Falling over correctly

[farnarkler 3]

Hi, I’m a newbie from downunder so I’m bound to ask some bizarre questions. I’m nursing a broken shoulder from falling on the ice. The laughable thing was that I was fully padded up. I’d been trying out my gear on a very quiet public session and attempting right turn crossovers. At 44 I haven’t conquered the psychological barrier of right turn crossovers without wearing full hockey gear.

Next thing I know, my feet get tangled and I’m heading head first to the ice. I put my right palm out instinctively and, on impact, felt the shoulder go.

Should I have tried to roll mid fall and let the shoulder pads on my 20ks take the brunt of the hit or tried to let my shin guards take the brunt of the impact.

Any advice would be much appreciated for the next time I head towards the ice.

[thejackal 46]

dont worry about going faster on crossovers. if you stay away from the boards, going faster might even prevent you from falling hard - the inertia will throw you farther away and you can slide along the ice instead of falling on it.

for me the least painful way to take a fall is to fall to the front and try to spread my weight between my elbows and my hands, kind of like a table with my forearms against the ice.

[Nosferatu 8]

If you're on the way down quickly look for the nearest opposing player/other skaters and try to use them to break your fall ;) Only joking . All I can think of is try not to tense up too much if you think you're about to bin it , if you let yourself sort of crumple the impact seems a bit less jarring not sure if there's any exact science behind this but it seems to work after being zapped by a decent hit so might do the same job for a normal fall too .

[bwhockey17 12]

Try not to stick your hand out, just tuck your elbow in and try to roll when you hit the ice. Same as any other hard fall. Hope it helps, and hope you are having fun!

[Souldriver 64]

There was a video my friend had that taught you how to take falls and hits against the boards in hockey but I don't remember what it was.

I do know in football when a QB gets sacked one of the worst things they would do is put an arm straight out to try to cushion their fall it risks a broken bone or dislocation and is in general how many QBs end up on the IR. If you keep your arms in (something more in an army crawl type fashion) you can usually cushion yourself a bit and let the impact disperse more. On the ice if you're able to get that fall to turn into more of a slide that helps out too as you'll go along the ice instead of hitting it.

[AntsSheffield 0]

If I sense I'm going to fall I kind of let my body go loose and try to 'pour' myself onto the ice. The main thing, as people have said, is not to break your fall with an arm. That's how the majority of skating injuries happen

[chk hrd 164]

You are falling, you really don't have much time to think of should I do A or B, your body pretty much just reacts. You usually don't start thinking of what you should have done until after. The only time it seems you have enough time is when sliding into the boards. With me the first thought is not to go head first and if I do to go face first and the second is this is gonna hurt some.