Yep, me too with the odd length legs. I was born with mild scoliosis, ( not Caballero levels of tweakage thankfully). So mild in fact that it was only diagnosed much later. Repeatedly rolling my right ankle, a break and two ops on my right knee only exasperated the issue. I’ve not been measured up for bespoke insoles but use over the counter orthotic insoles of slightly differing thicknesses to hopefully even things out a touch.
OOF that looks wrong. I have always have a little kink but could be fat displacement ha. I dunno. My physio was just planning on moving onto my body after concentrating on my leg first but then I slammed on my ribs again then lockdown. Can’t wait to go back.
Yeah I was basically advised… ‘wear these to stop your hips going out of whack down the line’.
I skate and swim most days. My skating is relatively low impact stuff. Curbs, mannys and flatground. I would recommend to anyone with back problems to try and swim. It’s one of the best things to develop core strength. I can get what it takes me 20 minutes (1km swim) in a pool would it would take me an hour or more in a gym to do. It’s a great all over body workout. Upper body, back, psoas muscle… my skating takes care of my legs and a few squats to keep my piriformis from acting up and keeping sciatica at bay.
But I appreciate that my circumstances are a little different from most people my age. But even once or twice a week and I reckon most everybody on here would feel the benefits.
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.
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Fair play on the sea swims. I have never been able to take the cold. In fact as I get older I realise that I will have to settle somewhere warm. Since my work has taken me to so many different places over the past few years I’ve realised that a great deal of my unhappiness can be linked to waking up to cold, grey mornings with added damp. It’s something I had seriously underestimated. Constantly having to work your skates around the weather. Living abroad I soon realised how much it rains in Ireland/Britain and how in winter the damp just lingers so it never really drys.
Having lived in Mediterranean locations for extended periods and now being based in the Middle East I’ve come to appreciate a lack of air humidty. I can skate in 40 degree dry heats (nightime only) a lot easier than early 30’s with 80-90% humidity (Honk Kong being an example). So when I lived in HK I would skate Morrison Hill skatepark (you’d recognise it if you google it) every morning (it’s quite sheltered from the sun) but the humidity meant I would be a human puddle after 20-25 minutes Whereas where I am now in the Middle East I can skate quite easily for an hour at night (same temperature 0% humidity) and only be sweating moderately.
The heat definitely makes you feel more limber. I also trained as a lifeguard in my teenage years and had to listen to years of every single thing that can go wrong in the sea and what to look out for. I’ll basically only get in if your drowning:)
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.
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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.
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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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Err, mate you might want to go for an ECG.
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Yeh I’d get an ECG as it could be a cardiac cause
You should defnitely get checked out right now.
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Are you drinking enough water? missed meals?
I have fainted a few times over the years, waking up on the floor but never felt any heart issues.
Yes, have a word with a doc at least man.
Call 111 at least
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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.
TLDR: skip to the last paragraph.
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 .
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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.
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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)_/¯
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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?
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