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My first fall…. onto my head :(
So last night I had my first fall off the pole. I was doing a butterfly and one of my hands slipped and I fell right on my face. I've done a butterfly plenty of times before, but I've been away for 5 weeks and this was my first practice since my break so obviously I've lost some strength. Luckily I'm ok, just bruised and swollen. It's put me off wanting to do inversions though… Anyone else had a fall that's caused them to lose confidence? How long before you got back on?
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34 Replies
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I’ve had two big falls, which shook me up big time. The first one I managed to flip and land on knees and feet (was in a crescent moon so if I didn’t flip would’ve landed on head and neck). My knees and toes were badly damaged and incredibly swollen, but I got back on after 15 minutes as I didn’t want the fear to build up. I didn’t realise that I had broken a big toe until later. Although I got on straight away, am scared of doing anything involving a cross ankle release (this depresses me as I learnt and love this move so quickly). I fell in April and still had to be coaxed to do CARs in July. I think I got on too soon though as that fall not only gave me new injuries but it aggravated old ones including my back. I had to take a few weeks off pole 🙁
Anyway, my second and worse fall was when I attempted Aysha for the first time with a spotter. Long story short, landed on head, face planted and twisted neck and back. Spent the rest of the day in A & E. I still have a lump on my head and loads of pain. This happened the first Saturday in August. I cannot watch friends get into Aysha. It stops my heart and I panic. I did have a mini session a week afterwards (again trying to keep fear building up). Nervously attempted some basic inverts, and a few spins, but was way too scared to try much more. I called it quits after a few minutes (didn’t want to make injuries worse and because I was scared shitless). At least I touched and stroked the pole. Lovingly. So that is a start. I have to get my own pole (soon) and just slowly build back up my confidence and strength. I haven’t been on since as I want my injuries to heal. Don’t despair. Keep at it. Surround yourself with supportive people who understand the need and addiction to pole. Go slowly, listen to your body, but push pass the fear (safely and when you’re ready).
Sorry for such a long reply. R x -
This didn't happen to me, but my teacher hurt herself. I'm not sure what trick she did cuz I didn't see her do it. All I know is I go to class and she is in a sling. Turns out she did some trick, fell, landed on her head, and brok her her coller bone (or some part of her shoulder.) She was in a sling for several weeks while it healed. She's back to teaching though! She acknowledged that she had sweay hands when she attemted the trick and hadn't wiped her hands, hence the falling. You just gotta realize your limits, acknolwege your mistakes, and be safe. Also, crash mats if you don't have them. Fear is normal, but don't let it take over. It's just your body's way of telling you to be more careful next time.
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I fell Monday night! I was doing Wrist Seat and my bottom hand slipped. I was trying to do my challenge video. I ended up getting back on Tuesday night…I was about to workout off the pole, but I felt like I just had to go back in the pole room and try it again. I did and it wasn't bad. My wrist seat still felt like it was about to go wrong, I think my bottom hand is too far down. I'm determined not to let it beat me, and will work on it when I have class Monday.
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TOTAL wipeout attempting a True Grip Ayasha. No spotter no mat. Egad! Bottom elbow buckled and I went crashing down head first. I at least had the wherewithalll to tuck and my shoulder hit first and took the brunt of it before my little pinhead came landing next. Shoulder hurt like an SOB for about a week. I haven't gotten back on that hourse yet either. At this point I'm happy with my Elbow Grip Ayasha. The tumble happened about 2 months ago, and while there are some moves I feel I just HAVE to get this TGAyasha isn't on the list anymore.
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I'm so sorry to hear about your fall!
I fell out of a caterpillar years ago, I hadn't had time off or anything I accidently took my legs off the pole and this was before I knew how to do an aysha or a straight edge – I wasn't even thinkiong about those moves yet…I just got lost in the moment then fell on my head 🙁
Last October I fell out of a tornado and have yet to try it again because I'm so scared of it. I just can't bring myself to do that one move – I need to get over because it was one of my favorites – need to break out the crash mat and get back to it.
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hi Sasha, i hope your bruises heal quickly and that get your confidence back soon.https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_heart1.gif
@everyone else – this is very scary stuff to read about! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_surprised.gif
i fell onto my back from a gemini to scorpio switch once but luckily was low enough on the pole not to get hurt. it sure got me into a bad mood, though. 🙁
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I am happy to say I have had no serious injuries in 2 years of poling (besides bruises, strained muscles and the occasional popped rib). I fell out of the CAR once, but I felt myself slipping before I actually went down so I “sat up” and landed fairly softly on my butt and elbows. I have had no issues doing that move since, I actually have more confidence knowing that I can fall out of it without breaking my neck. I also fell out of a ceiling walk once (scariest moment of my life) but I made it out with only a bruise on my thigh ( and my ego) If I had to I would do it again, but the ceiling walk is no longer a part of my regular pole practice.
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Yes, I think landing on your head is the scariest fall you can do!
I was trying a shoulder dismount for the first time, at home alone with slippy hands when I was far too tired. and booom. landed on the back of my head. It hurt for a good hour and I was a little fuzzy the next day but it was no where near as bad as a time when I fell at a concert onto my head. (that had the biggest lump ever, concussion, fuzzy head for two weeks)
It did however give me the fear. I avoided doing shoulder mount for ages, and was less likely to do anything upside down.
My pole teacher is awesome though, she recently bought a crash mat for her studio and I have been trying all kinds of things I was too scared to do. Eventually I might do them without the mat… Maybe hehe
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Wow thanks everyone! I hate hearing about you all hurting yourselves https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_sad.gif but it's reassuring that I'm not the only one. I have class tomorrow… feeling pretty nervous about it but I'm going to get my teacher to spot me for any upside-down stuff for a while until I get the hang of it again. Gotta get back on the horse I guess!
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Sexygyrl – I think that's what happened to me (except my studio calls that move the "hello boys"). I don't remember anything about the fall or what happened in the hour or so afterwards (short term memory loss due to concussion). I think I must have lost my grip with the top hand, and just gone backwards off the pole, landing on the back of my head. I had a couple of days off work, missed one pole lesson, but went back to it the following week. Determined to "get back on the horse" 😉 I've posted elsewhere in this forum about it. Husband and Mum wanted me to give up pole "cos it's dangerous", but I told them it's not negotiable and I'm not giving it up!
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Love the name “hello boys” better. Sorry you fell too. I guess I’m really lucky because I did hit my head but no concussion or anything
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Most of my accidents have occured from rushing through something and/or not paying attention.
My first was slipping straight down from inverted crucifix…dancing for my hubby when I first started and trying to be sexy so I closed my eyes to hang and pose while I traced my lines and next thing I knew my face cracked nose first into the floor and fractured my nose!
Another was kicking up into a handstand and not looking at my surroundings and kicked my ankle into a table I had close by (this was in my home) and split my ankle open.
Another was not checking my pole for stability after it had been up a while and it crashed down into my desk then right through the wall (again at home) with me hanging on all the way to the floor.
The only accident I've had at the studio was falling from supermanh to Scorpio and it was simply a "miss' and didn't catch myself – landed tucked on my back but ok aside from shook up. Got up and did it again immediately so I wouldn't be scared next time.
I think it's intereting that I've never actually injured myself in the studio but I have several times at home and maybe that's because I have a lax attitude at home compared to the studio.
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my worst fall was out if a twisted grip handspring I was trying out my new itac (level 4) and didn’t think about starting with simpler tricks. I like this itac for static moves but in my experience any rotation or slight twist of my hands it loses grip, its worse than oil. needless to say I fell and somehow slammed the left side of my face into the pole and amazingly landed in my feet. I had a huge knot on my forehead and my eye was a little brused but I washed my hands and went right back. I’ve seen quite a few falls working at the club I’ve been at for two years and its always nerve wracking to see someone fall but its a risk we all take. I always try to figure out an “escape method” for my tricks just in case I feel another catastrophic failure coming and I feel like my escape methods help with my transitions as well.
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“escape method”
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I’m actually surprised that more people don’t teach how to fall it catch themselves.
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Actually I've found very few instructors who don't teach how to avoid injury during falls – although there are a couple of different methods of doing so.
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Pole is a contact sport! My worst fall was caused by a "let's just try this" attitude, that I have since lost. I had done my first Aysha the day before with my hubby spotting, so of course I could now do it alone! I l was losing my grip and luckily had the sense to lean into the pole to slow my fall and stop myself from flipping onto my back, which would have been much worse as I was on a PS stage. I got a black eye and imprinted my glasses into my face, and my neck and shoulders took a beating. I had to go to the optomotrist just an hour later and request an "adjustment" for my flattened glasses. That was an awkward conversation! Like others said, get back up on that horse, but just make sure you know what you're doing.
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as i mostly 'at home' poler, I would love to know how to avoid injury during falls, esp. since I'm usually working w/o a spotter.
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Sparrow…you simply should not work without a crash mat AND a spotter…and specifically a spotter who knows what they are doing as you can get hurt worse if they don't.
It's very difficult to "learn to fall". We talk all the time about tuck and roll, etc but the real key is to repeatedly practice exiting the move the opposite way you enter it. (Not applicable in transitions) so that your muscle memory is coming back out of the move rather than learning to "fall" down.
Learning to reverse out is a safer and more likely way to build the muscle memory and unless you are going to practice falls on a regular basis you will not build the muscle memory of falling out of a move safely and could injure yourself even worse.
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@ empy-
I like your idea of learning how to reverse the move- that’s a good one!
But learning how to fall is a good skill to have- so instinctively you move a certain way to protect yourself.I definately agree with a crash mat- or something similar but getting a spotter who knows what their doing is a little bit difficult for most on here?!
I mean ideally- that would be awesome but unfortunately we don’t live in a perfect world lol. -
Learning to work within your abilities is always best…. start working on moves as low to the floor as possible and as slowly with control as possible https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif Pole Dance should be fun, there is no need for everyone to perform every move out there. I agree that learning to "fall" is not a good idea https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_eek.gif
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I'm not an instructor, but I would consider myself an expert in falling :p Here are the things that I do to avoid injury when something goes wrong:
1. The obvious one is cushions around the pole when learning new tricks, of course
2. Cling to the pole with whatever you can! It will either stop your fall, and buy you some time to figure out how to untangle yourself and get down, or at minimum slow you down enough to reduce the impact. A fall flat onto your back could be a disaster from 5 feet in the air, but from 1 foot, it's just kind of embarrassing (that was me in class last week after my stupid sweaty hand slipped off the pole in an aysha).
3. Never let go with your hands! If a hand is on the pole it's just about impossible to land head first. In tricks where you're meant to let go of your hands, make sure you know how to regrasp the pole with them if needed.
4. Before you try a new trick, think about the "escape routes": how you might fall and how to prevent it. For example, in a gemini you might lose leg grip, so practice taking your hands off and then putting them back on and lifting your chest and head up a little. Practice this a few times so if you do slip it's automatic to regrasp the pole with your hands.
5. Practice emergency escapes. Work on going from any inverted trick back to a basic invert (with hands on the pole), or any upright skill to a pole climb position. You could also try inching down the pole one limb as a time from a basic invert – this came in handy once when I got all tangled up on a spinny pole going way too fast!
6. Tuck your head down towards your chest. If you are going to end up head first, this is the best way to minimise damage. That's not to say you wouldn't be hurt at all (I once landed head first on a trampoline from great height. I pulled several muscles in my neck and got a badly bruised sternum, but if I didn't tuck my head in it could have been a broken neck!)
7. Never land on an outstretched hand (I broke my arm as a kid doing this. Never again.) If you're falling to the side land on your side with your bottom arm straight and palm down just in front of your thigh (if that makes sense).
8. Of course, all of this is kind of hard to actually do once you're falling! Just practice what you would do in a fall, and try to stay calm (if that's even possible). And be safe to prevent falls too!
So that's what I've learned from experience. I'm sure some instructors on here would have plenty of useful stuff to add, or maybe even disagree with me!
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I understand that this just does not always seem possible but I cannot in good conscience recommend anything less. I have also heard many people say that they can't buy a crash mat because they can't afford one – yet crash mats are around the same cost as most poles.
The point is what is the safest way to learn and I would never advise anyone to do anything under less than perfect circumstances because of the risk involved.
A spotter who doesn't know what they are doing can increase the injury and no spotter is just as bad as no mat. Even together they do not always guarantee no injury.
The end goal isn't learning every move (as Veena mentioned) it's safety and an injury can result in you never pole dancing again…or even worse. So I have to stick to my original point and say that if you don't have a mat and an efficient spotter, then there are some moves that you shouldn't learn.
Nothing you do will have been worth it if you wind up paralyzed. 🙁
Note: My husband does not pole dance but he has learned the concepts of it alongside me for years and can probably break down a move as well as I can. He also has a martial arts background and knows how to spot. I actually trust him more than anyone I've worked with so far to spot me.
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Cinara…your #4 is just about exactly describing the technique behind practicing reversing out of a move as that is exactly how you reverse out of a leg hang.
Keep in mind that practicing low is essential to progressive learning but it's not a guarantee of your safety either. Debbie Plowman was paralyzed from falling from just 12 inches above the floor! 🙁
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I totally agree with Empy on the whole learning how to reverse out of a move thing, but I have to disagree with not learning how to fall. Knowing how to fall is like having a fire extinguisher, it’s for use in case of emergency. No one plans on the toaster exploding but shit happens. My point is that you can be as careful as is humanly possible/work within your abilities but we are not doing step aerobics here, there are risks involved and variables you can’t always control. Take a look at Jenynes fall in Zurich, she didn’t break her leg cause she knew how to fall. I agree tho that it is incredibly difficult to teach adults how to fall. I had it drilled into me as a kid and super yay for that! I am a pretty impressive klutz (seriously, stairs are my nemisis) but I have never so much as broken a bone. I have even had people comment on how gracefully I fall on my ass. So my point is learning how to fall is a good idea for life, not just pole… You can’t control everything.
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