Monday, November 28, 2011

Hips, Knees, and Elbows--Part III The Elbow

This took a month to heal. You can't really see the green
skin in this photo. 
The first skating protection I adopted were elbow pads. Here's a picture of the reason why. I was doing figure 8's and abruptly fell off an outside edge directly onto my elbow.

Although it's unlikely that you can break your elbow, even a light fall onto the joint can be excruciating. 


I tooled around the usual sports stores and finally came up with the skateboarding pads below. I wore these for a year. In fact there's a lot of variety of these at Amazon. They all look equally effective.

I got stares when I wore these.
Then one day I'd had enough. These things took up too much space in my boot bag, and I hadn't fallen on my elbow in a year. I gave my set to someone's son, And started skating with bare elbows.

I know. You're thinking: She fell again. Nope, sorry, I've not fallen on my elbows since. But that memory of that fall stayed with me. 

So I was buying knee pads at the Skating Safe site, and I came across these molded elbow pads.

Drool. I love these.

Faster than greased lightning I added a pair to my order. They are designed not to show under a costume in competition. (Skating safe also has a less expensive square elbow pad that works very well. I think it would be hard to see under a costume's sleeves if they were loose.)

Rather than wearing the retention sleeve the company provides, I wear biker's arm warmers to hold the elbow pads in place. I like the arm warmers, since you can wear them instead of a jacket.

The only problem with these is that they are friggin' expensive. I've had jewelry that cost less than these. I'm on my second pair because, I once had cash, a cell phone, and a Flip camera in my skate bag, but someone stole a pair of these, leaving the rest behind. I guess they figured I wouldn't call the cops over a pair of elbow pads.

"Roger. We have a 10-211* in progress.
Send in the SWAT team.
We've got a freestyle session to frisk
and skate bags to search."


* 10-211 = Armed Robbery...Get it? Elbow pads--'armed' robbery? Sigh. Man, nobody likes my jokes.

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4 comments:

  1. AlexandraNovember 29, 2011 at 8:18 AM

    Protective gear for all skaters, not just adults, is long overdue.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Babbette DuboiseDecember 1, 2011 at 6:53 PM

    Thank you for the tweet, Xan.

    ReplyDelete
  3. lexFebruary 28, 2012 at 4:52 PM

    Brilliant idea...biker's arm warmers. I'm beginning figure skating again (at age 40) after 30 years off. I bought the Ribcap Jackson hat for head protection but I'm seriously considering the Skating Safe Ultracrash padding. It's SO expensive but my hips, knees, elbows, and tailbone might thank me.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJuly 17, 2012 at 9:06 PM

    I took a fall four weeks ago during a freestyle class - just stepped into a mohawk and next thing I knew, I was crashing hard on my right side on my elbow. When I finally got up, I could move the arm and it wasn't too painful, so I finished the class and practiced for another 30 minutes. But later that night, the pain set in and after a sleepless night, I headed to the doctor and x-rays confirmed that I had broken my elbow. No cast; it will take 6 weeks to heal. I got myself back on the ice quickly because I was testing four days later. I passed my adult bronze MIF with a broken elbow! At age 55, I don't want to deal with more broken bones, so I will be investing in some pads. Thanks for suggesting the Skating Safe site. I'm wearing an elbow pad from the sports store and it is pretty uncomfortable so I guess gel might be the way to go.

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