Ice Skating Injuries

Ice skating is a sport that can combine several different physical elements, such as flexibility, strength, balance, speed, endurance, and gracefulness, depending on the particular discipline. There are several ice skating sports, such as Nordic or speed ice skating, but the various forms of figure skating are by far the most popular skating discipline in the United States. Although considered one of the most beautiful sports, ice skating sports aren’t without the risk of injury. According to the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System’s U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, there were over 33,000 ice-skating related injuries treated by U.S. emergency rooms in 1998.

How Do Ice Skating Injuries Happen?

In general, there are two types of ice skating injuries. First, there are those that result from the rigors and repetitiveness of everyday training and competition, which are broadly termed overuse injuries. Second, there are traumatic injuries that result from incidences like a slip, collision, fall, or contact with a skate’s blade during stroking, turns, spins, jumps, and other intricate moves.

What Are Some Common Ice Skating Injuries?

Sprained Wrist

During an ice skating fall, it’s a natural instinct for the skater to stick an arm out to break their fall and protect their core body and head from a severe injury. The impact of the hand hitting the hard ice, combined with the weight of the body behind it, can force the hand back toward the forearm and stretch or tear one of the ligaments connecting the wrist to the forearm. The scapho-lunate ligament is one of the most often sprained during an ice skating fall. Sprains are graded based on the degree of injury to the ligament as follows:

Grade 1 - abnormal stretching or microscopic tearing of the ligament. There may be mild pain, tenderness, bruising, and swelling, but the wrist joint remains fully functioning.

Grade 2 - moderate tearing of the ligament. There may be more moderate pain, tenderness, swelling, bruising and some loss of function.

Grade 3 - significant tearing of the ligament. At least 90% of the ligament is torn, usually causing significant swelling, pain, tenderness, bruising, joint looseness and loss of function. There may also be an audible pop or tearing sensation during the injury.

Plantar Fasciitis

One of the overuse injuries associated with ice skating sports that involve frequent jumping, such as figure skating, is called plantar fasciitis. Ice is one of the hardest playing surfaces among all sports, and typical ice skates offer very little protection for the bottom of the foot during high-impact jumping moves.

The plantar fascia is a thick band of fibrous connective tissue. It’s very superficial to the skin on the bottom of the foot. The tissue connects the heel with the toes and supports the arch of the foot. It’s tough and designed to absorb a great deal of stress. However, repetitive standing, walking, running, and jumping activities can cause the tissue to become overstretched, inflamed, irritated, and painful, a condition called plantar fasciitis.

The common symptom of plantar fasciitis is localized pain along the bottom of the heel. The plantar fascia is usually most painful during the first few steps taken after prolonged periods of sitting or laying.

MCL Injury

Ice skating is a sport that encases the foot in a boot, making it virtually immobile, while the knee must alternatively be in constant motion. Jumps, sharp turns, and spins cause a rotational force on the outside of the knee. With the foot in a fixed position in the boot, such actions can stretch or tear the medial collateral ligament (MCL) along the inner portion of the knee. The MCL is what keeps the inside of the knee joint stable and the shin bone in proper alignment. The ligament may also be injured when the outside of the knee strikes the ice during a fall.

Like all ligament sprains, MCL injuries are graded based on the severity of the damage:

Grade 1 - abnormal stretching or microscopic tearing.

Grade 2 - moderate tearing.

Grade 3 - significant tearing.

The symptoms of an MCL injury include:

* Mild to significant localized pain, swelling, tenderness, bruising, and warmth.

* The knee joint may feel loose, wobbly, or unstable.

* Grade three tears may include knee immobility.

Of course, these are just a few of the most common ice skating injuries. Skaters are also prone to coccyx fractures from falling on the tailbone, contusions, lacerations from skate blades, bursitis, tendinitis, strains, lower back injuries, head trauma, jammed fingers, alignment and tracking problems in the knees, bunions and hammer toes, foot and spine stress fractures, shin splints, labral hip tears, menisci injuries, and so forth.