Practicing sliding the other day, jacked up my shoulder...

[mrtodd]

This week has been horrible. With all this stuff on my mind, I decided to just skate it off at a local parking lot that me and an old buddy used to go to (he passed away earlier this year) and practice some basic slides.

I'm still very new to sliding, I've only really been able to slide-to-stops in parking garages, and there have been a few times where I can break the tail loose on toe side and (mostly) heel side turns. Anyway, it's dark out and I'm practicing. I'm not going very fast (just hard pushing on a mostly flat surface) and after doing 1 semi-successful heelside slide, I decide to give it another go, but harder and faster this time. I'm thinking that maybe I could start going for a heelside pendy.

So I push hard, carve hard toeside, then come around heelside while I'm grabbing the front of my board, put my right hand down (i'm goofy foot) and pushed my body away from my board and letting go with my left hand at the same time. Suddenly it's like my glove catches on something or just slips out, or, SOMETHING, and I twist my arm behind my back, go down hard onto my elbow while it's behind my back, and it bounces me up off the ground and I then fall forward almost smashing my face but caught my self just barely. I start to roll over to get up and I can't feel my right arm. I've dislocated my left shoulder before and it's a familiar feeling that I'm feeling with my right shoulder. I sit down and check myself out, and slowly I start to feel my arm again. I can move it, but not in it's full range of motion. It's not dislocated, I most likely just hyperextended it. Ugh. This makes me pissed so I just keep skating - but after a couple more attempts I realize I can't slide with a jacked up shoulder.

Now I'm sitting here (it happened last night) with an ice pack on my hurt shoulder, and some minor road rash. [knee pads are in the mail, btw] I'm totally pissed about my shoulder! Since I'm so new to slides, I can't figure out what happened... But I'm guessing that when I was going heelside I must've put my hand out WAY too far and put way too much weight on it, ending up twisting it....?

Has anything like this happened to other people before? I'm super bummed and pissed about my shoulder... Looks like I won't be sliding for the next few weeks. I just hope it gets better.

I know I suck at sliding, but I'm really trying to learn. Any tips I should take into account before trying this again? Is trying to slide while going too slow dangerous? How far out should I put my hand when doing heelside slides? Do you think I just caught my glove on something? The parking lot is pretty darn smooth.... Even so, I think I'll head back there right now since it's light outside and maybe I can see if I hit anything with my glove.

Let me know your thoughts.

[stringtheory]

Maybe you got a SLAP tear.

[mcgoon]

skateboarding hurts sometimes. Take time to heal.

[mrtodd]

Maybe you got a SLAP tear.

That would make sense... Because the pain is definitely in that spot. I even heard my shoulder make a 'cracking' noise when I went down. I actually had torn my labrum on my left shoulder (before I dislocated it) and I gotta admit that the feeling is pretty similar.

Knowing my dumb luck I may have torn it... Ugh. I hope I don't have to get another stupid surgery.

[mrtodd]

skateboarding hurts sometimes. Take time to heal.

Oh for sure. I've been skateboarding since highschool. I've had my fair share of injuries. I'm definitely gonna take some time off and give my shoulder some healing time.

But in the meantime, what I'm mostly concerned about is where I went wrong... I want to avoid making the same mistake in the future.

[blstndwn]

WOW. Well all I can tell you is you need a hill. Having a hill just help everything KEEP moving. ON flat groung your just stopping FAST. Yeah you can practice small, very small, slides on flat ground but anything bigger I find it much easier with speed, or a slope would let you do it with a little less speed.

[GUSHtheGNAR]

hey mrtodd. well sucks about your injury it even sucks that you wrecked because of something random with your glove too.

but my best tip i can give on slides is, learn to 180 power slide before you learn other slides. i know it sounds back-words and all but it really helps.

once you can 180 powerslide, or do any 180 slide it builds your confidence up alot. and you become used to the feeling of sliding and where to distribute your weight( then learning that in switch just puts you on another level in skating).

just push your self hard at flat land or a slight hill, remember to use the torque from your uper-body and transfer the energy to the lower part of you as well as to the board. think momentum. and a MAJOR tip is to keep your center of gravity over the board. every time i would mess up my 180s i would just tell my self to picture the weight being over the board and it helped so much.(and when you fall from these if your doing it heel side, you kinda just get pushed off your board into a run, never hurt myself learning how to do these)

but on the real, speed checking and 180 powerslides save your ass so much in this sport. (as well as the other slides obviously but staying on topic.) you need to learn how to do these slides almost as fluidly as you can foot brake

sliding IMO is the most important thing to master in longboarding.

good luck sliding bro.

[Commiesk8er]

I DO think technique discussion is helpful, but from where it sounds like your at, I think its time to stop thinking too much. Just picture yourself sliding perfectly in your head, carry some speed, and commit. Just my 2cents.

[lilyunsta]

Same thing happened to me in one of my first slide sessions and I learned through physics and crap its the pressure you put on your arm. all your weight is put into your whole shoulder + arm and when that pressure is cracked from stubbing on a rock, or misplacing your arm it can result in an extreme joint pressure injury. I think you just got unlucky, but be aware when your sliding your arm is the most vulnerable spot.

[mrtodd]

I think you all bring up very good points and ideas... I think i'll go the 180 powerslide direction for now, that way i don't have to put my hand down risking my messed up shoulder and i can learn better balance. I know i always think way too hard and technical on some of these things, so instead i'll try to keep it simple by just visualizing - all while being aware of where my feet, hands, weight, etc is.

I definitely appreciate the input. Thanks guys..

[jmasta]

....Do you think I just caught my glove on something? The parking lot is pretty darn smooth.... Even so, I think I'll head back there right now since it's light outside and maybe I can see if I hit anything with my glove.

Let me know your thoughts.

you might have caught something like a little pebble in between your pucks and the pavement. something as simple as this can catch your glove and really yank on your shoulder

either that, or your pucks caught on a crack

[jimmye]

It happens to me from time to time on the street in front of my house. The town put down crack sealer which catches on the slide puck.

[mrtodd]

Hmm... It could've been a pebble, but I went back to check the pavement the next morning and it was as smooth/clean as butter. Seriously it's like a brand new parking lot, gently sloped - clean and free of cracks.

I'm beginning to think that I just put my arm out too far.

My shoulder is still pretty jacked up, it's all loose and weak, but I just finished riding some parking garages with my buddies today and I paid MUCH more attention to my arm/hand placement on heel side slides/speed checks. Being more gentle (as my shoulder is so weak) seems to be much safer, and more controlled.

I bet I just put my hand way too far out, pushed my body away from the board too hard, and my hand just slid out from under me, went down, hit my elbow, twisted my arm behind my back which flipped me forward.

I guess that's what I get for not paying attention while riding in the dark and having my mind on other emo things.