Skating after injury

[COHockey]

I finished my rehab after a major injury to my right heel, ankle, and to a lesser extent, knee last week. My physical therapist said he was impressed and felt professional satisfaction in seeing me go from nearly 0% to nearly 90-100% movement/activity/stamina.

Since last week I have attempted to skate again, but have been unable to do so. My PT said that he would like to see improvement with my balance, but he saw no reason for me not to start skating again. I am unsure what is wrong, but first of all, my skates feel not "right", unsure if its comfort, or I am not used to it, or something else. Next, I having issues standing up in skates! I have been improving on my balance board at home, but I am doing pretty good. I see no correlation with balance and when I am on the ice. Finally, I do understand I have pretty much lost all my muscle memory, but in four sessions of attempting to skate I am no further along than when I started!

Has anyone been in a similiar situation? Any advice what to do? I am frustrated and am unsure what I need to start doing next. Last year I was a pretty accomplished skater and it has been only five years since I played rec league regularly. Now it seems like I am hopeless since I cannot skate a meter and remain standing.

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[frito]

You could try a Bosu ball in addition to a balance board. That will allow you to concentrate your efforts on one leg/ankle at a time where you're pretty much committed to using both legs simultaneously with the balance board. I had minor knee surgery in the fall and the item I think helped my skating muscles the most was the Bosu Ball. So much so that my wife got me one for Christmas.

Good luck.

 

[Keetz]

Be a hopeless beginner then. No shame in that. Play till they kick you out of the lower level. the key is to just play. have fun. You'll never be ready till you do it anyway, so just do it.

 

[Whiplash27]

You'll get used to it again. As your leg restrengthens more and more, it'll be like you never stopped. I've never been in the situation, but that's all I can really think. Even if you don't skate for years when you step on the ice you feel like you've never left. Sure the first few minutes can be tricky, but after that it feels like you never stopped. It's almost the same principle.

Plus as you said, you lost your muscle memory for it. It's just like anything else, whether it be benching, stickhandling, or anything else, once you do it a few times, it starts to become second nature.

 

[COHockey]

UPDATE: I skated today!

Just a quick update, I skated again today. It was my seventh hour before I skated from one end of the rink to the other. At six and a half hours I still wasn't standing up.

I found it was a combination of several things. First, my heel was hurting only about 15% of the time. The other 85% it was extreme pain. I had to get my pain level down before doing anything as trying on skates. That is why they felt funny. It was a combination of pain killers and muscles doing things they were not used to.

Once my muscles regained the skating memory, things got pretty good. But it led me to the most important thing of all, my balance was decent, but I was overcompensating on my good leg, and not even realizing it. I had one of the instructors point that out to me when she was teaching a class. She immediately recognized that I had skated before, just wasn't doing well now.

Once I was able to skate without falling for a couple of meters, everything came back in a flood. It was fun again!

If ever you encounter problems skating after an injury, I would recommend someone else to observe and let you know exactly what you are doing wrong. I would also recommend waiting a lot longer than when you first think you can get on skates again. My PT never skated, didn't have any idea the condition I had to be in to skate!

Right now I know I need to work on stride length when on my injured leg. It used to be my strong leg, so I am *really* out of whack, but improving. Thanks for the advice and words of encouragement.