Concussions in Figure Skating | Page 3 | Golden Skate

Concussions in Figure Skating

Sabrina

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 13, 2013
I am skating since I was 5 y.o., but i've never been a professional figure skater. I only did small spins (level 1-2) and single axels. I hit my head (backside) twice. The first time I was skating in my school yard, on super bumpy ice, and it was quite dark (winter time). I was 13-14 y. o at that time, and after falling and hitting my head, I got up and skated another hour...no problem at all. Was it a concussion? I will never know. 25 years later, I was skating in an out door ice rink (it was -10 C cold) and I fell doing backward cross overs, the ice was a bit hard...anyway I hit my head and I was quite shocked. I didn't lose my conscience, but boy I guess that must have been a concussion. I am sure, age is a factor in the way you feel.
But, I told my story as in single skating it is quite unusual to hit your head. It's easier to break wrists, or legs, mostly lower leg.
Pair skating, even dance, are different, and more dangerous, especially pairs.
 

cinnamon

On the Ice
Joined
Sep 13, 2010
It never happened to me throughout my competitive years. I'm more worried about pair skaters.
 

brightphoton

Medalist
Joined
Jan 23, 2009
And it's not all concussions are life-threatening. Sometimes I think people are taking the word too serious. You scratch your hands on the ice during practice and you can call it injury as well.

I don't think Evan would have drawn attention to his concussions if they were as minor as scratching his knee.

Besides, the main danger of concussions isn't immediate death. It's lots of cognitive function, having the memory of an 80 year old Alzheimer patient when you're 40, short attention span, sudden personality changes, like becoming more quick to anger, prone to addictive behavior, combative.

I wonder if Debi Thomas ever had a concussion. Her grades at medical school weren't that good, I heard, and after graduation, she went from job to job to job. Now she's erratic and showing odd behavior. It's similar to the behavior of retired football players with brain trauma ...
 

mrrice

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 9, 2014
I don't think Evan would have drawn attention to his concussions if they were as minor as scratching his knee.

Besides, the main danger of concussions isn't immediate death. It's lots of cognitive function, having the memory of an 80 year old Alzheimer patient when you're 40, short attention span, sudden personality changes, like becoming more quick to anger, prone to addictive behavior, combative.

I wonder if Debi Thomas ever had a concussion. Her grades at medical school weren't that good, I heard, and after graduation, she went from job to job to job. Now she's erratic and showing odd behavior. It's similar to the behavior of retired football players with brain trauma ...

I agree with you about Debi. I had a friend in High School who was a diver. I saw on an earlier list that swimming has a low concussion rate but, I bet diving is not as low. My friend hit his head on the diving board on more than one occasion and by the time I saw him 25 years later, he was a shadow of his former self. For those of you who are older....You'll remember when Greg Louganis hit his head on the board during the Olympics in 1988. This is not easy to watch so beware:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDmqBkGA4fA
 

mrrice

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 9, 2014
And it's not all concussions are life-threatening. Sometimes I think people are taking the word too serious. You scratch your hands on the ice during practice and you can call it injury as well.

Well, this is a difficult situation. Concussions might not be life threatening but, they are certainly life changing. I've seen interviews with some football players who ended up with dementia and they've said that their condition is directly related to the concussions they sustained during their playing days. IMO, it's the long term effects that need to be studied. I'm sure the that there are former skaters going back decades that could testify to how a concussion has effected their lives.
 

Ender

Match Penalty
Joined
May 17, 2017
Well, this is a difficult situation. Concussions might not be life threatening but, they are certainly life changing. I've seen interviews with some football players who ended up with dementia and they've said that their condition is directly related to the concussions they sustained during their playing days. IMO, it's the long term effects that need to be studied. I'm sure the that there are former skaters going back decades that could testify to how a concussion has effected their lives.
The thing is we do not have "level" to grade how dangerous a concussion is just by the name. It's easy to say concussions are dangerous but it depends on the severity of the impact.
 

jf12

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 8, 2016
The thing is we do not have "level" to grade how dangerous a concussion is just by the name. It's easy to say concussions are dangerous but it depends on the severity of the impact.

I have to say that your response is totally wrong. Concussions do have severity levels, and the long term effects are being studied in other sports, particularly football. The research is starting to show that even just one or two serious concussions can have long term effects, and multiple less serious ones as well. It is no longer accepted that a level 1 or level 2 concussion is no big deal. This is something that I think has changed even in the time that Ashley was training up until today.

Of course, you can get a concussion falling down stairs, tripping while running, getting in a car accident, getting hit in the head during water polo, falling off a horse, or really in any other sport. The debate here isn't that concussions are serious or not, it's how common they really are in figure skating, since it seems that nobody wants to talk about it.
 

bevybean

On the Ice
Joined
May 26, 2017
I have to say that your response is totally wrong. Concussions do have severity levels, and the long term effects are being studied in other sports, particularly football. The research is starting to show that even just one or two serious concussions can have long term effects, and multiple less serious ones as well. It is no longer accepted that a level 1 or level 2 concussion is no big deal. This is something that I think has changed even in the time that Ashley was training up until today.

Of course, you can get a concussion falling down stairs, tripping while running, getting in a car accident, getting hit in the head during water polo, falling off a horse, or really in any other sport. The debate here isn't that concussions are serious or not, it's how common they really are in figure skating, since it seems that nobody wants to talk about it.

I think you are missing Ender's point though. I've had 3 concussions and each were mild --meaning I had a headache for a few days to a week and no other symptoms. Everyone is reacting to the idea of a skater having a concussion like they are all as bad as what Ashley Wagner describes and that isn't necessarily the case.

I think that is what makes this discussion difficult though. From the descriptions, Ashley Wagner suffered more from 1 of her concussions than I did from 3. However, even if they were all as mild as mine, 15-20 of them are going to add up.

BTW, 1 of though concussions was gained while curling and I was told the stay off the ice for 1 week AFTER the headaches stopped. Because if I had hit my head again during that time, even if it was to the same degree, the damage doesn't just double, it increases exponentially. Which is why you need to pay attention to the treatment even if your concussion is mild.
 

Alex D

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 23, 2013
A very famous athlete had suffered concussions during his career and this lead to him killing his family and himself. I won´t put the name here, but people in the US / Canada will know about which former Wrestler I am talking about. There are also multiple reports from American Football players, becoming violent due concussions.

During Sochi we had several injuries at Snowboard, even with full body protection!

Therefore, it is a very serious topic.

A topic that however, might not suit the interests of those who want to make money with the skaters. An ice princess with a helmet and protective pads, just doesn´t suit the market, while a skater with long blond hair and a smile does.
Just look at Yulia in her red dress, would she have had the same global success with a helmet, or what about Hanyu? I doubt it and there lays the problem. Things tend to not change in favor of the athletes, but to milk the cow more and especially the ladies in sport, suffer under this.

One of the biggest trademarks a person has, is the face, therefore many sport activities that are popular, still expose that part of the body. It´s also important to note that quite often the athlete want´s to continue and this is exactly what causes the damage and why you need several weeks before stepping back in. So one side of the medal is the lack of protection, but also the poor treatment and discipline by athlete and doctors.
 

gkelly

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
My question is: What kind of protective gear allows skaters to retain the full range of movement and peripheral vision needed to perform figure skating moves.

For example, without even addressing jumps and spins, what kind of headgear will allow the head and neck action needed to perform these kinds of basic skating moves?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBb5yuOVhXA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82wUcuEmT0E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxSm6s6WBtE&t=1m01s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q8jVtL3E4U&t=1m30s

Let's think about a headgear design that can protect the brain in instances of hitting the head on the ice or on the boards but also allow full range of movement needed for the sport to remain the sport.

Here's an article specifically about what works best for figure skating, although the focus is more on the very low levels:
http://xan-boni.blogspot.com/2012/01/helmets.html

The design would also need to allow for full peripheral vision to train on sessions with other skaters each doing their own thing moving in unpredictable directions at speed. We certainly don't want headgear that will increase the risk of collisions.
 

Ender

Match Penalty
Joined
May 17, 2017
A very famous athlete had suffered concussions during his career and this lead to him killing his family and himself. I won´t put the name here, but people in the US / Canada will know about which former Wrestler I am talking about. There are also multiple reports from American Football players, becoming violent due concussions.

During Sochi we had several injuries at Snowboard, even with full body protection!

Therefore, it is a very serious topic.

A topic that however, might not suit the interests of those who want to make money with the skaters. An ice princess with a helmet and protective pads, just doesn´t suit the market, while a skater with long blond hair and a smile does.
Just look at Yulia in her red dress, would she have had the same global success with a helmet, or what about Hanyu? I doubt it and there lays the problem. Things tend to not change in favor of the athletes, but to milk the cow more and especially the ladies in sport, suffer under this.

One of the biggest trademarks a person has, is the face, therefore many sport activities that are popular, still expose that part of the body. It´s also important to note that quite often the athlete want´s to continue and this is exactly what causes the damage and why you need several weeks before stepping back in. So one side of the medal is the lack of protection, but also the poor treatment and discipline by athlete and doctors.
The point is every sport has always been like that. Nothing comes without risks. Even if we wrap the skaters in cotton wool, they would just injure themselves by some way. So how much protection is enough?
 

Barb

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 13, 2009
A very famous athlete had suffered concussions during his career and this lead to him killing his family and himself. I won´t put the name here, but people in the US / Canada will know about which former Wrestler I am talking about. There are also multiple reports from American Football players, becoming violent due concussions.
.

yes, everyone interesed and with little time, can watch the movie ¨ Concussion ¨ with Will Smith :biggrin:
 

brightphoton

Medalist
Joined
Jan 23, 2009
The point is every sport has always been like that. Nothing comes without risks. Even if we wrap the skaters in cotton wool, they would just injure themselves by some way. So how much protection is enough?

If we can protect our skaters from having long-term brain damage ... that would be enough, I suppose.

As an aside, 110 of 111 (99%) footballers who donated their brains had CTE.
https://www.methodsman.com/blog/football-cte
 

musicfan80

Medalist
Joined
May 20, 2015
If we can protect our skaters from having long-term brain damage ... that would be enough, I suppose.

As an aside, 110 of 111 (99%) footballers who donated their brains had CTE.
https://www.methodsman.com/blog/football-cte

This story had me really freaked out today. I knew that American football is bad about concussions, but this is horrific.

I hope that skaters like Joshua Farris, Ashley Wagner, and Gabriella Papadakis are okay. I'm especially worried about Joshua if he has another bad "whiplash" from a fall.
 

mrrice

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 9, 2014
If we can protect our skaters from having long-term brain damage ... that would be enough, I suppose.

As an aside, 110 of 111 (99%) footballers who donated their brains had CTE.
https://www.methodsman.com/blog/football-cte
''

I read that report...It is frightening to see how many head injuries these elite athlete have suffered. Here is an interview with Super Bowl winning quarterback Jim McMahon. He talks about Concussions and head injuries and how the NFL tried to keep a lid on how serious they really are. There are several sports that involve high impact, or high velocity and that's why it says "Skate At Your Own Risk" in every rink in my area. Jim McMahon interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Poxqb6Aur-o
 

brightphoton

Medalist
Joined
Jan 23, 2009
This story had me really freaked out today. I knew that American football is bad about concussions, but this is horrific.

I hope that skaters like Joshua Farris, Ashley Wagner, and Gabriella Papadakis are okay. I'm especially worried about Joshua if he has another bad "whiplash" from a fall.

I don't know about the other two, but Ashley is definitely not okay. If you read her interviews, about having memory problems, not remembering conversations and having trouble reading, it's eerily similar to former football players.

Joshua pulled out of some summer skating event due to health problems. I'm not sure he'll skate the full season.
 

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 1, 2013
Country
Australia
Joshua pulled out of some summer skating event due to health problems. I'm not sure he'll skate the full season.

Joshua pulled out of Skate Dance Dream due to health issues but it was not specified what they were and we do not know if it was related to his concussion. Given Joshua has at least two other pre-existing health issues that can knock him around, it seems premature to me to assume it was post-concussive issues.
 

brightphoton

Medalist
Joined
Jan 23, 2009
Joshua pulled out of Skate Dance Dream due to health issues but it was not specified what they were and we do not know if it was related to his concussion. Given Joshua has at least two other pre-existing health issues that can knock him around, it seems premature to me to assume it was post-concussive issues.

but those 2 other health issues didn't make him retire in the first place

jus sayin
 

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 1, 2013
Country
Australia
but those 2 other health issues didn't make him retire in the first place

jus sayin

No, they could just kill him at any time. No problem to you, I guess.

The broken ankle could have made him retire, too.
 
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