Falling Over - A Lot

[SkatingOnClouds]

I average 2 falls per 2 hour session, though my record is something like 7 in an hour. In my experience, a lot of injuries can come from trying to save yourself from a fall, so if I feel myself going, I usually go with it.
I also reckon it makes the little kids feel better about falling when they see a big, fat, old lady do it. (I have been known to fall on purpose in front of a small child crying after a minor fall in her lesson)

It has never bothered me before, but I have fallen 4 times each of the last 2 sessions, some falls quite heavy. Last night it occurred to me that I have rarely, if ever, seen other skaters at that session fall over. Some of them fall very rarely, and it's a real big deal when they do, with tears, limping off, ice packs etc.

I am getting tired of scraping myself up off the ice, somehow the getting up is harder than the falling down. I wonder whether I should try to save myself from falling more often.

What do y'all reckon, am I more likely to hurt myself from the falls or from the trying not to fall?

[Rusty Blades]

I think accepting that you are going to fall and just going with it is a good thing.

All the coaches tell me I don't fall enough. I should fall more. I'd like to fall more, but my reflexes are automatic and are awfully quick for someone my age and I usually manage to get a foot under me and recover although it isn't always pretty and there is a frog-in-the-blender moment when hands and feet are flying everywhere. Even when I do end up on the ice, I usually manage to deflect my fall. The killers are the ones that happen when I am going slow and happen quick and unexpectedly - those are the ones I have been injured on. SPEED IS MY FRIEND!

"a big, fat, old lady" - LOL! That's me! I went straight down off a 3-turn one day. People on the other side of the rink said they felt the ground shake! (Gee, thanks a lot!) But I landed sitting on my butt pad and sat there laughing 8-)

[Sessy]

2 falls per 2 hour sessions? Well I'm doing more than that nowadays doing only spins and MIF cuz of the ankle, and I consider that not falling at all...

When I was practicing jumps last year I was going down 20-30-40 times in 2 hours, and I only got some blue spots from that. Both (actually, all 3) of my serious injuries, including the current one keeping me a year from jumping, were during spins and completely unexpected.
Although at some point my right hip started to ache when I kept going down on the loop, so my coach had a brilliant idea, which included stuffing sponges down my tights. Worked magic! Was much cheaper than crash pants...

One time I had a lesson from a coach I hadn't seen in a looong time and after the lesson I stumbled and fell and she said "Now I know what's wrong! I haven't seen you fall all day!" then when we were tying our shoes she saw one of her other students, dragged me to her saying "I've got to introduce you to the one single person in the world crazier and more prone to falling than you are!"

Falling means you're learning something new. If it's bothering you, pad up for those things you are learning new.

[coskater64]

It depends...are you jumping? When working, oh so long ago, on my double jumps I would fall a lot, probably 10-20 times in an hour session. At the moment I generally fall once over the course of 1 1/2 - 2 hours almost always an edge fall when I am tired, but I only do field moves, spins and dance. Its the dances that get me, I will do 3 or 4 patterns in a row several times and I keep forgetting that my hinged boots do go backwards. When I get tired I seem to lean back a bit more.:D

If you are just tipping over for no reason, you might want to look into ballet or pilates or just do exercises the work on balance and strengthening your core.

Also, I was told by my coach if you don't fall you aren't trying and aren't pushing.

[deannathegeek]

Are you working on anything in particular that would make you fall, like spins or jumps? I consistently fall when working on full-revolution jumps and my scratch spin. I also found out recently that because I have slight scoliosis in my lower spine, I can't balance well so that makes it a little more difficult to stay upright when spinning.

My suggestion is to figure out when you fall the most and what you're working on-you may find that technique may be tripping you up. If all else fails, splurge on a private lesson and have a coach help you find the rough spots.

[jazzpants]

I think I broke the record for 15 falls within a half hour. Of course, this was on a harness and it's intended to make up for all the months that I didn't fall on the ice on my own. :P (And I'm sure that when I start learning the axel that I'll break this record too! :lol: )

[Kim to the Max]

In my mind...falling means that you are doing something that challenges you, and for the most part, you are getting closer to your goal....

An example....I was two footing my axel...badly...then, started to land on one foot, but badly cheated...now, I am falling on the axel, but it is closer to being landed fully rotated....

However...if you continue to fall on the same spot on your body (hip, side, etc.) you may want to invest in padding...

I would also say, unless something is salvageable or able to be fought for (i.e. you are landing a jump on one foot but are just "sitting" down), don't try to stop yourself from falling, injuries are more apt to happen then...

[doubletoe]

I think it really depends on what you're falling on. What are you falling on? (I mean skating element or move, not body part, LOL!)

[Mrs Redboots]

Husband falls a lot when he's doing free skating, occasionally when working on Moves, and very seldom when dancing - unless, of course, he take me out too, which I don't like! He has a very nasty bruise on his arm where he keeps landing on it but won't wear padding: "Oh, I've stopped falling over on my loop jump now!" except he hasn't at all as he's trying to get a loop-loop combination and he always falls over on that!

Dance falls are horrid, as you can so often wind yourself.

[fsk8r]

I wish I could fall. My inbuilt sense of balance kicks in far too often and I end up wrenching shoulders and backs saving myself. Sometimes I wish I didn't. But whatever I do, if I'm going down somehow I go down forwards and always land on my right knee. (near enough inch perfect on the same spot!). I don't know how I do it as the last time I fell (and this is now several months ago!) was going backwards when I caught a cone with my heel, so I don't know how I landed on my knee forwards.
Anyway, my coach is a bit worried by the lack of falls as she feels it's going to hamper me when we start on the axle which is sounding awfully like it's going to be soon now I've got a lutz.
Could you provide tips on how you let yourself fall? I'm not sure I'm necessarily scared of falling, I just stop myself doing it. (I'm definitely scared of hurting my knees again as I HATE the swelling which goes with the bruise).

[Clare]

I don't fall enough either. I have plenty of those arm-flapping moments where I generally manage to save myself and I do worry that it means I'm not trying hard enough, even though I feel as though I am.

I've only ever fallen forwards a handful of times- when I do fall, it is always backwards and I've yet to do any damage so I don't have some deep seated traumatic memory linked with falling. I just don't really have any idea how to get to the point where I will just throw myself into things and fall if necessary.

[sk8_4fun]

I fall at least once per session and sometimes I feel better when I've got it out of the way. Last week I had the fall everyone dreads which involved hitting my head. I was understandably nervous for a little while afterwards but actually felt relieved to fall again, as it 'purged' me of my fear and made me realise that most falls dont result in injury. My coach told me if I dont fall then I'm not pushing myself and I'll never learn. I agree its better to just go with it (although I do wear thin knee pads:halo: )

[SkatingOnClouds]

Wow, thanks everyone ! Now I don't feel so bad about how often I fall.
Sessy - you are a maniac (meant in a nice way) to fall that many times per session!

Yes, I am jumping, singles through to lutz. Most of my falls at the moment are coming from back 3 turns (go figure, I get my weight too far back on the blade sometimes) and trying to do loops from crossovers - they're fine from inside 3 turns or in combo with other jumps. So it's not that I'm working on anything new or challenging really, perhaps just overcoming poor technique.

Double Toe, despite your clarification, I am falling on my back/butt. Mostly I go down fairly controlled, but some days my lower back really aches from being fallen on so much. It is direct hits to the knees that I fear most. At my age, coming back from a serious knee injury might not happen.

All the replies here reassure me to go ahead and keep falling.
Thanks All !:bow:

[Sessy]

So pad up. As long as you don't get psychologically dependant on it, why not? Hockeyers pad up too! And as you said, at your age, you've gotta be careful about that body.

[ibreakhearts66]

Wow, thanks everyone ! Now I don't feel so bad about how often I fall.
Sessy - you are a maniac (meant in a nice way) to fall that many times per session!



man, then you will probably think i need to be institutionalized. i probably fall 40+ times an HOUR when i'm working on my higher doubles. so if i'm skating 3 hours, i might fall over 100 times. and even tho i am only 17, it is certainly no easier on my body than someone even 3 times my age (my bones and joints are a mess from playing too many sports too young). just go with the flow and fall when you need to.

[double3s]

Just to add to the chorus - I fall A LOT. My coach likes it - he says it shows I'm pushign myself. Of the four regular adults at my rink, 2 of take a lot of falls and 2 don't. Guess which 2 are progressing faster?

I'm 40, and I wear knee pads each and every time I skate (unless I'm testing or (hypothetically) competing). Under a pair of tights they don't show that much and I don't care if they do. Sometimes when I've hit the knee and it's tender (despite the knee pads) I'll wear a big bulky hard inline pad OVER the softer pad for extra protection. I've also worn a coccyx pad and elbow pads at times, as well as creating pads for various places that need it, like my ischial tuberosity.

[Kim to the Max]

So, I am the only adult who skates at my rink, and it's funny because when I fall on an axel or something, usually one of the little kids (8-9 years old) always comes up to ask if I'm okay...

[Scarlett]

I fall a lot. I'm actually starting to think the bruises on my left thigh are permanent.

[RoaringSkates]

I rarely fall, but I do dance, I don't jump. When I do almost fall, my extremely tall, very strong partner holds me up! Well, for the most part. Last week, I somehow caught my left toe pick - while moving forward at speed - and dragged it forward as I did my right outside edge, carving a nice curve deep into the ice as my partner very gently lowered me to the ground. It was pretty funny, actually. Ice dance as comedy.

[coskater64]

When I was learning to do spread eagle axel I would fall constantly the free leg would undo itself and I couldn't keep it tight enough,so I would slap backwards onto my left hip. For 4 months everyday I did this until finally I couldn't bend enough to put on my skating tights. Went to the doctor my entire left butt cheek was black, my body had reacted by starting to grow another bone on the back of my pelvis and underneath my glutes. 8 weeks of manual, painful message, ultrasound and stim, everyother day. It hurt so bad, also not allowed to skate for those 8 weeks. The doctors made custom light weight butt pads with memory foam lining helped and about 5 months later I had a beautiful spread eagle axel.:D :D :bow: :bow:

[Mrs Redboots]

Last week, I somehow caught my left toe pick - while moving forward at speed - and dragged it forward as I did my right outside edge, carving a nice curve deep into the ice as my partner very gently lowered me to the ground. It was pretty funny, actually. Ice dance as comedy.

Been there done that!

Husband's got a semi-permanent bruise on his arm, I think - and oh, the fuss he makes (I am sure it is sore, poor man - but wouldn't you think he'd wear a pad when he jumps????).

[doubletoe]

Wow, thanks everyone ! Now I don't feel so bad about how often I fall.
Sessy - you are a maniac (meant in a nice way) to fall that many times per session!

Yes, I am jumping, singles through to lutz. Most of my falls at the moment are coming from back 3 turns (go figure, I get my weight too far back on the blade sometimes) and trying to do loops from crossovers - they're fine from inside 3 turns or in combo with other jumps. So it's not that I'm working on anything new or challenging really, perhaps just overcoming poor technique.

Double Toe, despite your clarification, I am falling on my back/butt. Mostly I go down fairly controlled, but some days my lower back really aches from being fallen on so much. It is direct hits to the knees that I fear most. At my age, coming back from a serious knee injury might not happen.

All the replies here reassure me to go ahead and keep falling.
Thanks All !:bow:

LOL! I hear ya! At least it sounds like your falls are not the worst kind (knock wood!). FWIW, I found that focusing on keeping my chest pushed out so it's over the skating knee helped a lot whenever I've had that problem on back 3's and/or loop takeoffs. Might be worth a try! :)

[vesperholly]

Two times per hour? That's it?! 8O

I fall a lot. I fall on backspins (long story), moves - usually funny because I'm going really fast - jumps, flying spins, etc. I usually fall when I'm pushing the limits of what I can do. For example, I skated 45 minutes today. I only fell once, on a really wonky axel that never got off the ice properly. But I also was practicing only the elements for my program, all of which are relatively consistent.

When I practice double sals or loops, I fall on almost all of them because they're not fully rotated yet. I never could stand up cheated jumps. I usually have problems with shoulder alignment, too, which means I lean in the air when I get it wrong - and try landing a jump at a 45 degree angle! I have a spot right below my knee that is always swollen and a bit tender, because I fall right there every time.

YMMV but falling is no big deal. Pick yourself up, dust off the ice and keep skating!!

[mikawendy]

Last lesson I had, I nearly fell over just standing near the boards while my coach was talking to me. Also, lately have been having countless wipeouts working on camel-back camel.

I agree, the worst falls are from a standstill or on moves, straight down, with no momentum across the ice.

[SkatingOnClouds]

Wow, sounds like there are some serious fallers here!
I guess that I fall a lot in comparison to other skaters at my rink who are jumping and working on change and flying change spins.

I certainly fall more than the other adults, except for one (much) younger adult working on getting an axel. The other adults are constantly telling me how brave I am to do what I do. I tell them it isn't bravery if you aren't scared. I suppose because I don't have other skaters my own age as role models, I tend to compare myself to the younger skaters, who generally don't seem to fall.

I don't wear any padding, I always joke I have plenty on my thighs and butt.
I look enough like the Michelin man already, without adding thigh pads :lol:

[Sessy]

BTW, I'm seriously considering using impregnation-spray (water repellent) on one pair of my skating pants on the butt area just for the sit spins... :lol:

[Mrs Redboots]

BTW, I'm seriously considering using impregnation-spray (water repellent) on one pair of my skating pants on the butt area just for the sit spins... :lol:
A good idea - I'm sure you aren't the only skater who has a wet behind after a session on sit-spins. Or spin-sits. Or what my coach calls sit-splats!

[Thin-Ice]

I couldn't even tell you how many times I fall during a session. I can tell you I only have a couple bad falls (as in "thud-thunk-crash") a week. I had THREE of those in 30-minutes last week... but I'm blaming that on the cold I had been fighting and THOUGHT had gone away.:roll:

[sue123]

When I skated more regularly and actually tried new moves, I fell pretty often. After I fell backwards and wound up with a concussion, it took me some time to get over the fear of falling, but I managed by performing the "click of death" on back crossovers. I was alright though, I just couldn't stop the glide once I hit the ice. Another memorable fall was my fall from a standstill in which I managed to dislocate my knee and tear my PCL. Or at least, I think that must have been when I tore my PCL as I haven't really done any other major trauma to it.

Don't fall so much now (also don't skate much now, and not at all for another few weeks) but I'll admit I'm not really pushing myself now. My schedule is so irregular, I can't get lessons as no 2 weeks are the same. And I can never get regular practice time either, so now when I skate, it's just for fun, doing a few things I can still do, videotaping myself so I can see what's wrong. But I don't want to try anything new without a coach. Rumor has it that next year, we only have morning classes and afternoons are labs twice a week only, so then maybe I'll be able to get a coach and I wouldn't want to have to unlearn the bad habits I would have developed trying new elements.

[jazzpants]

BTW, I'm seriously considering using impregnation-spray (water repellent) on one pair of my skating pants on the butt area just for the sit spins... :lol:Well, it cost some $$$ but I have a pair of jazzpants from Danskin that is 89% Supplex nylon/11% Lycra (http://www.danskin.com/bottoms-dance-page2.html). From my many years of wear said pants, I can assure you those pants dry up VERY quickly! :mrgreen:

[SkatingOnClouds]

I'm with you on that Jazzpants! Much as I love cotton lycra, I have found that supplex or tactel are better for skating. They don't absorb as much moisture and dry very quickly - very important at our rink, as it gets very wet when the temperature gets above 20 degrees celsius.

I have a couple of pairs of Danskin supplex bootleg pants which I altered to make the legs narrower, and recently bought tactel fabric and made a top & pants out of that. Considering getting more actually...

[dooobedooo]

Reasons for falling down that are nothing to do with skating ...

1. You are dehydrated. Take a bottle of water with you and drink LOTS.
Effective exercise means you need plenty of water in your system.
Avoid any other drinks (coffee, tea, coke, diet coke) as they are all
liable to dehydrate you.

2. You have a food intolerance which is weakening you.
This could be wheat, dairy, caffeine, or a food additive.
Try cutting out the above for a while; take apples for snacks.

3. Your cardiovascular is unfit. Do more gym or walking.
eg. walk to the rink.

All these have affected me in the past.