Time for R.I.C.E.
It's always fun when old injuries come back to haunt you. I happen to have shitty knees. They hyper extend naturally, which is already bad for the joint stability, and I have twisted, tweaked and yes, even dislocated both of my knees on multiple occasions.
Wednesday night at derby practice I was on the receiving end of a good solid check from Troubled Youth. Which, in case you don't know, feels something like falling off a horse, but on skates. The sensation of speed and weightlessness was actually kind of cool until I hit the ground. I fell well, which in derby means forward, onto your pads (which let me tell you, goes against all your instincts), but I hit the ground pretty hard. Hard enough to get a deep bruise through my knee pad. You know that kind that hurts in that way that only soft tissue damage can, but doesn't color up? One of those. This left my knee feeling a little tender on bearing weight and flexing.
So I put some joint-warming cream on it and wrapped it up for practice last night. Safe as houses, right?
So very wrong.
Last night we did a weave line. A weave line is everyone skating in a column, about arm's length apart, and the skater in the back skates to the front, weaving in between the other skaters like cones. When the line is short and properly paced, it's an exhilarating agility and endurance drill. When the line is long and a bit too fast, like last night's line it becomes a precarious, high-speed, kamikaze adventure.
I made one attempt and struggled to catch the line. I pushed too hard in a corner and lost control, taking a small spill. I was up on my skates quickly and ready to try again. I was tired, I was falling behind, and I was pissed. So I started taking whips from the other girls. If you ever played "crack the whip" at the skate rink as a kid, you know how this goes. Except instead of trying to hold on, the whipee lets go and the whipper's speed and momentum is transferred to her.
Crazytrain whipped me. And then Troubled Youth whipped me. Amazing how even though I had just been steamrolled by her the night previous, I forgot how strong Troubled Youth is. She whipped me hard and I was already coasting fast off of the last whip. And I haven't had as much practice being whipped as I would like. She also whipped me forward and across her body, in an attempt to shoot me right through the line, bless her heart. I wasn't expecting the angle and just didn't turn my skates right. The inside edge of my wheels caught, and it was all over.
Hello floor.
My knee bent outward at a funky-not-very-fun angle and then I fell on it. Awesome. Good thing Ida B. ChoAzz, a registered nurse, was there as I crawled/drug myself to the edge of the rink, hoping no one would run me over and kill me and/or themselves. She saw me and swooped down like an RN superhero to palpate and examine me and cart me off to the benches with some ice packs. If I hadn't been in pain and shaken up I would have been amused by her expression when she peeled off my pad to reveal that my newly hurt knee had already been injured and was sporting an ace bandage. Oh, great.
I spent the rest of the practice being alternately mad that I couldn't skate anymore for the night, and grateful that I hadn't torn my MCL. Knee surgery just doesn't sound like much fun.
Several girls came to check on me, coach Curtis felt guilty because he had just told me to skate with the rest of the girls and not the new girls, Troubled Youth apologized for the crazy whip, though I assured her it was my own fault for falling down and not hers, I got get-better-kisses from both Jen and Amy, and Cap'n Thunder advised we amputate and get me a peg-leg so I'd be the most famous derby skater in the world. So at least I scored some sympathy out of the deal.
When I skate, I'm never afraid to fall. If you fall, you fall, and most of the time you're ok. Sometimes you get hurt, but you almost never die. If I worried about falling, it would just hold me back. So I don't feel bad, and I just have to take care of it so I'll be ready to skate for Rust Riot on the 3rd. But the incident did inspire me to find some cool knee braces that are meant to be thin enough to wear under skate pads. Oh yeah, rockin' the granny gear.
Although, I hear from some of the girls that I'm getting a reputation for being a balls-out skater.
I really need to stop falling so spectacularly...
Wednesday night at derby practice I was on the receiving end of a good solid check from Troubled Youth. Which, in case you don't know, feels something like falling off a horse, but on skates. The sensation of speed and weightlessness was actually kind of cool until I hit the ground. I fell well, which in derby means forward, onto your pads (which let me tell you, goes against all your instincts), but I hit the ground pretty hard. Hard enough to get a deep bruise through my knee pad. You know that kind that hurts in that way that only soft tissue damage can, but doesn't color up? One of those. This left my knee feeling a little tender on bearing weight and flexing.
So I put some joint-warming cream on it and wrapped it up for practice last night. Safe as houses, right?
So very wrong.
Last night we did a weave line. A weave line is everyone skating in a column, about arm's length apart, and the skater in the back skates to the front, weaving in between the other skaters like cones. When the line is short and properly paced, it's an exhilarating agility and endurance drill. When the line is long and a bit too fast, like last night's line it becomes a precarious, high-speed, kamikaze adventure.
I made one attempt and struggled to catch the line. I pushed too hard in a corner and lost control, taking a small spill. I was up on my skates quickly and ready to try again. I was tired, I was falling behind, and I was pissed. So I started taking whips from the other girls. If you ever played "crack the whip" at the skate rink as a kid, you know how this goes. Except instead of trying to hold on, the whipee lets go and the whipper's speed and momentum is transferred to her.
Crazytrain whipped me. And then Troubled Youth whipped me. Amazing how even though I had just been steamrolled by her the night previous, I forgot how strong Troubled Youth is. She whipped me hard and I was already coasting fast off of the last whip. And I haven't had as much practice being whipped as I would like. She also whipped me forward and across her body, in an attempt to shoot me right through the line, bless her heart. I wasn't expecting the angle and just didn't turn my skates right. The inside edge of my wheels caught, and it was all over.
Hello floor.
My knee bent outward at a funky-not-very-fun angle and then I fell on it. Awesome. Good thing Ida B. ChoAzz, a registered nurse, was there as I crawled/drug myself to the edge of the rink, hoping no one would run me over and kill me and/or themselves. She saw me and swooped down like an RN superhero to palpate and examine me and cart me off to the benches with some ice packs. If I hadn't been in pain and shaken up I would have been amused by her expression when she peeled off my pad to reveal that my newly hurt knee had already been injured and was sporting an ace bandage. Oh, great.
I spent the rest of the practice being alternately mad that I couldn't skate anymore for the night, and grateful that I hadn't torn my MCL. Knee surgery just doesn't sound like much fun.
Several girls came to check on me, coach Curtis felt guilty because he had just told me to skate with the rest of the girls and not the new girls, Troubled Youth apologized for the crazy whip, though I assured her it was my own fault for falling down and not hers, I got get-better-kisses from both Jen and Amy, and Cap'n Thunder advised we amputate and get me a peg-leg so I'd be the most famous derby skater in the world. So at least I scored some sympathy out of the deal.
When I skate, I'm never afraid to fall. If you fall, you fall, and most of the time you're ok. Sometimes you get hurt, but you almost never die. If I worried about falling, it would just hold me back. So I don't feel bad, and I just have to take care of it so I'll be ready to skate for Rust Riot on the 3rd. But the incident did inspire me to find some cool knee braces that are meant to be thin enough to wear under skate pads. Oh yeah, rockin' the granny gear.
Although, I hear from some of the girls that I'm getting a reputation for being a balls-out skater.
I really need to stop falling so spectacularly...