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.

4 comments:

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

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  2. 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.

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  3. 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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