Post-injury, getting your "nerve" back

[tazsk8s]

I have been a member here for a long time but haven't posted in eons. I'm looking for advice on coming back from a injury and getting your "nerve" back.

Specifics of my situation: I'm a Bronze skater, haven't actively competed or tested in several years due to various personal circumstances, but have managed to take a weekly lesson and stay on the ice a couple of times a week. Have managed to keep my jumps and spins pretty much intact and have even made some progress on the axel. Got new skates a couple of months ago and was sort of dabbling with the idea of trying to test again (having failed Silver moves twice, ugh). So two weeks ago I went to the rink after work (LOVE LOVE LOVE the summers when the kiddies are at the rink during the day and the evenings are nearly empty) and decided to see if I even remembered what the Silver moves are anymore.

I should add that I really don't enjoy working on moves, not at all. Never have, never will. So for me to even try them without my coach nagging....erm, encouraging me, is a big deal. I started with the 8 step which is, or was, my "favorite" of the Silver moves (in relative terms, that is) and made it through exactly two repeats of the pattern when I got my feet tangled and went down HARD. Fell with my entire body weight on my right hand and immediately saw stars and knew I'd broken the wrist. A visit to the ER confirmed this, the short version is I now have a huge purple cast that goes over the elbow. I get a shorter one next week that I expect to have for another 3 weeks or so. The cast is a nuisance, but I don't hurt anymore and my recovery is going well.

So...for those of you who have made it this far and injured yourself significantly while skating, how do you work up the nerve to try the element you hurt yourself on? Up until now I have only had garden-variety bruises, aches and pains, so I've been pretty fearless. Obviously it isn't just the 8 step, I could fall on anything and reinjure myself. But I am certain that when I do get cleared to skate again, 8-step-phobia will be an understandable issue.

Needless to say, this incident did NOT help with my dislike of moves!

Thanks for any replies.

[fsk8r]

I've not done anything serious to myself on the ice, but am recovering from serious whiplash from a car accident last October. I took myself off the ice except for a once the week pootle and started properly skating again at Christmas. My back problems have all been rotational and one of my moves exercises involves a back inside double 3. Before accident, I was quite happy doing them and had no qualms although had had a nasty bruised elbow from a fall on one of them. So there was already a little angst. Starting them again with a dodgy non-rotating back resulted in consecutive falls at a time when I wasn't allowed to fall. A ban on the move resulted, and then the nerves kicked in. I've spent months battling my nerves and my body now, but the only way I would do the double 3's was with a coach present. Once both dance and free coaches confirmed that there was nothing wrong with the turns, I started beating myself up into practicing them on my own.
I've now managed to switch my good side to my bad side, so I think this means I may be cracking the issue. But it's taken a lot of coaxing from the coaches to get me to this point, and a lot of stubborness on my part.
I won't let this exercise and this accident beat me! But I do know that some days it's a mental problem and other days it's a physical one. Sometimes it's difficult to know which, but I make sure I work on it every time I get on the ice.

[CaraSkates]

What is it about 8-Step-Mohawks? That's the only move I've ever injured myself seriously on and I did it twice! The first was 4 years ago, way before I even did Pre-Pre MIF, was doing them in a group class and BOOM, caught my heel and fell hard, landing on my right arm. Yup I broke it. Only mine was a little better as far as fear, I didn't know it was broken for a month so I continued to skate with a brace on, then continued skating with my cast for the next month. I did two competitions with that broken arm!

Fast forward about two years and I was actually working on Juvenile MIF with the 8 step, caught my heel again and this time gave myself a concussion! I hit so hard the entire rink stopped to see if I was ok. I was mostly mad my coach wouldn't let me have my lesson that day but it turned out I also had whiplash and a sore neck.

Anyway, I did pass that darn move less then two months after the concussion and have since gone on to pass Intermediate MIF. Now I'm working on the Ten Fox which has the same darn outside mohawk (my problem is the LFOmohawk) and I tend to freak out going fast. My advice is once you get back, just make yourself do that move. For me, my coach kept putting that mohawk as footwork in my programs so I would HAVE to do them. The time old saying about falling off a horse and getting back on is true here too :) Good luck and I hope your arm feels better!!

P.S. I don't know if you'd want to or your doctor would allow it, but I was allowed to and did skate with my cast. I actually went from the ortho office to the rink!

[doubletoe]

I have to agree with Cara. The 8-step mohawk is also the only MIF I have really hurt myself on (and that includes Gold, Intermediate and Novice moves).

When it comes to getting your courage back and avoiding further injuries, a good dose of proper technique works wonders. I would suggest working on the scarier moves (including your 8-step mohawk and your axel) only with your coach's supervision for awhile, and working up to them with exercises that build the proper technique before "going for it."

[ibreakhearts66]

I agree with the previous posters. I never injured myself on the 8-step, but my "problem" move was CW forward crossovers. I caught the toe-pick badly while working preliminary, then again on the Int power circles. I really suggest working on that 8-step with your coach when you get back, because I know the way my body reacted to the hesitance and fear on the CW crossovers actually contributed to creating the falls. For me, personally, I would get scared to really put my all into those crossovers, causing me to get caught in between (weight never made it all the way over to the right), so I'd lose my balance and fall again. Vicious cycle. Maybe try working the move at a slower pace, focusing on the technique and edges, then gradually build up to full speed and quickness. Think, "What foot am I on, what edge am I on" (or "what foot SHOULD I be on and what edge SHOULD I be on" :P).

Good luck and I hope you heal quickly!

[tazsk8s]

Thanks. I am feeling far less silly about hurting myself on these now. Somehow saying "I broke it doing the 8 step mohawk" sounds far less glamourous than, say, a triple lutz. :)

Maybe this is a sign of sorts to go back to the beginning on moves if I really ever really want to test Silver. I took my Bronze FS before anyone ever dreamed of adult moves, so was grandfathered through the earlier tests. A good thing in that I don't enjoy working on them anyway so I was perfectly happy to not "have to" do them, but a bad thing in that I have been trying to do them without any of the earlier skills that lead up to them. Going to be a few weeks before I can even contemplate getting out there again anyway, but probably something worth mentioning to my coach when I do get back out there.

Skating with this particular cast is definitely not an option. It covers part of my hand, and goes up over the elbow which is set at a 90 degree angle. They were afraid if they put the short cast on right away, that the break could "fall apart" due to being able to rotate the arm, and require surgery. That is all healing well though, and I get this cast removed next week and a shorter one put on that allows me to use my elbow. Haven't discussed any "return to the ice" dates with the doctor yet.

[sk8pics]

It always seems like people get injured on the "less glamorous" moves, as you put it. When I broke my ankle, it was due to a simple loss of balance as I stepped forward from 2 sets of 5-step mohawks into a bunny hop. I think I had finished the bunny hop when I lost my balance and splatted.

Anyway, my coach has continued to be a total rockstar, and he's worked with me very patiently. When I did the same set of steps when I got back on the ice, it was very slow and tentative, but I did manage to get through it without totally freaking out. I made my coach hold my hand a lot at the beginning, and still sometimes hold onto him, but we've worked on things slowly. I think you need to give yourself time, work up to the harder things, and of course make sure you're using the proper technique. There's also, for me, a certain mental attitude, and I have to push any thoughts of getting injured out of my mind.

[doubletoe]

P.S. In case this helps, these are the valuable technique lessons I learned from my two bad falls on the 8-step mohawk:
(1) Always point the toes of the foot you are bringing down for the backwards step (second step) of the mohawk. This will keep you from planting the heel of your blade in the ice and getting felled like a big tree. :roll:
(2) Take your time. One step at a time. Really, it's OK!
(3) Ankle bend, ankle bend, ankle bend!

[Mel On Ice]

coming back to the ice after giving birth, and I keep falling on my salchow/loop, a combo that was always a ringer for me. Abs aren't quite doing the job for sit spins either.

[AgnesNitt]

I am recovering from a non-displaced ankle fracture from a RFO3. Upper body rotated, blade stuck in a crack and didn't rotate. It was a bad, bad fall. I took it full on my hands.

Never the less, I didn't break my wrists, because I wear these (http://www.inlinewarehouse.com/Protec_Street_Wrist_Guards/descpage-PSWG.html). To be frank, I think every adult skater should wear them. The wrist of an adult is the same strength as the wrist of a teenager, but you're carrying around (face it) at least 10-20 lbs more than when you were a teenager. When you fall on your wrists as an adult, you're more likely to break something than a teenager.

I also wear gel elbow protectors, and put two gel hip pads in my knit cap in case I fall backwards. I don't actually look weird on the ice.

Getting back on the ice is not a problem. I'm cleared to skate, but while the bones are healed, the ligaments still need some time. Maybe September.

This has turned out to be an opportunity to get some custom skates. I figure the old ones are like tigers, once they've tasted human flesh they turn into maneaters. New Harlick's for me!

[AgnesNitt]

And while I'm thinking about it, here's (http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/how-to-fix-bad-ankles/?scp=9&sq=ankle&st=cse) a good article on recovering from an ankle injury.

[aussieskater]

I figure the old ones are like tigers, once they've tasted human flesh they turn into maneaters.

LOL :lol::lol:

To OP - hope you heal quickly!

[sk8pics]

And while I'm thinking about it, here's (http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/how-to-fix-bad-ankles/?scp=9&sq=ankle&st=cse) a good article on recovering from an ankle injury.

Great article. I recall hearing some PT's talk years ago, and saying that if you sprain your ankle and don't get PT it will never really recover.

I got a lot of balance training in my PT after I broke my ankle, and I still work on that. I will routinely stand on just that leg whenever I'm standing somewhere. I also think skating is great PT in this sense. I remember I could not hold a forward inside edge on that foot when I started skating again, but eventually all the little muscles relearned how to balance.

[RachelSk8er]

I dislocated my knee on the jr moves power pull-quick rockers 10 yrs ago when I learned and first started working on the test. 10 years later I'm back to working on and trying to pass them, and I STILL tense up on that pattern. I think that's why I avoided this test for so long. That and I didn't "need" it.

I also hurt myself pretty badly 2 yrs ago on the choctaw in the Quickstep. Fell backward on my head, then my tailbone, had a bad concussion, back spasms, it was really painful. I'm just now starting to do that dance again.

I recall hearing some PT's talk years ago, and saying that if you sprain your ankle and don't get PT it will never really recover.

I sprained my ankle when I was 15 (13 yrs ago) and every so often it still flares up and gives me trouble, especially when I've been skating/running a lot without a day of rest. Granted I never let it heal properly because 3 days later I was back on the ice with my synchro team again because I didn't want to sit out a competition.

[tazsk8s]

I am recovering from a non-displaced ankle fracture from a RFO3. Upper body rotated, blade stuck in a crack and didn't rotate. It was a bad, bad fall. I took it full on my hands.

Holy cow, that hurts just to read. I can only imagine what it must have felt like. Hope you are recovering well.

Never the less, I didn't break my wrists, because I wear these (http://www.inlinewarehouse.com/Protec_Street_Wrist_Guards/descpage-PSWG.html). To be frank, I think every adult skater should wear them. The wrist of an adult is the same strength as the wrist of a teenager, but you're carrying around (face it) at least 10-20 lbs more than when you were a teenager.

I only wish it was just 10-20 lbs more. If I could get back down to that weight I'd be thrilled, but that is another thread entirely, I guess. :yum: Yeah, I was thinking of the wristguards myself. Actually, when I was in the ER waiting for x-rays, my daughter (who drove me there and waited with me) was chatting online with her cousins using her Ipod touch and the hospital's Wi-fi. Of course she had to tell them "guess what your clumsy aunt did now" and one of them swore he was going to buy some wristguards for me.

This has turned out to be an opportunity to get some custom skates. I figure the old ones are like tigers, once they've tasted human flesh they turn into maneaters. New Harlick's for me!

lol. I got new customs in April (3rd pair of custom SP-Teris', first two worked out well so I figured why mess with a good thing) and was just starting to feel really comfy in them. Now they just sit in the basement looking lonely.

[AgnesNitt]

Just got back from seeing my hockey playing podiatrist. He took a cast of my feet and arranged for an orthotics lab in Canada to build me orthotics for my new skates. According to him, they're the same lab that builds orthotics for Surya Bonaly. Since my skate technician reportedly did her blades at one time, I'll be doing back flips any day now. :lol:

Once I get the Orthotics, then I get fitted for custom boots--and the orthotics are shipped off to the boot builders. Then when I get the boots back, I have to get new blades, decisions, decision. Only then can I finally skate, and go into a round of adjustments until I'm happy. It's sort of like this grand jigsaw puzzle of appointments, fittings, and waiting. I figure it will take three to six months.

[NickiT]

I have suffered a severe ankle fracture as a result of a skating fall which needed emergency surgery to fix with a metal plate and screws. Then a few years later I fell hard on my wrist and broke my wrist. So yep, I totally understand the whole "getting the nerve to get back on the ice" thing. All I can say is that it takes time. I took it very carefully at first after both injuries and built up my confidence over time. I must admit the ankle injury was harder to deal with as I was in a lot of pain for the best part of a year afterwards and just putting on my boots hurt a lot. When I had my wrist in a cast I did skate a few times. Only with my coach and only doing very basic stuff, but it still felt weird and it was a while after the cast came off before I started to attempt jumps again. You will get back on the ice and in time your injury will become a distant memory like mine have done.

Nicki

[tazsk8s]

I just wanted to thank all who expressed support on this thread. I am six-weeks post-injury tomorrow. The first five weeks pretty much flew by, between the immediate "WTH did I do to myself", plus vacations, college visits for my daughter, family visiting us. This last week has just CRAWLED...I have an appointment to get the cast removed on Weds. and I am SO ready to be done with this. It is actually my second cast...they changed my cast at 3 weeks from the long one that went over my elbow, to a shorter one that just covered my forearm. I can function much more normally and the wrist is so well-protected it has been hard to resist the urge to sneak in just one little public session. :halo: But I have resisted.

I figure I will mention a return to the ice to the doctor Weds and see what he says. Don't know if I will need PT or anything like that. I'm perfectly willing to wear wrist protection. Frankly, as long as he's willing to work with me on a reasonable return to ice date, I will stand on my head and sing the ABC's in the middle of the rink lobby if he says it will help. (Please don't hold me to that one!)

[dbny]

Somehow saying "I broke it doing the 8 step mohawk" sounds far less glamourous than, say, a triple lutz. :)


I think I win the prize for breaking a bone on the least glamorous move. I broke my wrist (almost certainly the same fracture as you, tazsk8s) on the Pre-pre BI edge pattern :oops:.

If you are offered a choice of PT or DIY, I would encourage you to go with DIY. I did the simple exercises my doctor showed me, and also used that hand/wrist/arm for everything I possibly could. Today, I think that wrist is the only joint that doesn't hurt!

Don't be surprised if you are more scared than you expected when you do get back on the ice. It's just a very basic animal reaction. I agree with the other posters who suggested practicing the 8-step only with your coach's supervision at first. I could not have done the BI edges any other way, when I went back, and it took me over a year to get completely over my fear.

Never the less, I didn't break my wrists, because I wear these (http://www.inlinewarehouse.com/Protec_Street_Wrist_Guards/descpage-PSWG.html). To be frank, I think every adult skater should wear them.

I asked my doctor about those when I got my final cast off and he said there is no consensus among orthopedic surgeons on their value. His own view is that if you fall with enough force to break your wrist when you are wearing those guards, then the force will be transmitted upwards and you may have a worse fracture of the radius and ulna near the elbow. I was actually happy to hear that, because I think they are ugly and constricting. If I can't at least try to look graceful while skating, then I don't want to skate. Of course, if I had happened to get a doctor who strongly recommended them, then I would probably have worn them with a bit of a sense of relief.

[Skate@Delaware]

I herniated my back almost 2 years ago (not skating, but moving furniture in my home) and now I'm almost back to where I was-skating-wise. I'm still weak on one side and have "issues" that are too lengthy to get into and with them I'm tentative.

since then I've splatted a few times (with and without pads hahaha) and I do believe getting back onto the ice is 90% mental 10% physical ability and 1000% sheer will. Once you get your mo-jo then it's back to 80% mental and 20% physical...;)

[tazsk8s]

I think I win the prize for breaking a bone on the least glamorous move. I broke my wrist (almost certainly the same fracture as you, tazsk8s) on the Pre-pre BI edge pattern :oops:.

From what I am able to tell (I am medically stupid) mine is pretty much a classic radius fracture. It apparently has a slight "angulation" but both of the doctors I have seen have said it is well within acceptable limits.

BI edges though? Eeek. I was actually thinking that since I've never actually passed a moves test (having passed Bronze in the good old days before they started making adults do moves), that when I go back I'd have my coach focus on the earliest level moves for awhile. Maybe even test pre-pre moves, just for the sake of of testing something that is well within my ability. I tend to fall off of back OUTside edges, now I've got something else to think about.

If you are offered a choice of PT or DIY, I would encourage you to go with DIY. I did the simple exercises my doctor showed me, and also used that hand/wrist/arm for everything I possibly could. Today, I think that wrist is the only joint that doesn't hurt!

I guess we'll find out what their recommendation is tomorrow. I can tell by the way the cast fits that the arm muscles have "shrunk" a bit.

Just a little over 16 hours! Not that I'm counting....

[Mainemom]

What is it with that 8-step mohawk sequence? One of DD's best friends went down so hard with that one that she gave herself a concussion - she had to miss the upcoming test session which was very disappointing as we only have them twice a year. She managed to pass the next time but it took her a while to skate it with power as she was definitely holding back. For me, I broke my tailbone on FI 3 turns and it took about 2 years before I would even try them again. That hurt soooo much and at my age I'm just too afraid of falling. DD finally worked me through it, literally holding my hand as I rotated through and now I can do them fine, don't even (really, not too much) think about it. It's tough, as adults, to fall. Bottom line. Kids, they bounce. Or end up in the ER and back on the ice in no time. Not me....

[tazsk8s]

Well, I am officially CAST-FREE. :D:D:D:D:D

It is stiff and sore, as I expected. I thought it was going to "shrink" more than it did. I have a removable velcro splint that I am to wear while sleeping and lifting stuff for the next two weeks. I can take it off while watching TV, showering (yippee!), and can wean myself from it over the next couple of weeks while using the computer (I am a network admin so I use the computer a LOT). He gave me some range-of-motion things to work on and said I should notice a major improvement in two weeks. If I don't, I should call him back and he will get me set up with some occupational therapy, but he really didn't think we'd need to go there.

And of course I asked the $50,000 question, what about skating? Obviously the ice is still slippery and I AM going to fall again. He has me coming back for a follow-up in a month, and said he thought I'd probably be okay to do it by then. I am good with that...that's right around my birthday so it will be a nice birthday present.

[sk8pics]

Congrats! Glad to hear things are going well for you. And don't be shy about asking for therapy if you don't feel like you're getting your range of motion back well enough. Some docs are very stingy about that, and a couple of sessions may be a big help to you.

[dbny]

Congratulations! I also had to wear the velcro & plastic splint thingy, but I didn't mind since I had quite a bit of pain and also some carpal tunnel syndrome. It took about a year for everything to quiet down and the carpal tunnel to completely disappear.

Did your doctor tell you what kind of fracture you had? Mine was a Colles' fracture (after the first doctor to describe it), and is typical for falling onto the heel of one's palm. It's a fracture at the distal end of the radius and the breaking off of the little bump on the (distal end) outside of the ulna. I should have had surgery and pins to hold mine, but didn't get to a good doctor until several days after the break. My doctor said he thought I would do better without the surgery at that point, so I have some permanent straightening of the radius (it's curved a bit at the end), but full range of motion - so I guess he was right.

[kayskate]

I broke my ankle 3 yrs ago doing a RBO3. These are ccw and I am a cw skater. I have never had mush trouble w these and worked on MITF regularly. I was doing them w a flourish of the free leg and caught my edge. Bad fall. Ankle broken, foot dislocated. In a cast for 2 months then a brace for another month. As soon as I could kind of walk, I took of the brace and shoved my foot in my skate. I skated like a toddler, but I was not afraid of skating itself.

However, the RBO3 is another story. I don't skate much these days outside of teaching, but I rarely do these turns. When I do, I warm up w turns on 2 feet then do the RBO3 slowly and carefully. They make me nervous. If I were skating more, I would go through this sequence every time I go on the ice until I built up confidence.

Good luck w your recovery and return to the ice.

Kay

[tazsk8s]

Did your doctor tell you what kind of fracture you had? Mine was a Colles' fracture (after the first doctor to describe it), and is typical for falling onto the heel of one's palm. It's a fracture at the distal end of the radius and the breaking off of the little bump on the (distal end) outside of the ulna. I should have had surgery and pins to hold mine, but didn't get to a good doctor until several days after the break. My doctor said he thought I would do better without the surgery at that point, so I have some permanent straightening of the radius (it's curved a bit at the end), but full range of motion - so I guess he was right.

My dr. didn't use that specific term, but that sounds very similar to mine. Only I didn't break the bump on the ulna. Actually when it first happened, I thought it was the ulna that was broken, not the radius, because that was the side that hurt the worst and swelled up the most. Even now it's that side that is the most painful (tolerable, but definitely something there). The doctor showed me where the break is, and I can feel a little bit of "tugging" there if I move it a certain way, but not really any pain.

[Michael Everio]

hi everyone. I am Michael Everio and I had the same injury. It was on 12th June 2004. Actually I thougth I'm done with skating but a while after my friends Amber Sharman and Chris Freville encouraged me to continue. So practicing on your own helps to beat this fear.

[tazsk8s]

Well, it has been just over 3 weeks since getting the cast off. I have not been doing "official" PT, just the exercises as instructed when I got the cast off. Range of motion is very much improved. The only one that's still kind of bothersome is rotating the hand/forearm. I've even worked up to exercising it while holding a 2 or 3 lb weight. At first even that was brutal and I was sure the 2 lb weight was really 2 tons!

My next appointment is next week and I am anticipating that he will let me get back on the ice again at that point. I told him I was willing to wear wrist protection which I think made some brownie points with him. Did some research online, and discovered these: http://www.snowboardsecrets.com/flexmeter_all_season_order_page.htm. This brand is geared mostly at snowboarders, but their "All Season" model is suggested for skating. It is different because of the protection on the top of the wrist as well as the bottom, and because it goes up higher than a "typical" wrist protector. Someone earlier in this thread mentioned wrist breaks that can be made worse by standard wrist guards and they have a picture of a particularly nasty xray on the site (you were warned). They are a little uncomfortable, but not nearly as bad as you'd think and far preferable to another cast.

Anyway, the wrist guards arrived today. At first hubby tried to convince me that I really didn't want to go back until after the doctor said it was ok. Yeah, right. :halo: He even threatened to take my skates with him on his out of town trip this weekend because he know if he leaves them here I'm likely to give them a whirl. Finally agreed that just getting my feet back under me at a public session (which was all I really planned to do the first couple times out anyway) would probably be ok. So I am heading to a public skate tomorrow night.:)

[Skate@Delaware]

after my back injury (from moving furniture) & subsequent surgery to fix it, my first few times back on the ice were SCARY! So I took it easy-like a raw beginner! It's better now (physically & mentally) but it has had it's moments.