Hip To Be Square

Since this is a problem that I thought might be experienced by other adults, I thought I'd write about twisted hip. In twisted hip, one leg drags the body back and to the side. This might also be called open hip.  Instead of keeping my hips square when I skated, I would twist my right hip. This affected even something as simple as basic stroking.

There's a lot of reasons to twist the hips when skating, but as a basic skills skater, it seems easier for me to learn a lot of basic skills if the hips are square.

 It's hard to find a picture of basic stroking with twisted hips, instead these are the best illustrations I could find of yoga positions, just so you can get the idea.

This gives a view of how a hip can twist back

You can see here how hips can be square. Notice how
even they are.

Anyway the physical therapists wanted me to get my hips square while I was stroking.  I spent a lot of time on an exercise machine strengthening my gluteus medius to make it happen. After  couple of months they succeeded and I was able to stroke with squared hips. It smoothed out my skating and my coach stopped yapping about how the left side skated better than the right side.

Once I got my hips square, I was able to conquer 3 turns. With hips square I stopped flinging my way around the turn, and they became controlled. Without squared hips, I sort of jerked my way around.  I'm making progress on my spins as well.

I had a coach who was yapping about my crossovers. Finally, I turned on this coach  and I snapped, "Am I the only one that has every coach find a new problem with my crossovers? Crossovers with the arms holding the circle. Crossovers with the arms square. Crossovers with the arms in any position. What do you want me to do, now?"

"Ah," the coach said, "Keep your hips square, and twist your upper body."

So, I did. It made her happy.

Just knowing the next coach will want me to do something different in crossovers, so I'm not holding my breath this is the last crossover 'fix' for me.

Still, keeping my hips square has helped me a lot with my basic skating skills. If I ever stay well enough to advance, I'm sure there's elements where a twisted hip with be the thing to do,  but for now, I'm square hips all the way.

Hips, Knees and Elbows==Part II Hips

I don't jump, and hip pads are usually reserved for jumpers.  So I'm just going to round up some samples and make some comments. There are more designs here that you can possibly imagine.

When will you need hip pads? Oh, you'll know. It will be the day you limp off the ice and beg for an ice pack, or it will be the day your coach says you do, or it will be the day you wake up in so much pain that you have to take two Advil to get out of bed.

Let's start with the under tights pads.

Skating Safe produces gel pads.These pads are almost invisible, and you can probably get away wearing one during competitions and tests.  If you're a guy, you'll have to wear compression shorts, or fit the pads under tights if you wear them.  There is also a Skating Safe pad to protect the lower spine when learning jumps.

Waxel Pads are a brand of pads that appear to be made of some very thick foam rubber. Like Skating Safe pads, they are placed under the tights.  They cost about half of the Skating Safe pad's price. I don't think they can be worn in competition or testing, the way the Skating Safe pads can. Waxel also makes a wrap around pad that appears to be unique.

The only disadvantage about these two kinds of pads is that some people feel awkward about sharing these pads between skaters, although they will clean off with soap and water. if you're creeped out by sharing, then there's the options of the padded shorts, of which there are many varieties. Some varieties can be worn over clothes, so you can share them between skaters. 

Padded Shorts--as if skaters' butts weren't big enough already....

There's so much variety, that I'll just point you to a few websites of online stores that sell these, and make a few comments.

Most padded shorts seem to try for neutral, but let's face it, they're designed for girls.

Here's a wide selection.  And here's the booty short variation.

Something for someone who want to cover everything. Also, at the same site, if you scroll down to the bottom of this page you'll see a selection of Se-Ku padded shorts. One of these says it can be worn in competition.

Let's see you getting a guy into any of those padded shorts. So what do men and boys wear? It needs to be something....macho.

These appear to be roller derby shorts. Perhaps these would be popular with boys and men. You know, pick the right music and theme, I bet you could wear these as a 'costume' in competition. And here we have an even more macho selection.   I don't know if these are flexible enough for jumping, but I mean, they look so mean and threatening. I could see Vladimir Putin being willing to wear these. You don't get much more macho than that.

Vear pads or I vill shoot you

Have I missed anything? Hip pads are often used by people learning jumps, although many younger skaters don't want to wear them. Still given the variation available, there ought to be something that will suit all but the most finicky skater. And as an adult, wear them. A broken hip can destroy your life.