My skating’s all low impact too. Although I can find myself getting caught up in doing one trick over and over until I get it how I want it and that repetition can wear down and stress specific body parts, so I try to realise when I slip into that and set myself a number of tries and stick to it…there’s always tomorrow.
As for swimming, I totally back that. I get up before 5am and let the dog out and feed the birds, have some water and a coffee. Stretch whilst listening to the shipping forecast and head down the beach with the wife and dog. We jog two miles, turn round and walk back a mile and I swim the last mile back and get my wife to carry my rucksack full of stuff and walk along the beach.
I do the swim all year round except when it’s too stormy-February this year was a bitch for that and I missed out on a couple of weeks. That made getting back in at the coldest time of year a struggle. I wear wetsuit gloves and socks from about mid October and also swim with fins in the winter through early spring as I find it’s a bit safer in the cold and in rougher conditions. The exercise itself in combination with water temperature feels like it does me a lot of good, and it’s something that makes you really conscious of the present.
As a bonus there have been some amazing sunrises of late with shoals of whitebait being predated on by jumping mackerel that I’ve been in the middle of. It sounds corny, but it makes you feel alive. I can’t recommend it enough.
When it gets colder and darker I swim a bit later in the day for safety’s sake. I’ll have people ask me what it’s like in there and I can’t lie and will have to say, ‘horrible’ . Sitting in the steam room afterwards is a must.
I used to escape the British winter for warmer climes when I was younger. Leaving at the end of November and coming back at the end of February. Unfortunately, I was unable to keep that up as work commitments got in the way. It was ideal though. I’m getting creakier as time goes on and the damp and cold winters can drag on a bit. I would be happy with 25-30’degrees daily. That would be fine by me. Bill Hicks saying ‘ hot and sunny everyday, what are you? A fucking lizard?’ hits a chord with me. The winters seem longer every year. S.A.D. is real, ( I mean the condition, not the USC ledge skater. Although I don’t doubt he exists as well).
As for the dangers of getting in the sea. I grew up sailing and swimming, and pretty much lived on the beach. I did the lifeguarding medallion scheme through school too. It can be sketchy to say the least. I have had a couple near misses and have taken those as wake up calls to never be complacent. I’m lucky to have been given a second chance on those occasions. I don’t go in unless I’m 100% ok with it these days. The sea isn’t going anywhere, you can always go in later. I have known a few people to have been killed in the sea by not knowing what they’re doing… one of my friends went in and didn’t come out just this summer on the same stretch of water I swim in. The sea can be savage and needs to be treated with respect otherwise it’ll have you. Skateboarding has it’s risks but you’re not going to drown in a car park.
My back had been feeling loads better and I’ve been able to stretch and get around alot better. But last night I was sat on a shitty IKEA sofa bed while trying to get my daughter to sleep and felt it go again. It’s one of those made up entirely out of foam. As soon as I’m better again I’m going to drag it out into the garden and torch it!
I was crippled for about two months with sciatica recently and as soon as it eased enough I’ve started doing this every morning. Totally works, loads more movement. Also realised how tight all the muscles in my hips and legs are.
Not an injury but this morning I carried some stuff that was too heavy and tried to do the tough guy thing of going the whole distance without stopping. When I set it down I was pretty out of breath and my heart was beating strongly, I felt my heart miss a beat then I woke up on the ground I think a few seconds later still breathing heavy. Pretty scary, if it happened a few meters later I would have been getting on my boat and maybe have fallen in the river. Feel normal now, going to eat some chocolate.
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After the two mountain bike crashes nearly ten days ago now I’m experiencing a load of pain from one of my injuries. The head butting the ground thing led to a couple of lumps and cuts which are healing nicely. My nose isn’t broken which is good. The bruising from both slams is doing as expected and going along ok. The thing which is pissing me off is the broken/ badly bruised rib cage. It feels a little like this
All the other things bothered me initially. Yet I was able to keep up with my daily exercise schedule with yoga, callisthenics, beach run, sea swim, spin bike. All with no real problem. I managed to get out for a curb sesh. I did two 20ish mile cross country bike rides as well after a couple of days rest. No worries.
Five days after the crashes the pain in my ribs started to increase dramatically. No running, even without a backpack, no swimming possible, with me only capable of a half arsed breast stroke. A little yoga, but couldn’t manage much really. I could ride my exercise bike but only sitting upright without holding the bars. I hate not being able to exercise but I just can’t do it. Over the next few days the pain got worse. I can’t even vacuum the floor. It’s a shit.
I’ve just rested up and after four days of harsh pain it seems to have eased off a tiny bit today.
I have broken ribs on two occasions- slip out and land on coping once and a what would have looked comical from a distance stop at traffic lights on a bike whilst using toeclips, forgetting about them, not trackstanding just sitting and then keeling over and landing on a curb. Ouch.
Those were many years ago now and I can’t remember how long it took to recover or what happened in what order recovery wise. I have often wished that I kept an injury diary so I’d be able to look back and know what to expect from my own experience with regard to breaks, tweaks and torn things etc.
My question is has anyone else got experience of smashed ribs? Is my experience of pain worsening after a period of not much pain initially usual? How long am I looking at for a reasonable recovery? Is there anything you’d recommend doing? I’d appreciate any thoughts on the matter.
I broke my ribs in November slipping out of a ledge and landing on the corner on my back ribs .
The pain wouldn’t ease at all for 3 weeks , sleeping was a mare along with basic day to day things. It was a constant sharp pain and muscular pain.
Mine only started easing up after 3/4 weeks and was fully out of pain after 8 weeks . Week 5-7 was numb pain but could twinge on occasion if i was lifting too much etc.
Ribs are a fucker and defo painfull for a long time .
Ribs are brutal as they can’t really put you in a cast for it. Yeah, I remember walking into town not even knowing or feeling like I had broken mine the night before (drinking and fighting involved, the good old days) and then just thinking ‘Fuck I need an Ambulance, I can’t breathe!’ out of nowhere, got in a taxi to the hospital. They kept me in over night and gave me pain relief. Rest. Easier said than done, when even turning in your sleep can be so painful. It’s going to take weeks and some days will be shitter than others.
The pain intensifying sounds a bit strange, and I’d be inclined to get it checked out. That could be caused by an internal bleed. Your slam was a while ago now though, and if it’s easing off you’re probably okay. However, I am no doctor 🤷 ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Thinking about it, you continuing to exercise as normal afterwards could be responsible for aggravating it, so maybe a period of total rest is in order?
Cheers guys. I guess just carrying on as per usual once I’d established I wasn’t concussed might not have helped things. I don’t have any other symptoms that would suggest I’ve damaged any organs although I have been keeping an eye on that just in case and I’ll get it checked out if I have any doubts. I figure it’s just that the bruising is really kicking in and I know ribs are notoriously difficult to do anything about. I’m fully aware that I have a high pain threshold and I’m prone to just getting on with it when really I should stop and admit defeat. I think this time I really did knock the crap out of myself if I’m honest. Sounds like It’d be wise to wait it out for a bit.
I imagine it’s going to feel as if there’s no improvement and that it’s never going to get better and then one day, sometime in the distant future, I’ll realise that the pain has pretty much gone. It’s going to be really gradual. Gradual and fucking annoying, haha (definitely not lol’ing as that hurts too much ).
I ate shit and hit my ribs on the ground pretty hard with my arm all twisted on December 23rd. For 10 seconds I thought I’d broken some bones but then realized it wasn’t that bad. I somehow managed to keep on skating and learnt a trick I really wanted to learn. #rambo
The ride back home after that was weird, I was equally stoked and in pain. I suppose this can only make sense to skateboarders. My ribs hurt for 2 or 3 weeks after that but my arm still kinda hurts now. Not terribly but it feels weird while sleeping if I sleep on my stomach. There’s not much you can do about these things, just gotta be patient I suppose. I’m glad I didn’t have to go to the hospital with the pandemic.
. Sitting in the steam room afterwards is a must.
