I was involved in a bit of a major car accident on my way home from synchro practice the other night. (Car is looking a bit sorry for itself but thankfully the air bags and crumple zone did their job and we walked away from it). However, I was planning my little trip to a competition at the end of November and have to send entry monies on Monday / Tuesday. However, at this precise moment in time I don't think I can even dream of doing a jump because my back is spasming far too much.
I've been stupid and been on the ice since the accident and just pootled around to keep the back moving (not done anything more complicated than a couple of 3-turns, some change of edge and a couple of mohawks).
I've been sensible enough to cancel my dance lesson for the week well in advance, but have kept the freestyle one at the moment (it will be one week from the accident when I have it).
The question is does anyone who has had experience of this sort of major accident (head on collision with an idiot doing closer to 70 in a 30 zone!) and had whiplash remember how long it took for the back to settle down and for them to want to do jumps again and to skate properly?
Anyone know of any good exercises to help sort the back out? The doctors want me on anti-inflamatories and painkillers at the moment but are talking about physiotherapy for later on, but if there's anything people know that I can start doing at home that would be great or even some on-ice exercises as skating normally does wonders for bad backs, but I'm not sure what's best to do.

*Hugs*. What a horrible thing to happen. And these things always feel worse before they feel better.

However, I should still enter (closing date is Wednesday, don't forget); it's still quite a long way away and you should be beginning to feel a lot better within the next few days, I shouldn't wonder.

See if you can find some pilates-type stretches; they can help enormously with a bad back. It's quite possible your coach will be able to refer you to someone who can help, too.

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Pfft after my whiplash earlier this year it was about three weeks before I could even sit up for longer than an hour at a time, ON painkillers and muscle relaxants and all the other stuff. Even doing some cleaning four weeks after the incident immediately triggered it to get worse. PT guy said it usually takes like 5-7 sessions, it took more in my case. And now we're a half a year from then and I'm still not 100% yet, although 95% certainly. Apparently the last 5% are likely to stay (like neck going KRRRR etc).
I'm not complaining I'm just saying: DONT TAKE THIS LIGHTLY. Whiplash is a major boo-boo even though it doesn't seem that way. If you skate now and take a fall, re-injuring your neck, you're setting yourself up for major problems.
I think if it weren't for my injuries, and lack of ice and all the other stuff, I'd have gone back onto the ice in august or so, no earlier. The whiplash was in march. Before the end of may I still had trouble even sitting behind a computer for a few hours at a time, or carrying a bag, so I wouldn't have gone skating. Although I did have a concussion to go with the whiplash, so that might change things.

Oh, please take whiplash very, very seriously! I will not bore you with all the details of the first car accident I was in and untreated whiplash, but will just say that I should have taken care of my neck afterward... Several years later I was in a very minor car accident - going probably at less than 15 mph and got bumped from behind. My mother (who was driving) was perfectly fine, car barely had a paint scratch, but my neck hurt for weeks (my mother couldn't believe it!). I still didn't take it seriously enough.

Fast forward a couple more years later. Fell and hit the back of my head on the ice, whiplash again. Wore soft neck brace/support for several weeks, was back on the ice within 4 or 5 weeks. Seemed ok. 3 months later, started getting "shocks" down my arms and back. Turns out I got some herniated disks, and combined with weak neck, the nerves got pinched. I had to stay off the ice and do PT for 3 months, and probably should have done it longer (BTW I *highly* recommend ART - active release technique!). My neck is not 100% back to normal, and I don't think it will ever be. If I jump more than usual, neck spasms quite bad, so I'm not jumping much these days. Of course, if I would have kept up with PT exercises, the situation probably be quite better.

The above is not to discourage you, just to make the point that *whiplash is a very serious matter*. Find yourself a PT who is expert in ART if there are any in your area, don't delay treating this. Take care of the neck now, so you don't have to deal with problems like mine later.

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--renatele

I'm so sorry to hear your story. Luckily for me it's not so much my neck as my upper back, but this for me is car crash number 3 and in the UK getting anyone to refer you to a PT is like getting blood from a stone. This time though, I did insist to the doctor that I'm going to see one as I don't think it's right that I have to suffer in pain on a regular basis. (I've just worked out that every time I change jobs I have a car accident within 6 months of starting the new job. I really shouldn't have changed jobs within 18months of starting the last one!)
And I'm taking this very seriously. Yes, I've been on the ice since the accident, but that was for two reasons, one I needed something to block out the trauma of the accident and skating has always been my destress, and secondly because I've found with my minor back pains (and the mild whiplash last year!) that skating helped. what I do know is that last time around I didn't jump from May to September because of the accident. I didn't even want to jump.
I'm therefore a little concerned that I'm about to sign up for a competition which is 6 weeks away. I don't want to not sign up, because then if I am fit I'll be really disappointed as I've been getting very excited about it, but then I know that even if I do sign up and I'm not fit enough, I'm still going to be very disappointed (especially as my sister is competing so I'd travel out anyway to watch as it's my little vacation I've got planned).
I suppose I'm just more annoyed by this than anything. I know I can't hurry the body up into healing however much I try chivvying it along. And after spending this morning sitting in so much pain that I was crying, I'm currently not even really thinking about skating. Thank god I managed to see the emergency weekend doctor and got some decent painkillers as that at least meant that I wasn't in agony all afternoon as well.
Oh well, fingers crossed it start improving by Friday. I'd like to have a good skating lesson this week as it will take my mind off all the other hassles which go with having a car in pieces. I just have to keep reminding myself of the positive side of all this. All this pain goes onto the insurance and that will hopefully pay for a vacation to Australia. Annoying bit, is that you have to go through the pain. I'd really rather just pay cash!

Thanks for telling me your experiences though. And I hope you and Sessy are both feeling a lot better soon, although you're both slightly ahead of me in recovery. There really ought to be a club for skaters who are falling apart at the seams (old age or not).

Thanks. I just have to keep reminding myself that it will get better as every day since Thursday has been another step downhill with the back. I'm loving the new bruises I find each day, although most of them I can predict are coming because the pain is there before the bruise.

I'm hoping that it being quite a long way off means that I've got a chance to recover and put the program together (maybe the coach will go easy on me now and take out the difficult bits?).

I'll have to have a chat with her about recommending someone for sorting the back out and will have to have a look into pilates. I did see a sign today at the walk-in centre for pilates classes at the physiotherapy unit. I'd imagine that they'd probably be able to do it targetted for the specific injury, although having never done it, I find it odd to take up exercise whilst injured to hope for recovery. (Then again, that's what physio is normally)

Dunno about the UK but over here in the Netherlands getting a referral is a pain in the rear end also. However, PT isn't THAT expensive, at least, you know, a session of PT is the same cost a private lesson is, if we start counting it in terms of skating and stuff... And cheaper than a pair of skating tights.
And while you still need PT you prolly shouldn't be taking lessons anyway, so maybe you can go without referral? The insurance won't pay it, sure, but still... It's not that taxing on the budget.
Especially because it really only takes like 10 sessions after which you can do most of it yourself.

BTW added bonus was that my PT refused to work without an X-ray of the neck, so they did one of those as well. Cuz I'd had an injury to my spine for years without anybody diagnosing it correctly just cuz no X-rays had been taken. It doesn't help much with the recovery but at least it's a relief to know there's no actual structural damage, only soft tissue.

This is totally unrelated to the discussion (I have no useful advice, but do take time off- have you called the competition chair? Some will reimburse for injury) but it's kind of funny how different costs are. For me- a 30 min lesson is about the same as a pair of skating tights, or the about the same cost of a pair of OTB tights if I were to do privates with my group instructor (I don't because he charges twice what my coach does). My co-pay for PT was twice my lesson price, or the same as the expensive lesson, and if I didn't have insurance my out of pocket cost would have been 3x a lesson after the "no insurance" discount was given. If they did ionto- or ultrasound then my co-pay went up about the price of the cheap lesson (so one PT session would then cost the same as 3 lessons with my coach)

I did PT on my knees for 3 months, then gave it up. The difference of each session towards the end wasn't worth the money. The effect of the sessions at the beginning was definitely worth it. My insurance only covers 24 sessions, and I had hit 20, so I wanted to make sure if something else happened later in the year (this was the beginning of the year) I had some sessions remaining.

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

I'm sorry about the accident. I was in an accident in July, and was hit hard from behind. The two things that helped me the most were having a car with active head restraints (I didn't even know they were there, but I'm glad the were) and seeing my chiropractor the same day. He told me that the sooner you seek treatment, the better. You should really seek out a professional who can treat your whiplash, because it can shorten your recovery by a lot. I was lucky and had very few lasting effects, but I noticed that my skating suffered, because I had lost some of my nerve for a while. My upper back and neck still crack and pop a lot, but I can't remember whether they were like that before the accident anyway. Good luck.

The thing about whiplash (and most auto accidents) is the injury doesn't really flare until a few days to about a week later at earliest. Left untreated, you can have unresolved musculoskeletal imbalances.

Take it easy, stretch, do the physiotherapy (scream for it) and put your health first, skating second, competitions third. If you want, most competitions let you withdraw due to medical reasons-if you send your application in you could always withdraw it with a doctor's note. You should be able to get your money back.

Glad you weren't hurt worse!!!

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

I've NO idea what you're going on about...

Edit: Oh wait I get it now.

Ouch! I can't advise at all as to how long you may suffer with this, but I've had a lot of experience with neck pain of various sorts. Something that helped me immensely, in addition to anti-inflamatories, was a heating/vibrating back rest. To get the vibration where I needed it, I had to roll up a towel and put it behind my neck. I had to make a 3 day car trip (long days) with painful neck muscles from overdoing a moving job, and that heating/vibrating back rest made it possible.

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Let's see, the only big accident I was in wasn't nearly as bad as yours. I had neck pain for about 4-5 days afterward, and then was fine. Of course, I was only 21, and was rear-ended by someone going about 25-30 mph.

If it's really bothering you, and the doctor suggests physical therapy, definitely do it - it can work wonders! I attribute my healed knee and ankle injuries to physical therapy.

[PI attorney spiel] If the insurance company (yours or the other driver's) gives you a hassle about paying for your medical treatment or settling with you, be sure to go see a good attorney.[/PI attorney spiel]

I hope you feel better soon!

Edited to Add: You may want to postpone any skating until you're feeling better. I actually gave myself whiplash just from a sudden fall on a loop once. It wasn't too bad, but I can imagine how awful it would have felt if I'd already been dealing with an injury. You definitely don't want to make your injury worse than it already is.

Nothing to add, since everyone has pretty much said everything. Just wanted to give you a big ((((HUG))))

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

Thanks for all the hugs and advice. Think I'm going to be giving the private medical a call today to see if I can get to a PT slightly faster than the good ol' NHS. (I always wondered why we bothered paying our taxes when you can't access the service when you need it! but if work are paying for private medical I may as well get my moneys worth from it).

Thanks for telling me that having the chiropracter step in early on helps with recovery. The doctors had been telling me to wait for the initial pain to drop before seeking additional help, but if someone can click things into place in a hurry that might ease my painkillers as I hate popping pills.

Thanks for the advice about the heat and vibration. I've gone out and bought a heat wrap which is great at the end of the day, although I've been using it mainly on my seatbelt bruising to help my shoulder heal (although I'm falling apart so much I can't have everything being helped at the same time!).

As for the insurance side of things. I've got a wonderful solicitor on the case already (the one who was still sorting out the last accident from 18months ago!). They were supper efficient and spent Saturday afternoon taking details from me. Thankfully the 3rd party's insurance hasn't been on the phone to me as I think I might just lose it if they did. And the idiot is getting a humongous bill from me, for all these missed skating lessons. I don't see why my poor coaches should lose out on income just because some nutter tries to kill me (minor over exxageration but you get the picture).

Oh and finally thanks for reminding me that it will get better. It's great to hear that someone else has been through it and has recovered. Everyone I've been speaking to at home seems to go "oh that must be scary, I don't know how I would cope" and I'm thinking "am I just really unlucky because this is my second head on collision!" But am highly frustrated that I'm in more pain than my sister (passenger), although she's wondering if it was because I was holding the steering wheel so took the impact through my arms.

And I have finally seen sense and started cancelling skating lessons. My note to the dance coach was that I finally found the one thing that keeps me out of lesson (having previously shown up with flu etc).

Oh good! This was the one bit of advice I was going to give. My son was involved in a major hockey collision two years ago and was having back spasms on and off for several days before I took him to the doctor, who bit my head off for letting him continue to skate (BAD, BAD MOM!) and told me he needed a MINIMUM of a week off the ice. Things improved quickly after that.

Best of luck to you.

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You miss 100% of the shots you never take.--Wayne Gretzky

Good for you! Taking time off can be difficult, but better to take a little time off now, then have to take a lot off when if you don't give yourself time to heal.

Hope you heal quickly. Neck injuries are just no fun.

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

Try swimming (floating for now) in a nice cool indoor pool, to help get the swelling down. After a week get into physio and chiropractic, make sure to ice after physio at least 3 times a day for 15 minutes where you hurt and do use heat before stretching to work at getting as loose as you can.

The more you get the swelling down, the more the pain will go away. Do take the anti-inflamatories as perscribed by your doctors. Be vigilent with your therapy but take care to listen to your body. If it hurts to the point where you're crying, stop.

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"It's not age that determines but the heart." "Skating is not just a sport for the young but it's a passion for the soul of the young at heart." Brigitte Laskowski

I am a nomadic adult skater who is a member of Windsor FSC (Skate Windsor) WOS SC again since Sept. 1st, 2008.

http://eastcastlemusic.tripod.com

Singerskates Sports Music Editing

I had a head injury/whiplash. It wasn't from a car accident, though. I was at a party and this guy I knew was wasted and decided it would be a good idea to lift me up and put me over his shoulder (he's about 6'4). In trying to get him to put me down, he slipped because the moron was only wearing socks on a slick wood floor, I went flying, and the back of my head smashed against the corner of a really hard wooden butcher block counter top. This was on a Saturday night. Luckily my roommates were home and able to come get me because although I was sober, I was not in any shape to walk home alone (I only lived a few blocks away). I felt ok on Sunday so I decided to go skate, but felt nauseous and dizzy after about 20 min so I got off the ice, although I wasn't doing any freestyle, just dance. I woke up Monday morning in extreme pain--muscle spasms in my neck/upper back, I couldn't turn my head at all without extreme pain, and I was a little dizzy.

I went to my DO Monday, who did some adjustments. He prescribed Soma, but I actually did not fill it, and managed to get by on just Aleve (used some NyQuil to help me get to sleep at night). I could have used something stronger but didn't want my head clouded even more by stronger drugs because I didn't have much PTO left and didn't want to take off work. The neck pain mostly went away a week later but it was a little stiff for a few weeks after that.

I actually went to synchro practice that Wednesday and skated--I couldn't turn my head at all and was still a little out of it, not so much tired but just my head was fuzzy and I couldn't think. So given that my team was fairly high level for an adult team, and I drove 2 hrs each way to practice, this was probably VERY foolish. But I think we were leaving for mids the next week and I didn't want to miss practice. I think I only did one full run-thru in the program and skated the rest of practice alongside the team.

It really took me about 2-3 weeks to feel totally back to normal. As for jumping/spinning, I can't say how long it took, as all I did back then was dance and moves (no freestyle).

Several months later I had another concussion (caught my blade in my pant leg on the choctaw in the Quickstep, went flying and landed on my head and then my tailbone). I guess when I fell it made a horrible loud thud, even parents sitting in the stands came running when they saw me go down and heard it. My parents had to come get me and I stayed with them for about a week. Everything checked out ok but I was pretty out of it for 3 days and not quite 100% back to normal until about 3 weeks later. My whole spine got jarred in this fall and it hurt to move, and just everything felt sore (my hips, my elbows, my knees). I stayed off the ice totally for one week and after that was back VERY cautiously, mostly just stroking (I think it was several months before I wore pants to skate in again or did the Quickstep again), it felt good just to move around. I think it was 3 weeks before I was skating "normally" again, it took about 4 weeks for my back pain to go away fully. But again, at the time I did not do any freestyle, only dance, so I can't really speak as to getting back into jumping/spinning. Luckily the timing for this was pretty convenient--I had gotten laid off a week before the accident, had just gotten hired by my current company, but was not starting for 2 weeks. So I had plenty of time to just rest and get better without worrying about working or anything like that.

In both instances heat helped A LOT. I'd use a heating pad for 20 min or so to get the muscles that were bothering me warm/loose, then did some light stretching.

Hope you feel better soon. Just listen to your doctor and listen to your body. If you feel like skating, skate. If you get dizzy, stop.

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2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything

ugh, glad you are recovered from this and everything else in your post.

I've been hearing the pant-leg thing from a few people, and the other day I did it myself. I didn't actually go down but it was a near thing and I ripped a big hole in the pants. That did it for me - I took my serger and sliced out a big triangle from the knees to the ankles on all my straight-leg skating pants.

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It's all about the dress!

Think I'm going to have to find the pool. I've been having lots of hot baths (don't actually have a shower so I have to have a bath!), but run the risk of passing out if I make them hot enough for the back to enjoy them. and think I'll have to see the quacks again about getting the physio now as the initial pain is beginning to ease off now.

OK, I think I missed out as a student, as I NEVER went to any parties like that! Glad to hear that you've recovered from it.

I seem to think I've got away having heard all these stories quite lightly, as my neck is relatively ok. My main problems are all back related, (Upper, mid, lower and a mild neck.).

Hearing that it took you a few weeks to get back to skating properly gives me some hope that it's not going to be months and months. I'm taking it easy now and just feel like I'm missing out on ice, but not really wanting to go skate. and thankfully the not wanting to go to work, isn't so much of an issue in the UK as we've slightly more generous employers than those in the US.

And thank you for the idea of skating synchro out of hold. I'm figuring that I'm going to have to skip practice this week as I can't face the two hour drive (my nerves are a bit shot with driving and I don't feel safe in the courtesy car) and physically don't feel up to the skating either. Although, I think by next week I'll probably be ready for skating the synchro and the drive, but not necessarily ready to have my shoulder yanked out it's socket by one of the beginners who doesn't know to not hold on too tight, so skating out of hold would be a good option, so as to not let them down.

I'm just hoping that I'll get over the depression bit soon, so I actually feel like skating by the weekend. I don't mind missing skating at this end of the week (I like the lie-ins and early nights!), but I really look forward to my weekend skating and don't want to miss it, if only for the social aspect.

Hey ho, such is life. entered the little skating competition now, just need to see if I'm able to skate by then. Worst comes to the worst, I have a little holiday to France to watch the skating and go shopping, it's still a weekend away!

Glad to hear you're beginning to feel a little better; hope it continues.

The only way to look on the Dunkerque weekend is a booze-cruise with the added benefit that you get to see friends and to skate! And you wouldn't be the only person to try to skate when not fit...... one day I'll tell you what happened the year I tried to compete with a badly-burned arm!

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Feeling a lot more positive today. I saw my little battered car and was quite pleased to see that it was able to stand on it's own four wheels and is doing a lot better than some of the other sickly cars at the salvage yard. and that snapped me out of feeling sorry for myself. Weaning myself off the happy pills and got to the point where I WANT to skate again. Earlier in the week I'd thought that I might as well just pack it all in. OK physically I'm not really ready to skate again, but going to have a pootle lesson tomorrow to help me feel normal as I'm thinking the emotional side is just as important as the physical.

As for dunkerque, I'm not letting some idiot driver spoil my weekend away. And yes, it's a booze cruise with a freezing cold ice rink thrown in for good measure. and I figure if I was able to test level 1 within a month of creating the program, pinning it back together for a competition should be possible in a month. And as long as I am "competitive" as the coach puts it, i'll be happy wherever I place. At least I've got a goal to get better for.

We'll have to compare war stories in Dunkerque as I'd like to hear all about skating with burns. I've not done anything quite so foolish myself, although skating straight after arm surgery has been done and I'm not recommending.

OK Positivity doesn't make you skate.
Had a very depressing attempt yesterday, but have at least admitted to myself that I'm not ready or able to skate and that I'm not a hypochondriac, the back is well and truely a mess.
Have stupidly strong happy pills from the doctors now and an appointment for a physio (please let them be miracle workers).
It's highly frustrating, but after a disasterous lesson where the coach questioned my judgement (she didn't need to, as I'd already come to the conclusion that I was indeed foolish) I've had to finally admit that I'm just not able to skate at the moment. I think she and I were both shocked at how little I had left which was functioning in the way of skating. (At least I know now that I've never done chasses correctly and I'll be able to put that into practice for my dances when I finally make it back onto the ice so there was some benefit from the lesson).

Highly annoyed that I'm in this position because of some idiot driver and can only hope that he's screwed his health up as much as he's messed mine.

Arghhhh!!! Oh well, I suppose I join the long list of injured skaters on this forum. Hope everyone else is well on the way to recovery. And will the rest of you please look after yourselves.

You know what's really great with a whiplash? Lying in a hot bath tub or on an electrical blanket listening (not with ear plugs, those made my head ache, but with speakers) to your favourite downloaded books in audiobook format - or borrowed from the library, if your city has a big library with audio books - and/or to that on-tape language course you've been putting off for years. Also one thing I COULD do when I couldn't sit behind a computer was sewing, particularly on hand, so I finally attached all those dozens of buttons, tags, fixed all the small holes, zippers etc that had been bothering me for ages in my wardrobe.
Use the time to focus on all the stuff which you've been putting off because of the skating
And I wanted to get back onto the ice faster after the whiplash too, for the club competition, but in the end I just went to watch. Which was fun also. Thing is, I probably could've, but there's no telling what would happen if I'd have taken a fall - and that's a big risk in competition, where you're nervous and more prone to falling... Seriously, sit this one out. There's years and years of competitions and skating ahead as long as you recover.
You could focus on e.g. getting the splits, if your back doesn't bother you on those? Useful skill for skating. Or read a few books like, conditioning for figure skaters or something. Nutrition. etc.