Body protection

[Xyra]

Just joined, first post here; so hi all!

I'm currently looking around for what body protection/body armour is available which suits figure skating?  I've been skating a few years now and currently working on Skate Excellence level 7.

I took a tumble last week (literally 5 minutes after a private lesson finished), landed on the tip of my elbow and ended up with a broken arm, so starting researching what I can do to stop this happening again when I get get back on the rink in 5 or 6 weeks time!

Any suggestions?  (40yr old male if thats any consideration)

Thank you:)

[transmissionoftheflame]

Figure skaters from what I've seen tend to wear pads around the hips, under trousers/shorts - I'm no expert but I think the apply more if you're jumping a lot where I think you would tend to fall on your hips.  I don't think I have ever fallen on a hip - mainly just hands and on my coccyx.  For the coccyx I guess you could get whatever it is the hockey players wear that goes all the way around that part of the body, though it's pretty bulky, whereas the hip pads look a bit more integrated.  For the rest of you including your elbow you can get pads that rollerbladers/skateboarders wear - I do see figure skaters wear these sometimes, though from what I have observed it's mainly less experienced skaters.  The more experienced ones have learnt how to fall in order to minimise risk.  I wear wristguards to roller skate outdoors as the surface is very unforgiving.

[spinZZ]

Just joined, first post here; so hi all!

I'm currently looking around for what body protection/body armour is available which suits figure skating?  I've been skating a few years now and currently working on Skate Excellence level 7.

I took a tumble last week (literally 5 minutes after a private lesson finished), landed on the tip of my elbow and ended up with a broken arm, so starting researching what I can do to stop this happening again when I get get back on the rink in 5 or 6 weeks time!

Any suggestions?  (40yr old male if thats any consideration)

Thank you:)

I'm a male skater, older than you.  Unfortunately, there will always be injuries such as yours that I don't think will be averted with any reasonable protective gear.  Here's what I wear.

* Helmet.  If you don't plan to compete, I think a proper helmet is the number one most important piece of protective gear.  A hockey or general snow-sport helmet (but not a bicycle helmet).  I'd recommend staying away from the protective headbands.  I've witnessed several instances in which skaters wearing them fell, the headbands popped off, and their heads banged against the ice.

* Knee and elbow guards.  I wear the soft pads used by volleyball players.  Knee pads directly over my knees and under my pants.  Elbow pads directly over my elbows and under my jersey or fleece.  These pads will protect your knees and elbows from bad bruises, but not from an arm fracture such as yours.  Your fall must have been an anomaly.

* Wristguards.  If you fall on your hands, the greatest risk is to your wrists.

* Butt/tailbone protector.  Commercially available, but I made my own from Poron sheet.  I slip them over my underpants and under my regular pants.

* Hip protector.  Commercially available, but I made my own padded belt that I strap on (either under or over my jersey or fleece).  My worst falls have been during spins (I don't jump anymore).  Here it's easy to fall on your hips, when your body is all twisted up, and it's difficult to anticipate and control your falls.

As I said at the start, there are some injuries that you can't prevent with reasonable gear.  A couple of weeks ago, a woman had a bizarre fall.  I didn't see the fall itself, only the aftermath.  But she fell against her ribcage.  Fortunately no broken ribs, but badly bruised; two weeks off ice (she's in her late 60's).  That's somewhat bizarre.  Typically for a beginner (which she is), when you fall forward, your instinct is to stick your arms out and break the fall with your hands (hence, the need for wristguards).  She didn't, and took the force of the fall against her ribs.  But I see no need for a chest protector.

[Xyra]

Figure skaters from what I've seen tend to wear pads around the hips, under trousers/shorts - I'm no expert but I think the apply more if you're jumping a lot where I think you would tend to fall on your hips.  I don't think I have ever fallen on a hip - mainly just hands and on my coccyx.  For the coccyx I guess you could get whatever it is the hockey players wear that goes all the way around that part of the body, though it's pretty bulky, whereas the hip pads look a bit more integrated.  For the rest of you including your elbow you can get pads that rollerbladers/skateboarders wear - I do see figure skaters wear these sometimes, though from what I have observed it's mainly less experienced skaters.  The more experienced ones have learnt how to fall in order to minimise risk.  I wear wristguards to roller skate outdoors as the surface is very unforgiving.

Thank you, I definately count in the "less experienced, not enough experience to know how to fall instinctively group".  I've got some rollerblade pads, but find them very restrictive - i think for figure they'll be a bit horrid.  Perhaps I'll just look for something a bit higher quality.

[transmissionoftheflame]

I hope you find something that works for you and that the whole thing doesn't spoil your enjoyment.  There's a spectrum between reckless abandon and being frozen with fear and finding a good place on that spectrum with a combination of attitude and risk mitigation is tricky.

[Xyra]

I'm a male skater, older than you.  Unfortunately, there will always be injuries such as yours that I don't think will be averted with any reasonable protective gear.  Here's what I wear.

Thank you.  I haven't come across many other male skaters! (or that many adult ones for that matter)

* Helmet.  If you don't plan to compete, I think a proper helmet is the number one most important piece of protective gear.  A hockey or general snow-sport helmet (but not a bicycle helmet).  I'd recommend staying away from the protective headbands.  I've witnessed several instances in which skaters wearing them fell, the headbands popped off, and their heads banged against the ice.

Thank you - I will have a look.  the bands were attractive as they are a little more subtle, but you aren't the first person i've seen mentioning they pop off.

* Knee and elbow guards.  I wear the soft pads used by volleyball players.  Knee pads directly over my knees and under my pants.  Elbow pads directly over my elbows and under my jersey or fleece.  These pads will protect your knees and elbows from bad bruises, but not from an arm fracture such as yours.  Your fall must have been an anomaly.

I like the idea of those pads - the hard pads i've got for rollerblading are so restrictive in movement and uncomfortable.  I think actually with some extra padding my fracture might have been avoided as it would have changed the angle of impact and it might have slid.  Impossible to know for sure though!

* Wristguards.  If you fall on your hands, the greatest risk is to your wrists.

* Butt/tailbone protector.  Commercially available, but I made my own from Poron sheet.  I slip them over my underpants and under my regular pants.

* Hip protector.  Commercially available, but I made my own padded belt that I strap on (either under or over my jersey or fleece).  My worst falls have been during spins (I don't jump anymore).  Here it's easy to fall on your hips, when your body is all twisted up, and it's difficult to anticipate and control your falls.

Thanks - i'll look into these some more, these are areas i've been less worried about, but actually probably should look into some more.  having said that, i'm no where near jumping yet.  (this fall was during trying to practise a basic mohawk turn - not sure what went wrong, it was all so fast doing down!)

As I said at the start, there are some injuries that you can't prevent with reasonable gear.  A couple of weeks ago, a woman had a bizarre fall.  I didn't see the fall itself, only the aftermath.  But she fell against her ribcage.  Fortunately no broken ribs, but badly bruised; two weeks off ice (she's in her late 60's).  That's somewhat bizarre.  Typically for a beginner (which she is), when you fall forward, your instinct is to stick your arms out and break the fall with your hands (hence, the need for wristguards).  She didn't, and took the force of the fall against her ribs.  But I see no need for a chest protector.

I've done my ribs before (not broken, but bruised/pulled intercostal muscles) falling off a climbing wall and it was horrid.  All the movement goes through that area and every movement hurts!  At least with the arm it's somewhat isolated from the rest of my body.

My fall was very much sideways, hence the elbow taking the brunt of the impact.

Thank you for all the advice!

[Xyra]

I hope you find something that works for you and that the whole thing doesn't spoil your enjoyment.  There's a spectrum between reckless abandon and being frozen with fear and finding a good place on that spectrum with a combination of attitude and risk mitigation is tricky.

Thank you.  I'm generally very risk adverse on the ice and as such have progressed slowly (that and I just can't seem to get my balance quite right, keep dragging on my picks when transitioning to backwards and clearly overbalancing the other way when trying to compensate), so this is particularly frustrating.

I'm understandly nervous about getting back on the ice, but I'm really missing it - still 4 weeks until I can get going .  My coach is awesome as well (I do group lessons, but just started a monthly one-on-one to help with some mental blocks) so will get her to ease me back into it.

[WednesdayMarch]

I'm an ex-pro/coach and I've broken ribs! My worst falls in the past 5 years have been right down on my ribs. (Freestyle blades and dance/lower cut boots are not a good mix. Found that out the hard way...) The only body armour I wear on the ice on a regular basis is a wrist brace, as I had surgery last year and haven't wanted to risk rupturing the grafted tendon. That being said, however, I also use artistic inline skates and falls from them onto floors or tarmac/concrete are brutal! Padding is a must.

Body protection is best with D30, which is a non-Newtonian fluid that remains pliable in normal use but hardens immediately on impact. Sounds weird, totally works. I tried out my kneepads first by whacking my bad knee (metalwork) with a wooden coathanger and didn't feel a thing. I later took some very heavy falls from my Roll Line Lineas and other than being slightly shaken by the impact, didn't feel a thing!

My knee pads are from Musto (sailing knee pads) and my hip and coccyx protection shorts are from Xion.

The Xion stuff really is excellent, albeit expensive, but it totally works and the D30 inserts are removable for washing. Also, you can have replacement garments made if you know somebody skilled with stretch fabrics/Lycra Spandex, with strategically placed pockets to take the inserts.

https://www.xionpg.com/

[Xyra]

I'm an ex-pro/coach and I've broken ribs! My worst falls in the past 5 years have been right down on my ribs. (Freestyle blades and dance/lower cut boots are not a good mix. Found that out the hard way...) The only body armour I wear on the ice on a regular basis is a wrist brace, as I had surgery last year and haven't wanted to risk rupturing the grafted tendon. That being said, however, I also use artistic inline skates and falls from them onto floors or tarmac/concrete are brutal! Padding is a must.

Body protection is best with D30, which is a non-Newtonian fluid that remains pliable in normal use but hardens immediately on impact. Sounds weird, totally works. I tried out my kneepads first by whacking my bad knee (metalwork) with a wooden coathanger and didn't feel a thing. I later took some very heavy falls from my Roll Line Lineas and other than being slightly shaken by the impact, didn't feel a thing!

My knee pads are from Musto (sailing knee pads) and my hip and coccyx protection shorts are from Xion.

The Xion stuff really is excellent, albeit expensive, but it totally works and the D30 inserts are removable for washing. Also, you can have replacement garments made if you know somebody skilled with stretch fabrics/Lycra Spandex, with strategically placed pockets to take the inserts.

That surgery sounds pretty brutal, hope it's worked out well for you.

Honestly that stuff sounds amazing.  I absolutely love the idea of using a non-newtonian gel, my biggest hate with the cheapy hard shells i've got for rollerblading is how inflexible it is.  As you say, it's pricey, but I'm a programmer so risking damaging my arms again is a bit of a concern.  I really like the look of the elbow pro pads from Xion. look super comfy. I'm going to have a chat with my coach on them and might well pick some bits up.

As to someone skilled with those fabrics, I'm very lucky my wife is a seamstress and my mum has made all her own ballroom outfits for years so plenty of knowledge I can call on!

[WednesdayMarch]

Brilliant! After writing off my skating career, I qualified as a tailor and now earn my living making sports and dancewear for women, who struggle to find such things to fit them if they don't have the body of a child or catwalk model. Lycra is great stuff!

I hope you find the perfect body protection for you! Back when I was competitive/training, the only people who wore padding were those people (usually children) who were learning triple jumps. I can't tell you how pleased I am that it's now commonplace, especially for adults.

[Xyra]

Brilliant! After writing off my skating career, I qualified as a tailor and now earn my living making sports and dancewear for women, who struggle to find such things to fit them if they don't have the body of a child or catwalk model. Lycra is great stuff!

I hope you find the perfect body protection for you! Back when I was competitive/training, the only people who wore padding were those people (usually children) who were learning triple jumps. I can't tell you how pleased I am that it's now commonplace, especially for adults.

Thank you.    I'm not sure how commonplace it is from what I've seen.  I think i've seen one adult in group lessons with some protection on, and one or two children, and all of those only in the first couple of levels of SE.   I have to admit it's one of the reasons i'm after something a bit more subtle or to be warn under clothes so I don't stick out too much (I realise it's not a great reason, but it is still a reason and probably quite a common reason behind people not wearing it)!