drenaline 0 #1 October 21, 2002 Yep like the title says, hard landings with your ass are completely unsafe. Here is my story, hope its good and helps. Ok, to start the story I have to talk about my jump #23 (march 30, 2002) it was my 4th time jumping my new smaller main. On that jump I made the stupiest thing on earth I started to flare to late so I ended up landing on my butt without flaring (on video you can see the canopy in its angle of attack when I touch ground, it had no grass it was only hard soil) after that jump I had about 2 weeks of pain in my butt so I took some pills and the pain left. From that day it was only a bad butt landing blah blah blah, I started to land on my feets, we laughed about it, I laughed about it and I thought everything was fine, until now. Recently, 2 weeks ago after jump #60 (october 6, 2002) my back started to hurt like crazy I thought that it was because of my hard arch, that I was sleeping in a bad way or that I was spending to much time on the computer at dz.com but the pain continued and started to get worst, on one day it was so intense that I couldnt walk, had to do some home therapy to lower the pain (hot wet pad for 20 mins then some fastum gel or voltaren gel, makes wonders). After 2 weeks of pain I decided to go back to my orthopedic doctor for a check up (I had neck problems 6 years ago so it was very important to take a look at that pain) and took some X-Ray of all my spine and it wasn't funny what we saw (am no doctor nor student and I could see the problem, so imagine how bad it was) the spine instead of been like this | from neck to coxis, it was like this: the neck (from side view) was stiff | (which is bad cause its supposed to have a natural kinda S curve) and from the low part of the neck to the butt (front view) it was like this / (a good spine is supposed to be straight |), its something he called "escoliosis" (I think its that and its in spanish), he said that the reason I have that is because I have been having hard landings and the number one reason was my butt landing on my jump 23 that happened on march (it took 7 months to give me the real pain). Now my doctor grounded me for 2 weeks, gave me pills for 3 months and physical therapy for 1 month to see if it will lower the pain and fix some of the problem, gave me a warning and told me that if I injure my spine to much I can end up in a wheelchair. Conclusion and advice: 1- PLF! do not land on your butt if its going to be hard, do not land in your feets if its gonna be to hard, do a PLF, you can clean your rig and jumpsuit but you cant change your spine. 2- Pack soft opening mains (my neck is stiff like that cause I had the neck accident 6 years ago and the hard openings are injuring me). 3- Downsize in steps, slow, conservative, dont jump from a 230 to a 150 without something in between, learn the easy safe way not the hard way like I did, please learn from my mistake. 4- Take your time to learn how to flare and do nice soft stand up landings, look for advice if you need it, get video if you need them, get coaching, etc. A bad landing can leave you in a wheelchair in no time or give a nice ugly looking cast. All the instructors and coaches are there to help, be humble and ask for their help if you need it. 5- Do warm up before jumping, it helps relax and strengthen (got this word from the dictionary so dunno how good it is) the muscles, that way it can help from a ankle problem (can't remember the correct word is it sprainged?), and prepares the body for stress. 6- Do exercise during the week (walk 1 hour everyday at least), it gives you a healthy body and better strength to the muscles, I think that if I would of done exercise in that time I would of had no problem now. 7- Rest. If you have lots of bad hard openings on one weekend then take at least a week off (7 days) from jumping and anything stressfull, that way you can relax the neck and back muscles preventing future injuries. Hard landings are no jokes, they can cause very bad problems to bones. Say NO to butt/ass landings, do PLF. When you land with your ass you direct all the power and presure to the spine. Hope it gives some of us something to think about. If you need to add or correct something please do, I thank ya. HISPA 21 www.panamafreefall.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Michele 1 #2 October 21, 2002 No flames from me, mi amigo...I'm sorry you're hurting, and hope you heal very quickly. As for the tips, you have them right on. I wish I did more of them (especially the walking part...), but I recently started Yoga and while I feel like a total idiot doing it, my body feels better when I do it. One of my favorite sayings, which is applicable from exercise to cleaning the fridge, is "you don't have to like it, you just have to do it..." take care of yourself, and rest that back and neck. Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
drenaline 0 #3 October 21, 2002 thanks Michele. I heard yoga is good for stretching the ligaments, I was going to try that but have no money Quote take care of yourself, and rest that back and neck. Donig it makes me sleep for 12 hours... HISPA 21 www.panamafreefall.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Michele 1 #4 October 21, 2002 Quote thanks Michele. I heard yoga is good for stretching the ligaments, I was going to try that but have no money [Frown] Well, neither do I...I do it in the living room, and bought a book on it -soemthing like $20. I figure you could prolly get good stuff from the net, you know? I'm not taking classes, just trying to do it from a book. I know that's not the best way, but it's a start... And yes, Valium will knock you flat for a while if you're not used to it. Drink lots of water when you're awake, it helps to flush the crud from your system. Also any sort of regular multi-vitimin, because your body needs help right now to heal. Ciels- Michele ~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek While our hearts lie bleeding?~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VisionAir 0 #5 October 21, 2002 Dude I hope everything works out for you and you'll be ok. I'm real sorry for this flame and I don't mean it rudely but... Quote 3- Downsize in steps, slow, conservative, dont jump from a 230 to a 150 without something in between, DUHHHHH!!! Baby steps man baby steps! I've been in the sport workin on my 5th year with 500+ jumps and am just now hitting the 150 size when my first was a 230. It went: PD 230 - Tri 190 - Safire169 - soon to be a Samurai 150. Like I said I'm not trying to dog you but this point need much more emphasis. Huh?!? What cloud?!? Oh that!!! That's just Industrial Haze Alex M. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
drenaline 0 #6 October 21, 2002 Quote your body needs help right now to heal. I heard that a cute nice looking lady can do wonders with a massage... hehe gotta love physical therapy. Right now am trying Kendo (japanese fencing) its kinda cool to get hit by a bamboo sword and good exercise, also planning to do some hiking (I love nature). HISPA 21 www.panamafreefall.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
drenaline 0 #7 October 21, 2002 QuoteLike I said I'm not trying to dog you but this point need much more emphasis. Don't worry dude, you are right it really needs more emphasis, people need to know. I was lucky I didnt broke my back. When I bought that 150 I never consulted anyone, and took a bad measure of my wingload and all kinds of stuff, when the main got here I got a couple of WTF looks from the instructors but I didn't care, I was a know it all smart ass like all the people that want to downsize very fast and BANG! biff number one, BANG! biff number two, BANG! biff number three... lucky now I can do some stand ups and some times some short swoops but man I will see the results when I get 40 years old and all my old pains come back (am 21 right now). HISPA 21 www.panamafreefall.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Scoby 0 #8 October 21, 2002 QuoteAfter 2 weeks of pain I decided to go back to my orthopedic doctor for a check up (I had neck problems 6 years ago so it was very important to take a look at that pain) and took some X-Ray of all my spine and it wasn't funny what we saw (am no doctor nor student and I could see the problem, so imagine how bad it was) the spine instead of been like this | from neck to coxis, it was like this: the neck (from side view) was stiff | (which is bad cause its supposed to have a natural kinda S curve) and from the low part of the neck to the butt (front view) it was like this / (a good spine is supposed to be straight |), its something he called "escoliosis" (I think its that and its in spanish), It's called the same thing in English, scoliosis. My friend's sister's friend had it, I think from birth. She had to wear this wacky plastic brace some of the time to correct it. Weird thing was that she was really hor and for some reason I thought it was sexy when she wore the brace over her swimsuit. I must have something wrong with me... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ernokaikkonen 0 #9 October 21, 2002 Ouch. Landing on your butt is definitely not recommended. Your legs heal faster (and better) than your spine... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
