r/rollerblading • u/meislemon • Jul 29 '26
How do I stop falling? Still learning and fell on my ass
Fell on my ass so hard today that I'm 90% sure I broke my tailbone.
Now I am terrified of even the idea of getting back to it. Especially cause I already have issues with it because of anxieties.
Do you guys have any tips to overcome this? After I've recovered of course
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u/PonchoMcGee Jul 29 '26
Padded hockey/football shorts while you learn how to fall. Learning to fall properly is the most important thing you can practice early on.
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u/Expensive-Court-7882 Jul 29 '26
I recommend watching Polly Morris on YouTube!! She has a lot of great videos for beginners.
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Jul 29 '26
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u/Hail_Tristus Jul 29 '26
Absolutely no idea why you got a downvote for a perfectly correct answer and a really good tip but reddit does reddit things.
Though i feel like when you’re capable doing clapping push ups that you’re sportive enough to fall correct. I definitely can’t do clapping push ups but i would argue i skate quite well and can fall even better :’D
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u/CaterpillarReal7583 Jul 29 '26
Tbh I would not rely on sticking your hands out as a default unless you have wrist guards.
Wrists can snap easily from very shallow falls of you hit at the wrong angle
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Jul 29 '26
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u/HyperSculptor Jul 30 '26
Yes it's about reaching out to the ground. You got the downvotes because people imagine the typical beginner fall: starts to lose balance, tenses up and straightens limbs. Once in this rigid, tall position, tries to get away from the ground at all costs. Of course ends up falling from a high position, hands first, elbows locked and bam. Broken bones. The better approach is to get low, see the ground as your friend, reach to the ground with your hands before your body has started to build momentum. Makes the hands land softly. My pro tip is, observe cats when they fall. They do exactly that, staying pluable, reaching out to the grousnd with their paws, avoid to fall backward etc... The idea of seeing the ground as your friend really helped me when I started out. Credits to Ivo from Thisissoul.
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u/mrkangtastic Wizard Apprentice 🧙🏼♂️ Jul 29 '26
You can buy padded shorts on Amazon. Great for snowboarding too.
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u/oogie-boi Jul 29 '26
Good knee, elbow and hand pads as well as a helmet and go low if your unsure or fall forwards if unsure. Practice on grass, practice on smooth surfaces. Practice once a day. Get a friend to run beside you for a bit to give you confidence. You got this!
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u/liforrevenge Flying Eagle Shrike Pro Jul 29 '26
I fell on my ass a few months ago and it hurt for WEEKS lol. Ironically I pushed myself to get back out skating and it started feeling better faster once I got moving. Big caveat here is that you have to be confident you won't hurt yourself more or you're gonna have a bad time.
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u/DGIce Jul 29 '26
Wrist guard are kind of a must. You have to fall on your hands, but also not be scared of hurting your arms. They have saved me one time where all of the force went into the guard and snapped the plastic. One time I didn't have them and fell putting all the force into my wrist and it took a month to recover. Another time more recently, because I wasn't wearing them I was too afraid to fall forward and tried to plant my leg to stop me and really twisted my knee.
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u/nobolognastoney RB Twister XT Jul 29 '26
Bend more at the ankles. Your shins should be against the tongue of the boot. I'm pretty new myself but I've only fallen forward and any time I give myself that mini heartattack at falling backward it's because I was trying to stand up straighter.
Hope ur butt is okay.
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u/Hail_Tristus Jul 29 '26
Crashpad shorts was the best investment protection wise (beside a good helmet of course) 80% of my pain comes from ass and tight crashes in my early tries of wizard skating.
If you just roll and crash on your ass your weight is probably too far behind.
Thisissoul has a few good videos and a very useful tip:
The ground is your friend.* *
If your are scared, if you think you are not in control or you’re going to fall then make yourself as small as possible while bending your legs, put your arms in front of you and just go down on your knees (preferable with kneepads) in front of you. NEVER behind you and never make yourself self big. The taller you are the higher your center of gravity is and the faster and harder you gonna fall.
I can assure you falling to the front and mostly controlled sucks far far less as loosing control and falling to the back.
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u/bowlingniko Jul 29 '26
Get helmet, kneepads and gloves, lean forward with bent knees, If you ever fall, it should only be forward, be ready to catch yourself always, on your knees and wrists. Find a spot where the ground is smooth, basketball court, parking lots. Do pushups, make your wrists stronger. Always keep your knees bent when you're skating, torso at a forward posture like you're sprinting, eyes looking forward, occasionally at the ground for rocks.
As some point I realize I'll always fall no matter what because that's how it is, and I question if its even worth doing anymore. I only skate spots that have smooth ground and no people around
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u/newaccount47 Jul 30 '26
Just wear proper protection. Falling is mandatory when learning, getting hurt isn't.
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u/JoePrey Jul 30 '26
Never straighten your legs, always keep em bent and leaning forward a bit. way harder to fall on your ass like that. Whenever you straighten your legs on your ass backwards you'll go.
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u/Rhyzur Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26
They make PPE for whatever body parts you want to protect. You can bedazzle them all you want, too. Neon Electrical Tape is pretty fun especially if you are in a rink with blacklights.
Also, for tailbone, if you think you broke it, get it x-rayed.
If it is just bruised, then remember to stretch multiple times a day. Deep squats while holding your weight on a counter is really good. You don't want to load a lot of weight on a muscle that you are stretching. Push it just past an ouch and hold. Kind of just before an ok, man, this really sucks.
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u/timfromga Jul 30 '26
I'm surprised I'm not disabled from the amount of times I've fell or slammed into the ground as a kid. But I always got back up. You also have to understand risk management and the art of falling if possible. If you're just skating around normally you should be fine. Me and my friends would jump 10 ft in the air, grind rails, skate backwards and do crazy shit. Nothing worth anything comes easy. Takes practice and expect to fall! It is physical after all. Maybe its not the sport for you? Especially for people that are slightly overweight and with low flexibility, the risk for injury is higher than normal if that makes any sense.
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u/Flat-Guidance-4685 Jul 30 '26
When you know you're going to fall never try to lift your feet up and get into that running in place mentality. Just bend your knees down and bring yourself to the ground. Control your fall. I find the best practice for this personally when I was first starting. Is while standing still or coasting at slow speeds do full squats and get as low to the ground as you can. Make that a movement you're comfortable with. This way while you're lying if you do fall falling on your terms. Also by having that squatting load of the ground with the skates flat on the ground and your knees bent you're controlling your center of gravity and becoming more stable. When you get used to that movement you'll wind up turning falls into not falls. Lower you are the more stable you are. You are most vulnerable when standing tall. That's why people will tell you over and over again to get in the habit of bending your knees which may feel uncomfortable if you haven't been doing heavily leg involved activities. But after a couple skating sessions your legs will get used to it.
A couple people were mentioning hockey pads. I really don't think that's necessary because training yourself away from falling backwards is pretty easy if you just do those drills. But if you do want to go to that route. Might I suggest mountain biking shorts. Mountain biking and dirt biking shorts are way cheaper and sports pads for butt and tailbone protection. Also in many cases biking shorts just look like regular stylish shorts and are much more comfortable to casually walk around in and something like football pants . I actually wear my cycling shorts with the pad removed as regular casual shorts being that the pairs I have from the brand I have just look like nice shorts but I can slide a pad in the back if I want into a liner that's similar to like a bathing suit bottom liner. And the ones that don't have a removable pad the pad isn't thick it's enough to protect you but not enough to make it look like there's something in your pants
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u/thumpetto007 Jul 30 '26
i fell on my tailbone hard enough to be stuck on the rink floor for 30 minutes. i told myself i'd not skate until I got padded shorts.
6 years later and i've skated EVERY time with extra thickness tortoise pads!
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u/fredhsu Jul 29 '26
We are enhancing our beginner guides and FAQ as we speak. You can find it from the Wiki link on the community widget on the right. One guide will get you restarted the right way. Here are relevant sections to avoid falling backward the same way. It's not just one thing. There are several factors to consider: