htink you have it all out but I bet there is a tiny bit left in there. The infection should clear up with the antibiotics but one day the tip of thorn will find it's way to the surface and you can heave it out. Maybe days or weeks.
    That was my suspicion on looking at the photo - but I have no experience of this type of injury whatsoever.

  5. #5
    Master Daletownrunner's Avatar
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    Not a Blackthorn but Mrs DTR once fell on a planter in the garden and cut her leg, she complained for a about week that it was sore, we kept an eye on it, eventually it came to a head so I gave it a squeeze and a puss covered piece of wood about matchstick size was ejected straight out rather like Molehill has mentioned above, not nice but healed up ok.

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