Ladies, Please Leave the Quad to the Men

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Good post, Vash! The times, they are a changing.

The dangers in figure skating (and other sports) exist. I'd hate to hit my head on a diving board because you lose credit if your dive is too far from the board.

A skater working on a quad should have the approval of his coach, and his parents who should be aware of the possible consequences in falling. But then, we should ban lifts in Pairs, which imo, is much more dangerous than quads. No! It's all a matter of choice and acceptance of the consequences.

Not everyone is built the same. Some hips are softer than others by genetics. The big problem with hips are the loop jumps, and the landings of all jumps.

My only suggestion is to see a Sports Doctor who can determine whether the risk is high or low.

Joe

 

[emma]

Does anyone know if, as someone asked above, harnnesses are regularly used in training and what impact harnesses have on reducing injuries? Also, what about pads for hips, knees, etc...does that help for training - reducing training related stress on the body?

I've heard people stress time and time again that good techique is really key to reducing/preventing injury...but, seems like getting the good technique in the first place might be one source of troubles; and then once achieved, the repetition of practice that would likely have some examples of bad technique thrown in...

I don't know how to weigh in on to do or not to do these difficult jumps...some might say that learning them young is the key to building up muscle memory and acquiring the technique ...others would say that that is exactly when life long injuries take root...All i can say is that i don't remember hearing about so many injuries 10 and 15 years ago, BUT that seems like a question to be investigated (memories, particularly mine, can be fuzzy); so, does anyone actually know something about changing injury rates that goes beyond impressions?

 

[chuckm]

The problem with 3As and quads for ladies is that their bodies change drastically between the ages of 12 and 16 or so. Many young girls are practicing 3As because they can manage the rotations with their tiny, undeveloped bodies.

But once the body begins to redistribute weight during puberty, and the center of gravity starts to get lower and lower, it gets harder and harder to propel the body high enough in the air to complete the rotations.

What is needed is the upper body strength to pull the body upwards, and women simply do not have the upper body strength (and higher center of gravity) that men have. It's no wonder that the only women who have managed the 3A past maturity were very short, muscular women (Ito and Harding).

I noticed during the all-access broadcast that Kimmie Meissner is nearly as tall as Paul Wylie, and he is 5'4". Kimmie is growing, and when she starts to fill out, it's likely her 3A will become less and less consistent.

 

[soogar]

Tara's career ending injuries were caused by TRIPLES, not quad jumps.

I agree with the posters who said that smarter training (both on ice and off) is the key for injury prevention. I will also say that in doing these jumps, skaters need to be hypervigilant about taking care of their injuries. It's also important for the coach to step in and stop a skater a from pushing the jumps when the skater is injured.A harness will only help for so long. Eventually the skater has to do the jump without the harness and skaters always fall on jumps no matter how long they have been doing them.
I think that Plush is in such bad shape because he neglected to take care of his injuries and now his body is getting injured everywhere from trying to compensate for the initial knee injury. Klimkin is injured b/c (according to his interview) the federation didn't believe him when he said his foot was hurt and he was told to train harder. An athlete in that kind of situation is going to sustain a severe injury. I am optimistic that he will come back as coming back from injury is an old hat for him.

I think that weight training is very important as well. One thing that is very noticeable about Miki Ando is her extremely muscular shoulders and arms. It's telling that she is able to hoist a fully developed body into 3-3s and the occasional quad whereas I doubt that Kimmie and Mao will be able to keep their 3 axels after puberty.

 

[Mathman]

How many of the serious, career ending injuries are related to training the big jumps in the first place, v. over-training on an existing injury rather than healing the injury first?

I think it is hard to separate the two. All athletes train hurt. If it doesn't hurt, you're not working hard enough.

 

[millyskate]

All professions in the world entail injuries. I've posted it before. If you are a woodwind player that spends his life playing just in front of the trombones in the orchestra, you become deaf. Yet it's worth it because you've spent your life playing in the orchestra. If you are a builder, the likelyhood is you'll be in contact with harmful chemicals ect and catch some disease (several court cases going on at the moment) if your are an office worker, you get cancer from passive smoking and back ache. You have to stop living to avoid injury.

 

[tdnuva]

If you are a woodwind player that spends his life playing just in front of the trombones in the orchestra, you become deaf.

A bit black and white, hey? Not all woodwind players I know are deaf. In fact - non of them lol

If you are a builder, the likelyhood is you'll be in contact with harmful chemicals ect and catch some disease (several court cases going on at the moment)

Which is a contradiction in itself. Getting in contact with those chemicals is nothing you can't avoid. There are researches going on to avoid that. And there are a lot of means to avoid injuries - only not all working in such places use them.....

if your are an office worker, you get cancer from passive smoking and back ache.

How do you get cancer from back ache? And why do all of those getting back ache at all? They could change their sit positions, chairs and the habit of only sitting. (And I am one with a back problem since puberty.)

And that passive smoking is avoidable - especially cause the laws against smoking get more and more - we don't have to discuss, or?

You have to stop living to avoid injury.

No - you have to stop bringing yourself in too heavy risks to avoid injury. And putting that for skaters means learning good technique, becoming and staying fit AND avoiding things that mean too high risks (which everyone is entitled to judge for oneself and non-adults you have to care for).