"Carl M" wrote ...
Post by Carl MReading the thread about downhill/highspeed breaking with ABT and esp. the
post referring to quality pads, does anyone have any opinions on choice of
good pads or what to look for?
The only pads that are any good are ones you wear and ones that stay in
place.
Look for pads that will be comfortable when strapped on snugly.
Fortunately, pads are getting better at comfort.
Buy pads that will not slide when you push them in the direction that the
ground will if you land on them.
In my opinion, the MOST important pads are a helmet and wrist guards.
The head has the risk of the costliest damage in a fall and the wrists will
almost always hit the ground in a fall.
The next most important thing is to think about falling and how to do it
with the least damage to you. If you are in the "READY" (ankles, knees,
and waist bent so that the nose, knees, and toes are a vertical line and
lower arms almost horizontal with your hands out front) position when
skating, you will fall less because of the better balance. You will also be
able to guide your fall. This is close to the stance that is used in most
sports when you want to be ready to move in any direction instantly.
If you have wrist and knee pads, you can then guide yourself to slide on the
4 points.
You can alternatively start the fall by twisting your upper body so that you
roll to the side. This can get you out of the way of someone following you,
move you off a trail onto a softer surface, and spread out the damage so
that no one part of the body takes it all.
The big thing to fight is the strong urge to put your hands straight down if
you fall while not moving forward. This is a good way to break your wrist
or arm. Much better to start rotating to the side so that you hit one cheek
briefly and then use your side to finish the fall than break your wrist or
land on the tail bone.
If you are properly balanced on your skates, you won't have your feet go
forward out from under you. At that point, hope that you have a helmet on
to protect the back of your head because there isn't much you can do to
deflect the hit.
For a helmet, start with ones that are too small and try on larger sizes
until you find the smallest one that will fit on your head.
If you are planning on being a rec/fitness skater with very little backwards
skating or jumping, a bicycle helmet will be good enough and is likely to be
more comfortable.
If you will be doing slaloms, jumps, aggressive, or backwards skating, you
might want to move to a "all sport" helmet. They have more protection for
the back and lower sides of the head.
My preference for wrist guards are gloves for aggressive skating. They
protect more of the hand from getting shredded from the pavement. I'm not
sold on the solid, splint like, wrist guards being that big of an advantage.
You will need to decide which one seem to work better for you.
You will scrape your legs and/or knees on most falls but they heel up with
less pain than hands. I have yet to find a pair (I have 4 pair) that are
comfortable enough to wear every time I skate. I go sliding slightly less
than once per year. The week with Tegaderm covering the abrasions is less
annoying than the pads being on every time I skate.
Once you have good body positioning and a little balance, elbows generally
don't get scraped up. They are the pads I wear the least.
You will need to decide on what risks you are willing to take. The wife of
one of our regular skaters (he is 76 years old) will not skate at all
because she is the main organist at a large church. She doesn't want to
risk any damage to her hands. I have decided that the risk to my knees and
elbows are not high enough to wear pads on them. My wrists and head
definitely are more susceptible to damage and have higher penalty.
I mentioned Tegaderm earlier in the message. The sister of one of our more
crash prone skaters (a fast skater who is frequently pushing herself to her
limit) gave her some of this magic stuff to help after a fall and she has
handed it out to others (including me) when a fall happens.
It is made by 3M and is close to having an artificial skin over the wound
while it heels. It appears to be relatively expensive but helps abrasions
heal up much faster and with less discomfort. It comes in a couple sizes
but not all drug stores carry the 4 x 4 3/4" sheets. Around here Walgreens
does not but Snyder's does. Sheets can be overlapped to cover larger areas
and then behave like one large sheet.
I carry some in my car and will hand some sheets to the next person that
takes a serious fall in our group.