Knee injury better = how to wean off knee pads?

aussieskater · November 24, 2011, 04:12:53 PM

A couple of months ago I tried very hard to break my kneecap (fortunately I failed according to the x-ray), and after a few weeks completely off the ice, I was given the choice of waiting another month or returning only as long as I wore kneepads. I returned with the kneepads.

Fast forward a month. We have our season's major competition in less than a week (which is why I returned with the kneepads). I took the knee back to the doctor to check it all out. She reports that she thinks I'm likely good to go without the kneepads. I have to get it re-xrayed today to be sure, but she's 99% confident - as am I - that everything is OK.

So I went back on yesterday and pottered around without the pads. Problem: I'm really really scared of falling on it again, as the pain of the last one just about did for me. How do I get through this quickly? There wouldn't have been an issue except for the timing. At any other time of the year, I could tough it out and gradually get my confidence back, but I don't have the luxury of time right now.

Help?

Skittl1321 · November 24, 2011, 05:14:35 PM

I would say these two options:
1. Just wear it. You aren't at the Olympics, it is no big deal.
2. Only just take it off for the competition. You have less than 2 minutes to not hit your knee. The chance is so small, you'll be fine. You could even wear it during the warm up.

If you had more time I'd recommend the skating safe pads. You can barely see them beneath tight. I plan to compete in my hip pad, and have competed with my ugly black knee band on.

Good luck!

MadMac · November 24, 2011, 05:33:55 PM

Does the knee pad inhibit your movement? I'm inclined to agree with Skittle, just wear it. You'll be more at ease if you are not worrying about re-injury and therefore you'll probably skate better. I've seen adults competing and testing in a big knee brace that covered mid-thigh to lower-calf. No one minded at all.
Have a great skate and enjoy!!

Harleyboy · November 24, 2011, 06:22:41 PM

I hope you wear the knee pads. Lot's of competitions in your future if you are just a little over cautious right now. Skittl is right, wearing it is probably not a big deal. My guess is nobody will really notice or will assume there is a reason and never question you about it.

Good luck with the competition. Coming back after an injury is never easy, but it sounds like you are doing a good job of it. Congrats on that.

techskater · November 24, 2011, 07:16:48 PM

You can order one of the skatesafe varieties that can go inside your tights. You'll have the security, but it will "look" nicer...

aussieskater · November 25, 2011, 01:05:59 AM

Thanks for your help guys! I've come back from injury before OK - the issue this time is that my rehab timing sucks. The weird thing is not that I'm afraid of reinjuring the knee as much as how much it would hurt if I re-whack it!

Skittl and techskater, I actually already have the skatingsafe ones and they're the ones I've been using. I do plan to continue to wear them as a regular thing, including for official practices, but would really prefer not to wear them for actual competitions. I compete synchro, it's our Nationals coming up next week (not the Olys haha

), but I don't need to help the tech panel identify an individual to follow to call the program!

Mad Mac - the skatingsafe ones don't inhibit kneebend as much as they restrict my ability to keep my knees and feet together, and make bracket turns etc more difficult as a result. More to the point, they "remind" me that there's something wrong with my knees - even though there isn't any more - so I don't tend to work the kneebend and push as hard as I ought.

I went padless again today, and it was an improvement on yesterday. Next time I skate (Sunday night) is our dress rehearsal for competition, so I'd like to stay padless until after that. Then learn to switch between "pads" and "no pads" frequently so as not to have this little issue again.

fsk8r · November 25, 2011, 03:45:18 AM

Good luck with synchro nationals. We had ours on Monday (we won). I've been in a knee support all year because of a persistant injury. I wore nothing for the competition. I actually forgot to put it on when I had a quick change to get to a last minute practice last week and only realised when I was on the ice. It didn't actually hurt. So I went without for the competition and didn't really notice it. They also handed us big dangly earrings to wear. Mine fell off in off-ice several times. I was terrified they'd fall off during the actual skate (we didn't try them at official practice). But when the music started I was too busy worrying about the steps and smiling I forgot them.

And I was really worried last weekend about falling (I get a feeling it's going to happen sometimes) and my coach's advice, was to just get on the ice and sit down. You've got it over with then. She used to send her senior team onto the ice and get them to sit down at official practice. Stopped them doing it later.

aussieskater · November 25, 2011, 06:00:00 AM

Congrats fsk8r!

Re "sitting down" vs "falling down" - made me laugh. It's been a superstition of mine for some time - if I haven't fallen in official prac, then sitting on the ice is the last thing I do as I get off.

fsk8r · November 25, 2011, 09:46:17 AM

Quote from: aussieskater on November 25, 2011, 06:00:00 AM
Congrats fsk8r!

Re "sitting down" vs "falling down" - made me laugh. It's been a superstition of mine for some time - if I haven't fallen in official prac, then sitting on the ice is the last thing I do as I get off.

Glad it's an international superstition. Good luck on Sunday and let us know how it goes.
I bet with all the nerves and adrenaline you'll completely forget your knee until you get off.

(And if your teams are anything like our adult teams, don't expect high scores on Sunday. The rule changes this season made it really difficult for us to get anything higher than a level 1 called for any of the elements except intersections. There was a single C2, B2 and L2 across the 7 adult teams)

aussieskater · November 25, 2011, 04:34:58 PM

Quote from: fsk8r on November 25, 2011, 09:46:17 AM
Glad it's an international superstition. Good luck on Sunday and let us know how it goes.
I bet with all the nerves and adrenaline you'll completely forget your knee until you get off.

(And if your teams are anything like our adult teams, don't expect high scores on Sunday. The rule changes this season made it really difficult for us to get anything higher than a level 1 called for any of the elements except intersections. There was a single C2, B2 and L2 across the 7 adult teams)

Thanks Fsk8r! We're not expecting anything much in the way of scores - anything over 25 would be fantabulous thanks to this season's calling changes and our lack of skill. Mind you, go the adult skating community - for the second year in a row, Adult is the biggest synchro division competing.

/end thread drift

fsk8r · November 26, 2011, 02:14:08 PM

Quote from: aussieskater on November 25, 2011, 04:34:58 PM
Thanks Fsk8r! We're not expecting anything much in the way of scores - anything over 25 would be fantabulous thanks to this season's calling changes and our lack of skill. Mind you, go the adult skating community - for the second year in a row, Adult is the biggest synchro division competing.

/end thread drift

don't think we made it over 25 this year (but there's only 5 elements compared to last years 7) and they fiddled the PCS factors to boost the scores.
But we were also the biggest synchro division (but they abolished most of the kids divisions and now only have Novice through Senior, so it wasn't hard).

Good luck on Sunday and hope you forget about the missing knee pads. I found a totally relaxed preparation for the competition (and stupid earrings for distraction) stopped me worrying about my knee.

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Knee injury better = how to wean off knee pads?