Protective gear for figure skaters

Many of the skaters at our club wear headbands – especially after one of the girls received a concussion from a fall. Forcefield has cheaper headbands than Ice Halo and comes in a bunch of different colours. The thing to remember is that these are not hair headbands and shouldn’t be worn that way. They need to be centered at the front and back of their heads. We tell the girls to put it on and lean against a wall – the headband should be touching the wall.
http://www.force29.com/Figure-Skating-Safety-Headgear.php

I wish there was less stigma about wearing a helmet to figure skate, even if just in practice when learning new things. I know as an adult nothing is stopping me from breaking out the helmet for the stupid 8-step mohawk (that move is going to be my axel!) but no one else ever wears one, so I won’t.

I’ve actually heard that even just having a ponytail or bun can provide some cushion to absorb impact in a fall, of course, my short hair doesn’t go into one!

I do have a set of hip pads I wear when I jump, but I don’t actually fall much when I jump, the falls are when I don’t expect them, and I don’t wear them all the time.

The big thing around here is pre-screening for concussions. Many of our high schools have invited the local clinics to do a baseline brain scan (or something) to use as a measurement for head-related injuries.

As for the helmet and the halo, I don’t think either would have helped Ice Girl last fall when she did a face plant on the ice. Poor baby overbalanced on her double Salchow entrance and needed eight stitches – six below her eye and two a the eyebrow.

She’s still nervous about the double Sal. Who can blame her? She does it beautifully in the pole harness, which, as Nick Perna pointed out on this blog last spring, is a mental device. http://icemom.net/2010/04/ask-the-expert-pro-motion-pole-harness-expert-nick-perna.html Off the harness, though, and the girl is a mess. Double toes? Better, but she’s still worried about falling and replays the fall over and over in her mind.

I’ve looked on the back of her head for a *RESET* button, but I haven’t been able to find one. That’s a product we really need, right? A *RESET* button for the brain. Well, that or a cast-iron skillet.

I don’t really think you can seriously injure your brain in skating. Serious as in vegetable for life. There are the freak accidents where you can get a concussion- but they are freak accidents. You could trip, fall into a wall and get a concussion. You’re not going to walk around with head protection all the time, are you?
Helmets do limit ability once the skater is in freestyle levels. I’ve been skating for 2 years and have never touched head protection, nor have I ever fallen on my head. I’ve fallen on my back and my chest, but never my head.

SkatingSafe has gel kneepads that have received rave reviews. They’re barely noticeable, and they’re gel which is the best material when you’re smacking into ice. I don’t have any, though. Falling on my knees just teaches me to straighten my legs in the air so I won’t fall on my knees. I imagine once you get into double axels/triples, though, you can do knee damage.

Hip pads were forced onto me by my coach. I didn’t love the idea of them at first- aren’t I tough enough to skate without them- but they do help me keep going through the whole practice. And I will certainly not wear them in a test or a competition- I’m competing with solid jumps, not fly-splat jumps, correct?
I have the gel UltraCrash ones. I think UltraCrash and SkatingSafe are the same company/brand.

When I started jumping I was wearing a very thick fleece hat, but I usually fall on my butt For knees some girls at my rink wear volleyball pads similar to those – http://shop.volleyball.com/SKU/ZD0500/ASICS+Competition+30g+Kneepads.aspx I’m not a big fan of using pads espessially for a long time, but if the skater really needs them they are a good option. They’re soft so they allow deep bending of the knee – even sitspins. And I’m not 100% sure but I think there are knee pads with velcro straps that can be removed without taking off the skate.

Hello!

My name is Barbara Armstrong. I’m the President of Ice Halo Ltd. I’d like to see if I can help with the question of whether or not to wear head protection and what kind to wear!

I always shudder when I see survey results for skaters regarding protection – particularly head protection! Particularly when the comment is added that head protection is not allowed in competitions!

The hockey helmet was frowned upon years and years ago – now it’s a mandatory piece of equipment. Any of the Brain Injury Associations, Nurses Associations, Paramedics (the front runners in carrying the skaters off the ice and dealing with their distress and pain after a serious head injury – or any injury) we’ve spoken with over the years, all agree that we should work on making the Ice Halo mandatory. In fact, many of the Canadian Little Rock Curling Associations have already implemented a plan for this year to make it mandatory for Little Rockers.

If enough of the Figure Skaters and parents speak out, the competition regulations could be changed and less young men and women would be facing the devastating future of early CTE – chronic traumatic encephalopathy – a condition with Alzheimer like symptoms for which there is yet no cure, caused by repeated concussions. Numerous studies have already proven that concussions injure the brain and cause long lasting, generally permanent damage.

While the Ice Halo is little thicker than the Forcefield – the Ice Halo also provides much better protection if you fall, than the Forcefield – the Forcefield is a headband. Much better than a pony tail, too, I’m afraid to say! When worn properly, The Ice Halo is designed to protect the whole area around the head, not just the back.

As we say on our promotional cards…. “Skaters always wear the right equipment on their feet – Now they can wear the right equipment on their head”.

We have had the Ice Halo tested by Figure Skaters and Figure Skating coaches. They all agree the Ice Halo is light weight, comfortable, does not impede in jumps, spins, timing or speed. The Ice Halo is sold world wide and sales grow exponentially – we rarely advertise, we don’t need to, our product speaks for itself! We’ve even had some young skaters wear their Ice Halo in competition as “part of their costume” without any trouble. We place our logo inside when requested.

I would be more than happy to answer any questions or address any comments you have regarding the Ice Halo, either here on IceMom, or directly by email @ barbara@icehalo.com

Protect Your Greatest Asset!

Why waste days by taking time off ice or having rough practices because of a knee injury, when you can wear the kneepads and prevent that? I find it annoying when people say that kneepads (and other protective gear) are crutches and laugh at the skaters who wear them. My coach encourages us to wear protective gear. We all have kneepads – the volleyball kind, slightly bulkier than the gel ones, but the protection they provide is great. I have been wearing mine for two years, and they don’t bother me at all. We also have elbow, hip and tail-bone pads for the higher level elements. We haven’t used headbands yet, but after a couple of accidents, we are considering getting those as well.

I’m an adult skater, and I wear elbow pads… actually, I wear youth volleyball knee pads on my elbows. For some strange reason, when I fall- I somehow twist and land on my elbows. It’s been that way since I was a kid. Weird. I also have regular size knee pads and hip pads for when I’m working on new jumps – I’m at FS 3/4 now. Once I’m landing them pretty well, I take off the knee and hip pads because they do feel bulky to me. My elbow pads I wear all the time, except for competition. This is because when I try to go without- I fall on my elbows and have massive bruising. Luckily, no fractures/permanent injuries. I don’t wear anything on my head, but like I said- I fall on my elbows. I think skaters should wear pads where they fall.

Some of the younger girls wear hip pads on just the one side, or they wear volleyball knee pads or gell pads… a few wear the butt pad shorts…I’ve seen one little skater with the head thing- I don’t know if it’s that brand or not though- her’s is a fuzzy blue thing and she’s like 6, so it’s adorable… and safe!

Thanks so much for posting my question, Ice Mom. After witnessing an increasing number of head injuries at my local rink recently– and having my dd fall and hit her head– and having a friend miss a synchro competition this past weekend due to suffering a concussion… Head protection is a very timely subject.

I wonder, why there is such a stigma regarding head protection in figure skating. We worry so much about lace bite, but relatively little about protecting the very thing that is most likely to carry us on to greatness for the rest of our lives… our brain. The reality is that there’s a much greater chance that our young skaters will go on to become lawyers, doctors and CEOs; whereas relatively few will end up in the Olympics.

I’m not questioning anyone’s dedication to the sport– I myself am borderline obsessed, but why don’t we do more to protect ourselves?

Thanks so much for posting my question, Ice Mom. After witnessing an increasing number of head injuries at my local rink recently– and having my dd fall and hit her head– and having a friend miss a synchro competition this past weekend due to suffering a concussion… Head protection is a very timely subject.

I wonder, why there is such a stigma regarding head protection in figure skating. We worry so much about lace bite, but relatively little about protecting the very thing that is most likely to carry us on to greatness for the rest of our lives… our brain. The reality is that there’s a much greater chance that our young skaters will go on to become lawyers, doctors and CEOs; whereas relatively few will end up in the Olympics.

I’m not questioning anyone’s dedication to the sport– I myself am borderline obsessed, but why don’t we do more to protect ourselves?

There’s a simple protection that any rink could install tomorrow, and that is padded walls. It is a crime that speed skaters get padded walls, hockey skaters get padded bodies, but freestyle skaters have hard surfaces all around. Everyone should write their congressional rep and demand that ice rinks be required to pad the walls. It was wonderful to see this for the freestyle skaters in Beijing. I had also read, a few years ago, about a technology for ice flooring that emulates pond ice, meaning it has more spring and give (better for jumping AND landing). I believe this ice surface had an underlayer of gel, but I can’t find any reference to it now. Simply having skaters fall on a more forgiving surface and eliminating the danger of the hard boards, would be a huge improvement.

I didn’t know about the Ice Halo. I’d love to see if you could find a skater who uses it, and her coach, and do a post about it!

Barbara, are there any studies about whiplash-like injuries from having your head snap forward if you land wrong on the Ice Halo? I have this problem with a lot of helmets- I never let my tot students wear those point-backed biking helmets because it just hurts their necks when the fall.

Thank you for your e-mail! We will get back to you within 24 hours!

Happy Holidays!

The Ice Halo Team

Hello Xan,
Thank you for your question. The Ice Halo is a uniform thickness (1″) all the way around the head. It is wider at the back to cover more of the back of the head and narrow at the front to not obscure vision. If you lie flat on your back wearing an Ice Halo, your neck will be straight and your head level with your body. To see this demonstrated, please visit our website at http://www.icehalo.com and watch the Figure Skating Video!

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Marian Cole, icemom. icemom said: Today on Ice Mom: Protective gear for figure skaters http://goo.gl/fb/PIaxU [...]

I’m really nervous about possibly hitting my head, but nobody at my rink wears a helmet on FS sessions.

This is such a great post! Having been a competitive skater at the top level and now a coach, I definitely think protective gear is very important in practice. When I did pairs, I wore a helmet when I was learning throw double axel and throw triples (this was after I got a concussion at age 9 trying throw double axel). More recently, though, when training for ice dance competitions I would wear knee pads found at dance stores for hip hop dancers. This was very helpful for all the knee spins and such in free dance. I would wear these in practice and at competition time there is enough chance to practice on the practice ice without the pads so you are used to it for the competition. I would recommend finding some knee pads from dance stores for your skaters knees. They are easy to move in because they are meant for dance but provide padding to protect the knee from some bruising. I hope this helps!
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My 10 year old simply won’t wear ANY of it. At first, I fought her, but I might as well have flushed my ice time money down the toilet..she was totally distracted by it and annoyed….she doesn’t complain, and she doesn’t really come close to head hitting– she is almost never bruised either– she is currently working on 2A

My 10 year old simply won’t wear ANY of it. At first, I fought her, but I might as well have flushed my ice time money down the toilet..she was totally distracted by it and annoyed….she doesn’t complain, and she doesn’t really come close to head hitting– she is almost never bruised either– she is currently working on 2A

My 10 year old simply won’t wear ANY of it. At first, I fought her, but I might as well have flushed my ice time money down the toilet..she was totally distracted by it and annoyed….she doesn’t complain, and she doesn’t really come close to head hitting– she is almost never bruised either– she is currently working on 2A

My 10 year old simply won’t wear ANY of it. At first, I fought her, but I might as well have flushed my ice time money down the toilet..she was totally distracted by it and annoyed….she doesn’t complain, and she doesn’t really come close to head hitting– she is almost never bruised either– she is currently working on 2A

My 10 year old simply won’t wear ANY of it. At first, I fought her, but I might as well have flushed my ice time money down the toilet..she was totally distracted by it and annoyed….she doesn’t complain, and she doesn’t really come close to head hitting– she is almost never bruised either– she is currently working on 2A

But…are these all skating accidents– like beginners and public skaters? I don’t think you can compare the likelihood of falling backward onto the head with a competitive figure skater and a public skater

But…are these all skating accidents– like beginners and public skaters? I don’t think you can compare the likelihood of falling backward onto the head with a competitive figure skater and a public skater

But…are these all skating accidents– like beginners and public skaters? I don’t think you can compare the likelihood of falling backward onto the head with a competitive figure skater and a public skater

to tell the truth i will never wear a skating helmet. none of my skating friends will. i told them about this and they thought i was joking. i can see curlers wearing it but not figure skaters. and if i HAD to wear a ice halo i would quit skating. I realy do hope you wouldn’t try to start a petition to make us wear protective equitment in competition. its like a uniform. it would restrict out freedom. it would also depleit alot of the buisness figure skating is getting right now.
i ment nothing mean by this just my honest opinion.
love shelby

Hello Shelby,

No one can force anyone to do anything they don’t want to do. Wearing an Ice Halo isn’t like wearing seat belts or hockey helmets, it isn’t a law, it’s just common sense. It’s nice that you can now land a flip. Did you fall when you were practicing?

There are a lot of skaters who are just starting. They tend to fall during practice (sometimes even during competitions). People who have been skating for years can still fall. We are giving people the opportunity to have head protection if they want it. I’ve been in arenas and watched videos of Figure Skaters and seen what happens when they don’t land properly – it ends badly. A paramedic I spoke with recently, who works at a rink nearby, said many people who fall are carried off the ice unconscious. A lot of them are just children. They have the right to wear head protection just as much as you have the right to not wear it.

While I’d love it if everyone would advocate wearing some form of head gear – I know it won’t happen. There will always be someone who thinks it’s their right to not wear it. That’s fine. No petitions from this camp. It won’t hurt the Figure Skating businesses; we know that because a lot of Figure Skating stores across North America already sell the Ice Halo.

The Ice Halo is not a helmet, nor is it a uniform – in fact, we can match costumes. It does not impede timing, jumps, speed, or vision. It is not restricting in the least because you are in charge of how snug a fit you wish to have. As I said, it’s not the law to wear head protection when you’re skating, it’s just common sense!

Hope this helps!

Barbara

Actually, the Ice Halo would have helped in Ice Girl’s situation. It provides protection across the forehead.

I agree with this- the article also says that the ice skating injuries were mostly forward falls, and that just isn’t the most common way figure skaters fall. Also, while beginners may reach for the ice with their arms, coaches should (and do to my knowledge) teach their skaters not to do that. I certainly got yelled at anytime my arm was reaching to the ice during a fall!

ii didnt mean it wasnt a good idea for young skaters and begginers. i also didnt mean to sound like i know everything. i know you want the best for skaters and i dont mean to put the ice halo down. i just see my self messing with it my whole lesson. it would desract me alot. i think its realy big too. i REALY didnt mean to sound like i did last time!!!! SORRY!!:):):):):):):)

No worries, Shelby! Stay Safe!
((hugs))
Barbara

I’m a figure skater, and I am all for hip, knee, and elbow pads WHEN NEEDED not every single time you practice. I don’t think helmets should be used, unless the child is very very young like 3 or younger, because they fall on their head when walking don’t they! But any older than that, the child shouldn’t be forced to wear helmets, or ice halos, or anything like that, I’ve been skating for 3 years and have never seen someone, or fallen on my head. Yes, it is a good idea to protect your head, but honestly if it were required it would be found unconstitutional most likely, you can’t force someone to wear something that they don’t want to. THIS IS JUST MY PERSONAL OPINION I’M NOT TRYING TO MAKE ANYONE UPSET OR BASH ANYTHING.

hi, I’m also a figure skater and don’t like the idea of head protection either. I mean, yes it’s a good idea for young atheletes who are more likely to fall on their head, or hit it, but as you get older you don’t find yourself hitting your head or falling on it ever. I have skated for 3 years and am 9 years old, I’ve never fallen on or come close to hitting my head, and I don’t think that it should be mandatory for us to wear head protection, because I don’t need it and I don’t know anyone else that needs it. Have you hit your head ever since your accident? Most likely not, and you probably aren’t going to ever again. Yes I’ve fallen several times in my training but that’s inevitable and it has been harmless. The worst I’ve done in skating is break an ankle and it wasn’t caused by a fall or a freak accident.

Wearing head protection – or any protection for that matter, when participating in a sport which does not by law require a helmet, etc., is a personal preference and will most likely remain that way for a long time. Those of us who chose to keep their heads protected for the “just in case” fall, just feel safer that way. When the risk of concussion and subsequent later impairment are a possibility, I will always prefer to err on the side of caution.

My kids are bony _ they wear cotton capris with sewn in pockets for pads (home made as it was difficult getting pads small enough so thin pads made from one layer of fleece and a thin foam – knee butt & hip). they wear them every day for skating as I would rather they went for it rather than were afraid to fall…. headgear ?hmm not sure how that would go down….

[...] few weeks ago, I wrote a post about figure skating protective equipment (Protective Gear for Figure Skaters) and I mentioned the Ice Halo product. Barbara Armstrong, the Ice Halo’s inventor and owner [...]

I just fell on the ice. I need a halo. Where do I get it one? Thanks Cheryl

My now 4yr daughter started taking lessons from my step mom when she was 2. For me it was never a question for her to wear head protection. She is the only one on the rink with a helmet on, but she never fights me about wearing it. My step-mom teaches and advanced level synchro team and they recently had one of their team members fall and fracture her skull, so yes even experienced skater can fall and injure themselves.

 I am going to sound like the unusual figure skater. My mom is pretty much now forcing me to some how find a protective headgear I will wear for skating. I am left with the decision of finding headgear or give up skating. I see her reasoning. 
I have gotten three concussions and a skull fracture in the past two years. I am currently 18. I am not a low level skater. I am working on junior moves and skate on a nationally ranked collegiate level synchronized skating team. All three instances I was actually skating. Two practicing junior moves (one was just doing the backward crossovers!) and the other during a synchro practice. 
  I have gotten pretty bad brain damage and I also have to see a neuropsychologist, neurosurgeon, and a neurologist for my problems. So I am totally for the protective head gear. My only problem, no one at my rink wears it nor do I see anyone wearing it in the future. Also when I tried to wear my hockey helmet (yes I do play hockey a little) and I got made fun of. I disliked how people treated me wearing something to protect myself. I would wear the ice halo, if it looked less ridiculous (sorry for the rudeness). I wish there was a product that wasn’t as bulky and could hide away like wearing a regular sweatband so it looked more normal. 

I refuse to stop skating. My parents really dislike this option, but skating is addictive, I have no idea what I would do if I couldn’t skate. I told my parents I would rather die from another head injury doing something I love than to never skate again. Again they really disliked me saying that. 

So for all those people saying high level skaters never fall on your head, you are just lucky. 

I am not saying I am going to buy a protective headgear soon, though I know I should, I am just saying, if it looked less silly, more people would wear it. 

Jessica 

The Forcefield headband is basically only a headband – there is only one small section of padding. It may be cheaper, but unfortunately, in this situation, you get what you pay for =(   The Forcefield is mainly for soccer, where the forehead comes in contact with a soccer ball – not ice!

Saying that protective gear is a crutch is like saying that seatbelts are a crutch. Accidents happen. To anyone. At anytime. Unexpectedly. That’s what they’re called accidents.

my girl uses a gel stretch tube for her knees. the tube is sold as elbow protection for adult skaters. we cut it in half and it really spares her the serious bang on the knees.