On Falling and Injuring Myself

So, I got my new skates last weekend, and happily wore them to Monday's practise.  They are much more smooth--and speedy--than the rentals that I had been using.  I went around a bit with them in their original factory state, and then one of my teammates loosened the trucks.  This is in theory supposed to make you more balanced and stable, because your foot can move more without shifting the whole skate.

In theory.

People who know me well know that I am not exactly a picture of grace and balance.  I probably roll an ankle at least once per month, just walking.  And I only started doing derby a month ago, so I'm not even a great skater yet.  I've made a ton of improvement since I started, but I'm not anywhere near where I need to be to bout.  I'm not worried about it--because I know I'll get there--but I say all this because in hindsight I'm not sure that loosening my trucks was the best idea.

All I had to do was step on the rink, and I was on my ass in a flash.  Not really even my ass.  I sort of did a side split, and immediately felt pain in both my left ankle and right knee.  My ankles are used to taking a lot of abuse (see I-roll-one-monthly), but my knee--knees bend back, not to the right.  It hurt a lot at first, but I was walking around in about ten minutes.  I put my skates and gear back on, and while I still felt too wobbly to skate, I did keep myself busy on the sidelines and I thought I'd be sore, but fine.

And then I woke up on Tuesday.  Holy shit.  Now, I did take ibuprofin when I got home, as I always do after practise.  And I did ice it Monday evening.  But on Tuesday morning, I could neither straighten it nor bend it less than 90 degrees.  The back of my knee and above my kneecap were pretty swollen, and while I could put some weight on the knee, I couldn't walk without limping.  Getting into and out of my car was painful, and getting off the couch and out of my work chair required some planning.

Luckily, the knee felt better yesterday, and even better today.  I'm not limping anymore, nor am I swollen.  It's still stiff and mildly painful, but I should be able to skate at the open recruitment that we're holding this weekend.  I did have to miss a practise, which I hated.  I may not be a huge asset to my team at this point, but I do love going to practise.

While I was out, though, I did do a lot of reading about derby.  And I decided to tighten my trucks back to how they were when I bought the skates.  I need to get used to my new skates, and I need to develop the muscles and coordination for basic skating.  Once I am more sure of my skills, I'll revisit the issue of loosening my trucks--one-quarter to one-half turn at a time.  If I like it, I'll keep them loose.  And if I don't, I'll go back to tight trucks.  But I'm definitely not ready for loose ones right now.