I think About Skating All.The.Time

So, I'm prowling through other blogs, or humor websites and I see a picture.

First thing that goes through my mind is a skating thought.

Some examples.

Really, that's carrying skating protection too far!

Christmas public!

I'm at the outdoor rink! Where's the ice! Where's the ice!

Okay, nice spiral. Now do shoot the duck!

You're going to need to work on your outside mohawk some more.
Sigh.
And Stop Drinking.

I try out my new boots.

Coach, please tell the new guy not to hammertoe his lutzes.
These divot are ridiculous!

Oh, that would make a really cute practice outfit.

What alien?

Freudian Slips on Ice

The term 'freudian slip' may have fallen out of fashion these days. When I was young it was a way of signaling that you or someone else had made a mistake due to the unconscious mind briefly taking control of your body. Funny slips of the tongue, a physical action, or faults in memory were once attributed to the deep unconscious raising its ugly head. Unable to repress desires hidden from your conscious mind, you were supposed to reveal your real self through (usually) naughty slips of the tongue, or some unintended action. Here is a pretty clean example.

Here's another example: over the last couple of weeks, I've mislaid my skating protection, time and time again.

First, one day I left my knee pads in the bag and skated a whole session without realizing I didn't have them on. Then one wrist guard disappeared.  I was in the ice show and couldn't wear them under my costume gloves so I skated without them. Then after the second ice show, I left my elbow pads behind in the dressing room. This occurred despite the fact I looked under the bench, on the shelf and all around my dressing area. I  walked out without them even though according to the woman who found them, they were left in plain view.  I've since skated without them.

So, is my unconscious telling me I no longer need my skating protection? Have my skills become so solid that I'm consciously clinging to an unneeded crutch? Am I ready to train while skating 'bare'?

No. 

Let me slap some sense into my unconscious mind

First off, I skate mostly on public ice. It's crowded, and you never know when an ice tourist will skate into you, or block you and cause you to take a fall. Secondly, public ice is not always as well maintained as freestyle. Recently, at a nearby rink a coach(!) tripped on a divot and broke her wrist. Thirdly, while I'm totally willing to skate a test or complete on nicely maintained ice with no skating protection, or do even a freestyle with only knee pads, I'm not willing to go 'bare' on public.

Falls are part of the game. But unlike kids who recover quickly, it can take me months to recover from a really bad fall. I'd rather spend that time skating in practice with protection, rather than skate without my sensible protection. But comps or tests, totally bare is okay.

So, little miss unconscious mind, you need to scoot back into your box and unrepress something else.

Dreams of Skating bear

 

 

 

Dear unconscious mind, please stop punning and pick another topic, willya?

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.

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.

Hips, Knees and Elbow-Part I, the Knee

My experience in skating was that I hit my elbows, knees and hips more than I ever hit my wrists and head.  Fortunately, your hips, knees and elbows are pretty tough and seldom suffer injury. But, there's no reason you need to skate in pain or risk an injury while you're learning. Why not wear pads?

Well, most people don't wear pads because they look unattractive. But even the cheap stuff you buy at a big box store usually works for beginners. It's only when you get past the first few basic skills that you realize that these cheap pads can interfere with your skating mobility and body position. Let's look at knee pads today, since when you first learn to skate you'll spend time on your knees.

Knee Pads

There's three main kinds: volleyball pads, inline skating pads, and figure skating pads. I'll go over the pros and cons for each.

Volleyball Kneepads

Volleyball knee pads come in a variety of styles and quality. You can spot them because the pad is integrated into the leg sleeve. Some have foam pads (cheaper), others have gel (more expensive, but better). Depending on what you wear, you can probably get some styles of pads under a pair of slacks. If you go with these make sure they have an opening in the back of the sleeve to allow for knee bend.

Pros: They work and aren't too confining. I knew a man at Freestyle 4 level who jumped (and fell) in these without problems. I've seen higher level skaters wearing a single pad in practice (I assume to protect an injured knee). Cheap to moderately expensive. Widely available.

Cons: Can't wear them for testing or competition. Some people may feel they interfere with certain elements. If you have large legs, the sleeve may be too restrictive.

Inline skating kneepad
Hard shell

Inline skating knee pads come in a bewildering variety of designs and levels of quality. Hard shell (as in the picture to the left). Softcap (similar to the volleyball knee pad). Pad integrated into the sleeve, or pad held in place with straps. What distinguishes Inline Skating pads from volleyball pads is that inline pads are generally thicker and designed for someone falling onto concrete.

I have seen these types of pads on many small children in Learn to Skate and a very few adults in Pre-Alpha (Basic 1) type classes. Generally adults give up on these as they are too thick to wear under clothes and must be worn over clothes. Once an adult gets steady on the ice, they seem to go to other protection solutions.

Pros: They work really well. Cheap. Available everywhere.
Cons: Hard to get on. Hard to get to stay in place. Most are designed to be worn over bare legs, not slacks. Bulky and may interfere with moves like cross overs.

Skating Safe Pad

As far as I know, there is one figure skating knee pad. Designed by a company called SkatingSafe, they are a gel product. The picture to the left shows a pad in place on a knee. When you buy the pad, you just get the pad. You have to figure out how to keep it in place. The company sells a retention sleeve, but I don't know of any adults who use them.  If you are a woman you can hold the pad in place with your tights. I use capri length compression tights to hold mine in place. I suspect a man would use a similar solution. Carefully placed, these pads are invisible under clothing. I've heard of skaters wearing them under tights and they couldn't be seen.

For something so thin, they work like magic. I've taken some really hard falls in them and felt nothing. Zip. Nada. Zero. As I said, Magic.

Pros: Can be worn under clothes. Can be worn in testing and competition. Work well. Don't interfere with skating moves.

Cons: OMG. The Price. But my knees are worth it.

There's lots of options for different levels of ability. All of them work. There's lots of price differences so even someone on a budget could afford some kind of knee protection. As you advance you'll probably find yourself needing knee pads less and less as you gain stability. However, at some point you'll have a jump, or a piece of footwork than will land you on your knees and you'll take them up again. Ah, figure skating, the never ending cycle of pain.

Wrist Guards

This is the second in my posts on skating protection. Today I want to talk about wrist guards.

NOTA BENE: This post is my opinion. There are people who disagree with my conclusions...NOTE: I've never been hurt wearing the guards I skate in, so personally,  I'm okay with my analysis. 

Some of you may have heard that wrist guards don't protect you from injury. Or you may have read this article.  I'm about to pooh-pooh someone's research with cadavers, so take a look at the description in the article of the force used: "bone crushing force".  And look at the results "The guarded forearms snapped under a force almost identical to the force needed to break the unguarded forearms."  I'm going to put on my system engineer's hat and go "pooh-pooh". Research like this draws general conclusions about all sports and all situations from a simple experiment. Extrapolation can lead to simplified conclusions that are wrong, wrong, wrong.
  
Here's the thing, a well designed wrist guard isn't intended to keep your forearm from breaking. A wrist  guard is designed to keep your wrist from breaking. Secondly, in skating we seldom encounter 'bone-crushing force'. Wrist guards are designed for people skating on concrete, not ice; so 'bone crushing' rarely applies to skaters. Finally, in and this is the most important thing, in the extremely unlikely case that you break a long bone (a forearm or a leg  bone), they heal much faster, and have fewer complications in healing  than a broken joint.


Some cases to illustrate this point. I broke my ankle in June of 2009. It was a minor fracture of a single small bone in the ankle. I did not get back on the ice for six months and did not lose pain in the joint for a year and a half. A woman in my group class broke a leg in a freak skating accident* and she was skating again in three months. A friend of mine broke her wrist in a roller skating accident. She tripped, stuck out her hands to break her fall and  crushed one wrist. It required two surgeries to fix and a year to heal. Don't you think she would have rather had a simple broken arm that would be healed in a couple of months?


So, I'm a big supporter of wrist guards. But only certain kinds of wrist guards. The ones I recommend to my friends are those that have a metal splint that bends away from the wrist. I've used Pro-Tech and Triple 8 guards. but there are others on the market. I make sure I get the guards where the splint does not touch the wrist. When you fall with this kind of guard, the force enters the metal splint, travels around the wrist, and the force transfers to the tough hard to break (easy to heal) forearm. Here's a picture that shows the splint.

The guard on the right shows the splint
that curves around the wrist

The wrist guards I feel comfortable with are ones designed for street skating (skateboarding and inline skating). When I took falls with these on I never had any problems at all. They were super. When I skate alone, I always wear these. When I'm skating with Dance Coach, I'm now comfortable not wearing them as my skills have improved.  


I've never tried any of the padded wrist guards that don't have a splint. From a common sense point of view, I can't see how they would be of any use, except to someone who is trying to keep their palms from getting skinned. I've also never used wrist guards designed for snowboarding as they are bulky and appear to be designed more for protection against brush and ice. Finally, there are guards that have a splint, but it lies along the wrist rather than arching away from it. I'm suspicious of these as from a physics point of view, they don't stop the force from going through the wrist.  Maybe if I was younger and a better skater, I'd find these other options suitable, but right now, I don't use them. 


If a friend were to come to me and say, "I'm a beginning adult skater, what should I wear for protection? What's the most important thing?" I'd say "Get wrist guards with the curved splint, first and foremost. You're going to fall on your hands, protect that wrist joint." 


*She was doing warm up swizzles(!), caught one blade in a rut and 'fell funny' on one leg, snapping both bones. (I said it was a freak accident). I saw her skating last week for the first time, 3 months after the fall.