Career Ending Injuries

[Skate2Music]

What are some examples of career ending injuries for figure skaters?
This question is for a story that I am writing, my character is a female single skater around twenty-one yrs of age. (Year Before Olympics)
Is twenty to young to "retire?"

World's Debut (15 yrs)

Been On Numerous World Team ("Sorta Well Known")

This is an alternative universe where the UK especially Scotland is an up and coming powerhouse for single skaters. (Probably Never Happen In Reality)

She's won European medals and is an Olympic Bronze Medalist (19 yrs./Think Denis Ten Sochi 2014)

I am thinking about allowing her to win a world and euro title in the post-Olympic year but would it be to cop out for her to win these titles and retire on a highpoint due to injury?
Though she does compete and struggles earlier on in the season due to pain but like most elite athletes she assumes it's just the nature of the sport.

I want the injury to be chronic and relating to her knee's, I am thinking that she may pull out of world prior to attending due to her intuition of a severe injury.

People may think MBTI is pseudo science but I use it in my writing and my character is an INTJ.

https://www.16personalities.com/intj-personality

Thanks!

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

What are some examples of career ending injuries for figure skaters?
This question is for a story that I am writing, my character is a female single skater around twenty yrs of age. (Thanks)
Is twenty to young to "retire?"

A career ending injury can happen at any age, but "career ending" usually specifies an older age in figure skating (late teens early to mid 20's) when a skater is more well known.
Examples: hip injuries, ankle or knee injuries, concussions, back injuries. (do you want more specific injury names or is that what you are looking for?)

 

[Warwick360]

Isn't twenty sort of the benchmark to retire?

Anyways, first names that pops into mind are Tara Lipinski (hip injury) and Plushenko (back?).

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

There are skaters who return from bad injuries but are unable to produce their best form, such as Surya Bonaly (ruptured Achilles). Surgeons can fix almost anything now, so there aren't a lot of things that are truly career ending.

 

[gmyers]

If you look at shabalin he was competing with a certain stop date because he wasn't recovering and only Vancouver Olympics was the goal. But krylova also had a back injury and she kept going but stopped. The case of bonaly is a case where she had an injury and it severely damaged her but she kept going. When it comes to a skater who must stop immediately that's really rare. You have urmanov who had that bad injury that kept him out for a year?

 

[musicfan80]

I want the injury to be chronic and relating to her knee's, I am thinking that she may pull out of world prior to attending due to her intuition of a severe injury.

Have you looked up articles on Haven Denney's injury and how hard it's been for her to come back how well as she has so far?

You could try researching ACL tears - but I've heard that those aren't near as serious as a meniscus tear.

Hope that this helps.

 

[noskates]

I think you can begin to expect more of these career-ending injuries with the emphasis on quads now.

 

[Ares]

Isn't twenty sort of the benchmark to retire?

Anyways, first names that pops into mind are Tara Lipinski (hip injury) and Plushenko (back?).

Yagudin also had back (?) injury that did him in 2003 and forced or at least spurred him to retire completely from competitive figure skating. He still loved competition & performing I thought so that was not because of lack of motivation after Olympic Gold Medal year before. I think that Alexei was battling injury at least one year prior to SLC.

 

[Chemistry66]

Possibly something related to Osgood Schlatter disease? Nathan Chen and Tessa Hong have both had issues with it. Most of the time it resolves with age (when the skeleton matures) but apparently in a percentage of cases adults can still have symptoms.

Popular choreographer David Wilson's skating career ended at ~18 from issues with Osgood Schlatter, according to this article.

 

[Ice Dance]

Deanna Stellato retired at @18 or 19 after four different hip injuries.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deanna_Stellato

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

Deanna Stellato retired at @18 or 19 after four different hip injuries.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deanna_Stellato

I was going to mention her, but then remembered she is competing again

 

[mrrice]

I am surprised that we don't hear about more shoulder/ collar bone/ deltoid/ and rotator cuff injuries in Pairs or Ice Dance. They were common among the Men when I was dancing on tour. Hence, the use of steroids. When you add the speed and danger of being on skates to difficult lifts, I'm surprised, and happy, that we don't see more shoulder injuries in skating.

 

[NanaPat]

I am surprised that we don't hear about more shoulder/ deltoid/ and rotator cuff injuries in Pairs or Ice Dance. They were common among the Men when I was dancing on tour. Hence, the use of steroids. When you add the speed and danger of being on skates to difficult lifts, I'm surprised, and happy, that we don't see more shoulder injuries in skating.

Craig Buntin had a career-ending shoulder injury. He had it almost the whole time he was partnered with Meagan Duhamel. Before he retired, his face got really gaunt and it was obvious he was in a lot of pain.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Buntin

I'm pretty sure I've heard of other shoulder injuries in pair/id males, but can't think who they are right off.

 

[plushyfan]

Yagudin also had back (?) injury that did him in 2003 and forced or at least spurred him to retire completely from competitive figure skating. He still loved competition & performing I thought so that was not because of lack of motivation after Olympic Gold Medal year before. I think that Alexei was battling injury at least one year prior to SLC.

He had hip injury. I think that was a hereditary health problem. He retited too early in many aspects I wanted to see their battle with Plush. Their last competition was in 2002 Plush was only 19. Only 19. And most of the FS fans mention that era as the greatest and most exciting rivalry in the history of FS.

 

[desertskates]

I am surprised that we don't hear about more shoulder/ deltoid/ and rotator cuff injuries in Pairs or Ice Dance. They were common among the Men when I was dancing on tour. Hence, the use of steroids. When you add the speed and danger of being on skates to difficult lifts, I'm surprised, and happy, that we don't see more shoulder injuries in skating.

I only skate at the adult level, but am currently recovering from a nasty broken shoulder complete with open surgery and new metal accessories. Very uneventful fall, but physics were not on my side that day. Almost fully recovered now, but I was very lucky.
Since I've had to learn quite a bit about this, I'm also surprised it's not seen more. Something like this would almost certainly be career ending for a pairs guy, because he would need full range of flexibility and the same amount of strength. Now when I watch people break their falls with a dominant hand, all I see is so many potential broken shoulders :eeking:

 

[JMJ2015]

I've had a set of ankle injuries that would end a skating career...an undiagnosed avulsion fracture of the fibula that led to complete tears of AFTL and CFTL ligaments in the ankle (eventually a ruptured AFTL (and for detail that rupture was so loud that it felt like it echoed; I was in PT when it happened and we just looked at each other and decided no more PT until I saw the surgeon), tears in both peroneal tendons in the ankle (that one alone would probably end a skating career), massively torn cartilage requiring removal of the ankle joint lining, partial Achilles tear. For me this also led to torn cartilage and tendon damage in my knee. The ankle was repaired surgically and while I'm allowed to do sports using common sense (my surgeon just reminded me I can undo anything that was repaired) I do not have great stability and could never jump and land on my ankle. PM if you want to know more about torn up ankles and knees.

 

[Ares]

He had hip injury. I think that was a hereditary health problem. He retited too early in many aspects I wanted to see their battle with Plush. Their last competition was in 2002 Plush was only 19. Only 19. And most of the FS fans mention that era as the greatest and most exciting rivalry in the history of FS.

Yup, that was his hip. I now remember some interviews more vividly concerning that.


Hip injury also convinced Michelle Kwan to
end her career. That's been also long term issue for her, she was able though to win Worlds in 2005 despite this not being fully fit.