How much pain will you skate through?

[sk8er1964]

Just curious. Having been injured lately, and having seen posts from others who have also been skating injured, I am wondering about how much pain we skaters will skate through.

For example, mine has been a stabbing leg pain every time I tried to land a jump (or do a double 3-turn or a flying spin). So I took two days off, competed, went to a physical therapist, and have been on the ice practicing things other than jumps. Jumps are coming back now as the pain receeds. I think that I've been pretty much "taking it easy" since I haven't jumped a whole lot. I know the physical therapist, who works with skaters all the time, didn't even bother to suggest that I stay off the ice because he knew that I wouldn't.

What about all of you? I'm I just crazy or are we all like this?

[JDC1]

I have put up with ALOT of pain but I'm always aware of what KIND of pain and when I think it's gotten bad I will seek medical attention. Like my recent tendonitis, I ignored it while skating but then when I was limping when I was walking I realized I needed to take control of this and my knee pain, ignored it while skating but then when it interfered in life off of the ice I knew it needed attention. I think if I'm totally HONEST with myself I haven't been doing enough off ice work and not enough stretching compared to how much I've been skating and that's what I'm doing more of now to manage these injuries and prevent future ones.

[garyc254]

Yes, you are crazy because you attempt to glide on ice with thin slivers of steel attached to your boots. :lol:

My criteria for skating with pain is:

If I think skating will make the injury worse, I don't skate or at least I don't do the elements that would cause the injury to worsen.

I'm not skating tonight because on Monday night I developed a huge, bloody blister on the side of my foot where I've never had one before. Next Monday there should be enough healing I can put some adhesive knit over it and skate again.

Last week, I felt a pain in my groin muscle while skating. I didn't feel it was skating related as it didn't seem to worsen as I skated. I stayed on the ice and the next day it was gone.

[Elsy2]

Welcome to the looney bin.....(don't you love that term?) Sure I skate in pain, but I also try to avoid whatever might make an injury worse. I have pretty good control over being able to skate without jumping or spinning if I have to. There is always something I can do on the ice. If I'm really feeling shakey, I may just have my dance partner hold me up while we stroke around, then I may stand around and yak with my friends. I have found for most moderate injuries that activity is good. Sitting around doing nothing just makes me stiff and sore......

My last competition I had a moderate groin pull....I did 1/2 hour of practice going through the program with no jumps or spins. I warmed up for the comp. the same way. I had no idea how I was going to skate.....and lo and behold I did just fine.

[backspin]

Does anybody else have this happen?

You get off the ice & you notice something hurts, maybe a LOT! You didn't feel it while you were skating.

I've had this--only on slight injuries, & once w/ sever tendenitis in my knees...I could barely go up & down stairs, but I never felt it while I was skating. I guess I'm too busy thinking about everything else to notice!! :D

So, while I can't say I've skated in really great pain, I have skated injured, while apparently blocking it out while on the ice. Weird, huh? :roll:

[Chico]

Tons and sick too.

I started skating right after an injury, in fact skating was my physical therapy. In those early days I needed help getting my boot off due to swelling and pain. I used to cry in the locker room when nobody was around. Now days I have discomfort occasionaly and just ignore it for the most part. I love skating and refuse to let aches and pains get in my way. I have skated sick, much to my coaches dismay. AND this is putting it mildly! (As I recall he threatened to carry me off the ice next time.) I'm pretty good at ignoring what I don't like, being sick or hurting. I recently hurt myself and have found that skating actually helps my injury. Sitting around actually makes me stiffen up more. Yep, pain does go away when your skating. Your so busy thinking of a million other things you don't have mind space for pain. Most "serious" skaters are like this, and my coach isn't any different although he yells at me for doing so. I can't tell you how many peers complain of "owies" and still skate! This is part of being a skater I think.

Chico

[Black Sheep]

Here's a list of pains I've had to skate through:

1. The inside of my left boot rubbing the skin off my big toe so it bleeds on my (thin) sock. I've fixed this with some Dr. Scholl's lamb's wool.

2. My left ankle stinging when I land too many jumps at once. I actuallly ended up with a stress fracture there in the summer of 1995. This is way I always do stretching excercises with both of my feet before and after I skate. I even do them just sitting at home in from of the TV!

3. As of late, stomach aches from practicing my programs, especially when I have to practically run to keep up with my music!

4. Headaches and stinging in my ears after skating really fast in a cold rink.

[CanAmSk8ter]

Constantly. I know full well I do it more than I should, too. Also, while I do mention to my coach, "X has been bothering me", I'm very unlikely to tell him during the lesson "X is really starting to hurt" or "Doing this really hurts X". I'm skating with a knee brace right now, which is hard because I don't feel like I'm getting the full amount of knee bend that I should, but I have Adult Sectionals two weeks from this weekend, and I'm testing my Rocker over on April 29th if I have to do it in a body cast since I was so close to passing this time. So, unless the pain gets to be so intense that I can't deal with it, I have no intention of taking time off soon. Of course, after April 29th I'll be saying "I can't take time off now, it's too close to Lake Placid!"

Yes, you're crazy. But I'm here to keep you company, LOL. And if anyone uses my mother's line, "You're old enough to know better than to do this when you're injured"...:twisted:

[kayskate]

I've gone to the rink w. the sinus infection from h***. Stupid. It only got so bad that I could not get out of bed and my husband had to come home from work to take me to the dr, b/c I could not drive.

As for muscular pain, if I can stretch the pain out, it disappears when I skate (or do aerobics or other exercise). It will come back, but I keep stretching so my muscles heal. I have never had really crippling muscle pain, nothing that I could not work out.

Kay

[Sandra L]

I live with back pain, knee pain, and shoulder pain. What can I do, I can't do without sports, I have tons of energy to spend, but my body (especially joints) is not quite made for it. I had to stop playing tennis because of severe knee problems, and that's about 20 years ago! Then I started skating, and it was better for a while, but you bet, when I got into jumps, there I went again. The shoulder problem I got from synchro, about two years ago. Last year I had to stop skating synchro because of it... so when it's too much pain, I do stop, but mostly I skate and go about life without paying much attention to pain.

I always warm up with ballet barre before skating and stretch well after it. Helps to keep pain under control and it's great for flexibility too :yum:

[wannask8]

backspin, that happens to me, too (pain later that wasn't noticeable while skating), and the only explanation I can think of is endorphins, but who knows.

For me, it's a matter of type and severity of pain: if that right knee is hurting a bit in the beginning of practice, I know it'll probably feel better after 5-10 minutes of warming up gently, but if it's a sharper, stabbing thing, I'm disciplined enough to take it easy throughout the session (I know what will happen later if I don't!).

-- wannask8

[jazzpants]

I'm currently skating thru mild sciatic pain... but when it gets to a certain point, I'm get the H*** off the ice STAT!!! :P I've been known not to go skating or the gym for days b/c of this too... (Don't wanna risk being out for two months AGAIN!!!) :roll:

[iceskaterdawn]

Once I fell (because a hockey player in full gear slammed into me) during the warm up of our Christmas show. I had to be carried off the ice, but I managed to get back on the ice to skate in the show. I went straight to the hospital afterwards. I had a shattered knee cap, a severed patella tendon, and a lot of cuts and bruises. Four surgeries and a year of physical therapy later I was back on the ice, although I continue to have pain in my knee quite regularly. The knee pain stops me from doing a lot of things off the ice, but on the ice I just ignore it and keep skating.

Then this past sumemr I was skating and tripped on a 3-turn working on MITF. I had a weird fall, and I don't even really know how to describe it. I got up and my arm felt really strange. I skated around a few laps, and kept trying to move my arm around because I thought I had just jammed it or something like that. I did a few spins, but I just couldn't move my arm the right way. I continued to skate the session, but I was feeling a lot of pain and just wasn't feeling right. My mom took me to the ER afterwards and it ended up that my shoulder was fractured in two places. I'm still in physical therapy and may need surgery, but I am anxious to get back on the ice.

I've also skated through sinus infection, brohncitis, tendonitis in my achielle's tendon. There have been times I've called in sick to work, yet I still manage to make it to the rink for my lessons. I pretty much skate through anything which isn't necessarily a good thing.

Dawn

[Chico]

Oh my God Kay!! I had an inner ear and sinus infection last summer and my husband had to take me to the doctor because I couldn't even walk straight. I'm serious! During this time, and this was studpid, I kept trying to skate. My coach actually refused to coach me during my illness.

Chico

[TashaKat]

LOL ... no, you're not mad! I only didn't skate when I broke my wrist because 'no wrist no pay' and I couldn't afford to damage it any further!

My previous 'skate through injury' stories include:

Skating (and did a test) when I damaged the ligaments in my knee (NOT from skating, from falling down the stairs trying to avoid my cats)
Skating when a machine at work (a 7' machine with heart monitors on it) fell on me and gave me a whiplash injury ..... oh, and I tested with that one as well but without the collar ...... maybe there's a pattern here!
Skating with pneumonia ...... I came off the ice after a pairs lesson, decided that I couldn't breathe and ended up in hospital 3 hours later
Skating the day after I fell on the ice and hit my head which caused a ginormous bump and panic at the hospital because they were suspecting a skull fracture ...... I DID have 5 days off afterwards because the concussion that followed meant that I wasn't exactly 'with it'
Skating with a chest infection ..... I had a Russian coach at that point (no mercy ;) ) and if you got on the ice you were deemed well enough to work ...... HARD!


I'm sure there were many other occurences but those are the ones that I can remember!

Mmmmm .... and now I'm whingeing about going back because I don't feel like it ....... maybe I've gone cold turkey on the skating addiction!

L x

[Mrs Redboots]

I tend to feel it's "kill or cure" - and one knows one's own body well enough, too. If you think you are going to damage yourself further, you stop. I know skaters at all ends of the spectrum - one who hasn't skated for nearly a year due to injury (not a skating injury; I think it is a congenital weakness that went back on her), and won't until "it stops hurting"; another young woman is probably taking to the ice as we speak less than two months after a major rebuild of her hip..... so it varies.

As for skating through illness, this article (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,589-584725,00.html) gives us all pause for thought.....

[Figureskates]

Let's see...

Dislocated shoulder during lesson and popped it back in myself (grossed out my coach because of the noise it made). I developed tendonitis and busistis which took about 6 months to heal, but skated the whole time.

A bad case of the clue....my skating buddies use that as an example that the dead can skate....

Lyme Disease...that was a fun one. It took about 5 months to come back from that one. I went to Lake Placid for adult skate week while I was still on antibiotics. I felt every bit 56 years old too...

I guess this makes me certified nuts!!!

[Figureskates]

That's a bad case of the flu.....still working on my first cup of coffee!!!

[JDC1]

I don't know if I'm impressed or freaked out by what some of you put yourselves through! :-) I just can't stand pain and when it gets to where I can't ignore it I stop. Recently somebody asked me if I thought I could have gone to the Olympics if I had started younger, my answer was brief and quick, "No I can't stand pain". So hopefully being sensible will keep me from being off the ice for any long periods of time.

[MissIndigo]

I have an old hamstring injury (not from skating) that flares up from time to time if I have not warmed up that muscle properly. Spirals on the right leg I can almost forget about, but something will have to give soon since I hope to start working on Silver MITF this summer, and I'm trying to learn a back camel. The camel doesn't really aggrevate things that much though...but anyway, I can skate through mild pain in this area, but my jumps will suffer badly since the muscle feels stiff and dead.

I had to skate with a sore right hip flexor through my test a couple weeks ago. No fun. It was hard to keep control of my right side. If I hadn't had an obligation to skate, I would have laid off.

I usually don't skate when I'm sick. I get dehydrated easily and my balance is off. Better for me to take a couple days and rest and come back stronger once I'm well.

[singerskates]

Originally posted by Chico
Tons and sick too.

I started skating right after an injury, in fact skating was my physical therapy. In those early days I needed help getting my boot off due to swelling and pain. I used to cry in the locker room when nobody was around. Now days I have discomfort occasionaly and just ignore it for the most part. I love skating and refuse to let aches and pains get in my way. I have skated sick, much to my coaches dismay. AND this is putting it mildly! (As I recall he threatened to carry me off the ice next time.) I'm pretty good at ignoring what I don't like, being sick or hurting. I recently hurt myself and have found that skating actually helps my injury. Sitting around actually makes me stiffen up more. Yep, pain does go away when your skating. Your so busy thinking of a million other things you don't have mind space for pain. Most "serious" skaters are like this, and my coach isn't any different although he yells at me for doing so. I can't tell you how many peers complain of "owies" and still skate! This is part of being a skater I think.

Chico

Yup, been there. I've been trying to get ready for NAAI (open) in Wyandotte, Mi and I've been only off of the ice for one day only because I couldn't lift my head off of the pillow even though I've been trying to fight (so far it looks as though I winning now-just finished anti-biotics but still hack from time to time.) a serious sinuse, ears, chest, throat and kidney infection. And instead of waiting until I gained my strength back, as soon as my GYN said I could skate (stroke), I went back on the ice barely being able to stand straight without pain from recovering from the Ovarian Cyst surgery I had in October. Have no pain now. I believe skating helped me to recover more quickly from my surgery. My friend had the same surgery when she was in her twenties and didn't do a thing for months and was in pain for months. Physical activity must boost the imune system. It's why we athletes can bounce back faster from injury and sickness.

Brigitte

[mikawendy]

Originally posted by JDC1
I don't know if I'm impressed or freaked out by what some of you put yourselves through! :-) I just can't stand pain and when it gets to where I can't ignore it I stop. Recently somebody asked me if I thought I could have gone to the Olympics if I had started younger, my answer was brief and quick, "No I can't stand pain". So hopefully being sensible will keep me from being off the ice for any long periods of time.

JDC1, I'm with you, I can't stand pain, either. I don't mind muscle burn from a hard workout, but I'm wimpy about injury pain, especially in joints. When I was doing ballet, I totally wussed out whenever I got blisters and achilles tendinitis from dancing in pointe shoes. As a kid I had a much higher pain tolerance, but now that kind of pain just keeps me from functioning!

[tazsk8s]

Lots of times I skated when I probably shouldn't have. I once sprained my ankle off the ice, ironically I was going to the skate shop to pick up some tights and got caught up in a dip in the sidewalk. My boots were brand-new at the time, so support wasn't exactly an issue, and I kept on skating right through it. Also skated through a lengthy bout of tendonitis in my landing foot, which I suspect was caused by those boots being too stiff. My ankle was so stiff when I got up in the mornings then that I would literally hobble for the first 20 minutes or so. It didn't really heal up until last summer when I backed off jumping to work on Silver moves more.