I expected a lot of soreness in my legs/ankles/knees/feet when I started figure skating, even some in my butt and lower back. What I didn't expect was sore arms and shoulders. Recently, I pulled a muscle in my shoulder during practice. I reached back to hold my boot while doing a spiral a couple times; it didn't pull or hurt at the time, but I'm pretty sure that's the cause. This is the first time is 2 years I've had any kind of pain in my shoulders/arms after skating. Is this normal, or did I do something wrong?

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deannathegeek
"It's like trying to do a toe loop in hockey skates-you have to have the right tools for the job."

I got that too before. If you are going to do any pulling catch foot action, my advise is to warm the arms and shoulders up before doing it. Warm up the back too. And of course stretch all those when you're done. Also when doing those things try to focus on your body core holding the position up so you put less strain on your arms and shoulders. So yeah, its pretty much normal.

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Tidesong

Yeah, I've got that too. Mine was originally caused from breaking my falls during jumps. I've got ongoing problems with with the left shoulder. But... like I always say... the health benefits of skating far out way the risk of injury!!!

Of course, skating is done far more with the arms and shoulders than with the feet.... one should, I suspect, feel that one has had a workout.

I have very round shoulders, but I am determined to get rid of them - I believe it can be done with exercise, and I was speaking to a sports therapist this morning (herself a competitive adult skater and a coach, although she doesn't teach at our rink) and she was reminding me of exercises I could do to help straighten myself out.

I now ache!

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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!

My biellmann gives me shoulder pain in the grabbing arm too. So do some stretches we get in ballet. Basically if you're stretching any muscle, you can expect some pain in the end.
Shouldn't be to the point of being unable to move it or worsening over time though.


Redboots, you could also try what my uncle did: sportstape on the back, between the shoulderblades. He was hunching *extremely* as a teenager and doctors couldn't help him with that, until he started yoga and the teacher gave him the idea. Any time he hunched, the tape started pulling and reminded him to straighten up.

I've had the same problems, mainly because I'm so out of shape and my day job is desk-bound.

I've started working out with handweights a few times each week as well as stretching before AND AFTER skating. That's stopped most of the muscle pulls. The spiral patterns still bother me - holding up the arms for all those spirals is tiring.

I still have a shoulder injury from a fall, but even that's gotten much better.

I've also found that new bras with proper support also help a lot since I'm rather well-endowed.

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