What can I expect to achieve?

[Talionis]

So, usually threads with this sort of title are from teenagers who want to know if they can make it to the Olympics. This is not that thread. I started lessons a year ago at age 54 and have been progressing, slowly, through the LTS levels. I got some discouraging news today from an orthopedist whom I consulted about an aggravated knee (I blame the backward swizzles). I learned that I have severe arthritis in both knees, though only one of them hurts at the moment, and that knee replacements are in my hopefully distant future. I got the sense that he thought my skating was foolish at my age.

So here’s my question for the skating experts as opposed to the medical expert - what can I reasonably hope to accomplish? I’ve never been interested in jumps - I already sensed that those would be bad news knee-wise. Ditto for catch-spins and flying camels. What I really want to do is twizzle. I like watching footwork and have always wished I could do it. My plan was to learn ice dancing, partly to improve the land-based ballroom dancing that I’ve pursued for the last 15 years. I’d like to work on moves in the field eventually, too.

I will work on losing weight, and I do weight-training and will be working more on my quads to help stabilize the knees, but will I ever be able to build enough muscle to bend my knees properly on ice, or does twisty footwork require youthful cartilage? Is a decent twizzle as out of reach as an axel at this point? And would better skates protect my knees more, or are higher level skates more about protecting the ankles (which feel fine, knock on wood). Any advice from those of yoy who’ve been there would be much appreciated. :-(

 

[emilinkaa]

I don’t have an direct answer, but as someone who went through a couple years of physical therapy for hip, knee, and ankle injuries in my early 20s, and was told I would never skate more than laps again, I feel you. I am 35 and just got back into it, and can even jump again (injury was on my landing leg). It took me a lot of yoga, patience, and ibuprofen to get here. I have good days and bad days. That said, I also routinely skate with a few couples in their 70s and 80s who do ice dance. I would also recommend swimming and yoga as great low impact workouts.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

So, usually threads with this sort of title are from teenagers who want to know if they can make it to the Olympics. This is not that thread. I started lessons a year ago at age 54 and have been progressing, slowly, through the LTS levels. I got some discouraging news today from an orthopedist whom I consulted about an aggravated knee (I blame the backward swizzles). I learned that I have severe arthritis in both knees, though only one of them hurts at the moment, and that knee replacements are in my hopefully distant future. I got the sense that he thought my skating was foolish at my age.

So here’s my question for the skating experts as opposed to the medical expert - what can I reasonably hope to accomplish? I’ve never been interested in jumps - I already sensed that those would be bad news knee-wise. Ditto for catch-spins and flying camels. What I really want to do is twizzle. I like watching footwork and have always wished I could do it. My plan was to learn ice dancing, partly to improve the land-based ballroom dancing that I’ve pursued for the last 15 years. I’d like to work on moves in the field eventually, too.

I will work on losing weight, and I do weight-training and will be working more on my quads to help stabilize the knees, but will I ever be able to build enough muscle to bend my knees properly on ice, or does twisty footwork require youthful cartilage? Is a decent twizzle as out of reach as an axel at this point? And would better skates protect my knees more, or are higher level skates more about protecting the ankles (which feel fine, knock on wood). Any advice from those of yoy who’ve been there would be much appreciated. :-(

Hi. I am sorry to hear about your knee issues. I hope that I can give you a little bit of info to decide where to go to next.

First of all, you are never too old to skate! I can tell you as a former elite now pro who has arthritic knees and tendonitis in their ankles from years of competing and all the wear and tear on my joints, you can skate with arthritis, you just have to be very cautious of what you are doing.
Building resistance exercises up and strength training with a trainer can help with those joints and the knees/ankles. Also, get slide on knee support/brace for skating. You do not need elite level (stiffest rating) boots, those are not designed for someone your level and with your needs (and also those aren't needed unless jumping triples LOL). I will ask though, what boots are you in currently? What height/weight?< that helps with suggesting proper boots for you.

Now, based on your comments about ice dance. You may want to look into a lower cut intermediate level boot and possibly a synchro or hybrid blade: MK Dynasty. That way, it has the shorter tail from the get-go that you would need for dance, but it's not a full-fledged dance blade at that point (which you don't need right now). I would focus on dance and working with a dance coach to learn your basics, etc.
I will tell you though, dance on ice and ballroom dance you will find are quite different and you might even have issues if you are used to on land ballroom dance and the way they move and direction etc, compared to ice dance. There are many I know that have started ice dance coming from ballroom and vice versa that had to really get used to the difference (and I'm not talking primarily surface-wise either). I competed ice dance and singles, just in case you were wondering.

Please don't let anyone discourage you, just keep your medical/physical needs in mind when it comes to skating. Go your own pace.
Good luck! If there is anything else you should need please ask, my DM box is also always open.

 

[WednesdayMarch]

I'm 55 and an ex-coach. I had a catastrophic accident at the age of 31, which wrecked my right knee (and teaching career) and required an operation to remove and resite my patella. That involved removing the muscle above the knee and severed the nerves, too, so that I woke up from the anaesthetic with a totally useless right leg and had to have extensive physio and rehab to learn to walk again. The nerves and muscles will never be the same and the knee will always be unstable. Plus the signals from my brain don't always get through in time, so if I stand up too quickly after being seated for a while and don't think it through, I will literally just topple over. Quite entertaining. Likewise, sometimes I'll go to do something on the ice and the leg doesn't register what I want it to do, so I usually manage to just stop but sometimes I fall over. It is just part of life now. Most of the time, however, unless you're a physio or orthopaedist, I think you'd never know there was a problem.

I didn't skate for 18 years after my accident and surgery but braved the ice 5 years ago as I was utterly miserable. I can still do it! Not to the level I did before, but I can still skate. Obviously I don't jump (well, not often!) and as an ice dancer, that's not a problem for me anyway.

Ice skating is a great low-impact form of exercise and provided you're careful not to do things that might aggravate your arthritic knees - such as jump - then you should be fine. It's really important to keep fit and flexible when you have arthritis. Figure skating movements aren't really about twisting the knees anyway so I'd say go for it. Learn ice dance and moves in the field. @Ic3Rabbit has made some excellent blade suggestions. I would agree that you don't need specialised dance blades at the moment, although I think you'd be fine with Coronation Dance if those appeal. Just don't go to Apex Dance or MK Dance and scare yourself. I'd also counsel again choosing a dance boot until you've become comfortable with shorter blades. And whatever you do, don't put a freestyle blade on a dance boot and expect to be fine! You want a small, domed toepick with a low cut boot, or you'll catch the top pick when you do things like swing rolls and go flying. I found that out the hard way, with a broken rib!

I can't tell you whether you'll be able to master twizzles, but as long as you keep your skating knee soft and don't try to twist the knee, it's not out of the question.

Good luck and happy skating!

 

[Talionis]

I wrote a reply last week thanking you all for your helpful responses, but it seems to have disappeared into the ether, so once again - thank you for your kind advice. After a couple of weeks off to allow the currently inflamed knee to settle down, I'm heading back onto the ice for a group lesson tomorrow evening to see how things go. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with the class. Once I finish up some travel scheduled for early May, I hope to switch over to private lessons, where I can focus on basic skills, dance, and MIF at my own pace. In the meantime, I appreciate all of your encouraging words.

 

[MiraiFan]

I wrote a reply last week thanking you all for your helpful responses, but it seems to have disappeared into the ether, so once again - thank you for your kind advice. After a couple of weeks off to allow the currently inflamed knee to settle down, I'm heading back onto the ice for a group lesson tomorrow evening to see how things go. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with the class. Once I finish up some travel scheduled for early May, I hope to switch over to private lessons, where I can focus on basic skills, dance, and MIF at my own pace. In the meantime, I appreciate all of your encouraging words.

I turn 50 this year and started skating a few years ago. Just signed up for my first adult competition. Skating is not a linear process for us adults (for me it's usually one step forward, five steps back), but it's still my favorite thing in the whole world. Enjoy the process and don't worry too much about progress--work at it and it will come. One thing I forced myself to do from the beginning is to get proficient on all turns, spirals, etc. on both feet. My bad side has now almost caught up to my good side! Best of luck!

 

[mskater93]

So, usually threads with this sort of title are from teenagers who want to know if they can make it to the Olympics. This is not that thread. I started lessons a year ago at age 54 and have been progressing, slowly, through the LTS levels. I got some discouraging news today from an orthopedist whom I consulted about an aggravated knee (I blame the backward swizzles). I learned that I have severe arthritis in both knees, though only one of them hurts at the moment, and that knee replacements are in my hopefully distant future. I got the sense that he thought my skating was foolish at my age.

So here’s my question for the skating experts as opposed to the medical expert - what can I reasonably hope to accomplish? I’ve never been interested in jumps - I already sensed that those would be bad news knee-wise. Ditto for catch-spins and flying camels. What I really want to do is twizzle. I like watching footwork and have always wished I could do it. My plan was to learn ice dancing, partly to improve the land-based ballroom dancing that I’ve pursued for the last 15 years. I’d like to work on moves in the field eventually, too.

I will work on losing weight, and I do weight-training and will be working more on my quads to help stabilize the knees, but will I ever be able to build enough muscle to bend my knees properly on ice, or does twisty footwork require youthful cartilage? Is a decent twizzle as out of reach as an axel at this point? And would better skates protect my knees more, or are higher level skates more about protecting the ankles (which feel fine, knock on wood). Any advice from those of yoy who’ve been there would be much appreciated. :-(

You mentioned working on your quads to stabilize your knees, but you need to have a good balance between quad and hamstring to REALLY stabilize. Having a major imbalance between them can make your knees worse and pull your knee out of alignment.

Have you considered regenerative medicine on your knees for the arthritis if it is bothering you? Orthos tend to be conservative (hence the sense of foolishness) about what we can and can't do, except mine who is working me through the regenerative medical process with my knees. She's very excited that I am a very active adult because that will help the regeneration process. AND she's excited to help me get to the next level skating-wise and asks to see videos.

In my opinion, you are really only limited by your time commitment (since you probably have a job and a family meaning your skating time is limited) and your self-doubts. You can become a lovely ice dancer with killer twizzles or a showcase skater if jumping is not your cup of tea. You just need to be all-in mentally to achieve it. Heavier boots typically are for jump support more than anything, but you need appropriate support for your level/height/weight. Dance boots tend to be shorter and softer the FS boots.

If you want help with a support network, feel free to PM me.

 

[Talionis]

More encouraging responses! Thank you again. I had a group lesson yesterday, and could feel that the injured knee is doing better. I still can’t put weight on it if the foot is turned outward, so my attempts at backward crossovers were a disaster, but forward actions were OK. I’m following the “one foot glide” thread with interest, as I can’t for the life of me get a backwards one foot glide going. My hip droops, causing me to twist around in a circle while all the munchkins in the nearby youth free skate class watch quizzically.

 

[mskater93]

More encouraging responses! Thank you again. I had a group lesson yesterday, and could feel that the injured knee is doing better. I still can’t put weight on it if the foot is turned outward, so my attempts at backward crossovers were a disaster, but forward actions were OK. I’m following the “one foot glide” thread with interest, as I can’t for the life of me get a backwards one foot glide going. My hip droops, causing me to twist around in a circle while all the munchkins in the nearby youth free skate class watch quizzically.

Not your hip, it's your core. If you pull your core very strongly, it will keep your hip where it needs to be in place

 

[MiraiFan]

You mentioned working on your quads to stabilize your knees, but you need to have a good balance between quad and hamstring to REALLY stabilize. Having a major imbalance between them can make your knees worse and pull your knee out of alignment.

Have you considered regenerative medicine on your knees for the arthritis if it is bothering you? Orthos tend to be conservative (hence the sense of foolishness) about what we can and can't do, except mine who is working me through the regenerative medical process with my knees. She's very excited that I am a very active adult because that will help the regeneration process. AND she's excited to help me get to the next level skating-wise and asks to see videos.

In my opinion, you are really only limited by your time commitment (since you probably have a job and a family meaning your skating time is limited) and your self-doubts. You can become a lovely ice dancer with killer twizzles or a showcase skater if jumping is not your cup of tea. You just need to be all-in mentally to achieve it. Heavier boots typically are for jump support more than anything, but you need appropriate support for your level/height/weight. Dance boots tend to be shorter and softer the FS boots.

If you want help with a support network, feel free to PM me.

I agree completely with the above. Work your hamstrings as well as your IT band (lots of physio exercises online for knee stabilty. I get sore if I don't do them regularly. My Theraband is my best friend!

 

[mskater93]

I agree completely with the above. Work your hamstrings as well as your IT band (lots of physio exercises online for knee stabilty. I get sore if I don't do them regularly. My Theraband is my best friend!

I'd also recommend a Theragun. I personally use mine every day for about 15 minutes