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Pole accidents?
I’m a big believer in learning from other’s experiences, so, what kind of accidents/injuries have you had with poling? How did you react? Since I’m starting to teach, I want to be aware of things that can go wrong. I know that occasionally someone falls. I’ve almost fallen when I’ve been playing at home, but luckily had a mattress down. I’m also really interested in repetitive stress injuries.
Thanks soo much!
Mindy -
60 Replies
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congrats on your new job!! clarissa is a very sweet person. i am sure you will enjoy your journey of teaching. it is so rewarding and i love it https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif
well when you first start teaching inverts definitely use a crash mat if at all possible.
i think what i see most frequently is people scraping their toes against the pole or scratching/scraping themselves with their own heels! i know that might seem weird but that is what i see the most…even sometimes when we are just doing something as simple as floorwork. so just make sure you have a first aid kit around. i think its also very helpful to get a first aid certification. i would have ice packs around as well in case anyone twists anything the wrong way but i only have had this happen 2 or 3 times since i have been teaching for 4 years. If anything very serious were to happen (someone falling out of an invert, layback, etc..) i would fill out an incident report and have client sign it just to document what happened in case they try to cause any trouble down the line…you never know these days. we created one and we have all of our instructors fill one out if anything of this nature happens. that way you CYA. i would also get your own liability insurance if you are not covered by your company.hope that helps https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif
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My biggest fall was when I was learning the caterpillar crawl and I was at home when it happened. Basically what happened was I pushed up and when I went to release my legs to reposition them my arms fatigued and totally failed. Somehow I managed to tuck myself so that I came down on my shoulder and rolled out of it. It could have been WAY worse if I fell on my head. I have also jammed my toes on numerous occasions and currently have a cut on my finger from my shoes when I was playing on a pole Saturday night.
I think it is really important to teach ways out of moves if something goes wrong.
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I agree with ChemGoddess–teaching exit strategies is HUGE. My own pole injuries include the following, beyond the normal bruises and soreness:
–broken toe
–stabbed own knee with shoe doing an attitude spin (that was a fun one)
–bruised rib from coming down unexpectedly out of a chopperThere’s also one thing I’ll say with respect to spotting. I’ve had great spotters, and I’ve had not-so-great spotters. It seems to me that the great ones were there to deflect and direct me/help me fall safely, not to catch me (which could be a big ol’ mess for both of us!). The ones who made me nervous were the ones who hovered underneath me like they, rather than my crash mat, were my fall-breaker.
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outside of the normal bumps and bruises…I’ve almost broken my foot! lol I had my pole in my room and was just learning the cartwheel mount and I did one, lost balance and fell out of it…on my way down my foot hit the wooden post of my bed. I couldn’t put full weight on it for about a week! lesson learned…make sure you have plenty of space around your pole! I’ve also fallen out of aerial splits…did the other night actually! lol! I didn’t have a good grip with my knee when I went to adjust my hands and i flipped right off of the pole…luckily i’m pretty durable in the falling department…got used to it from all the years figure skating! hehe I’ve stabbed myself and the wall with my heels, crashed my "no no business" into the pole when I slipped out of a knee swing OUCH!!! I really wish I had these on tape to make a bloobers vid!
I personally don’t like being spotted….I think it gives me a false sense of security. When teaching I will spot only if the student is comfortable with it…that being said I do not catch but redirect the fall so as to prevent any serious injury!
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Other than some fun bruises associated with living in a tiny 1br (foot+couch= f** n ouch) I have gotten a couple minor falls, once I bonked my noggin on hardwood when it was really humid and I hit a sweaty spot doing a scorpio switch. But I knew it was slick so I was only practicing a foot off the ground. The key is, if you do fall, don’t be an idiot and soldier through it. Your adrenaline is up and you might not feel any injury you’ve got. If you get a fall, even onto a crash mat or padding, my personal philosophy is always stop and take a second to check yourself out. Even for as stupid of a reason as you got a little paper cut on your hand somewhere falling that you don’t feel and don’t see at first, and you get a bad wipeout from blood on your hands and mess your pole up.
Sorry for the rant, but since I’ve only ever poled at home I really try to keep things as safe as I can. I live alone, I have to rely on myself and my own common sense to keep me safe. And I think that’s a good attitude everyone should take, rely on yourself above anyone else (spotter) or anything else (mat), even when you’re using both. It’s your own head that keeps you safe first and foremost (and I don’t mean breaking your fall with it https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_lol.gif )….learn safe exits, have a way to catch yourself prepared and active in your mind (i.e. be totally ready and confident catching a fallen jade with a scorpio). You can miss your mat and your spotter can fail without getting hurt with preparation and good common sense.
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i fell doing a SM into a hands-free brass monkey hooking my right leg (i’d only done brass monkey to my left leg before). have everyone try everything both sides!!
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It seems people have been popping up with a boat load of tendonitis and muscle strains lately. This can be caused by stress and overuse. As far as preventing this make sure your students pace themselves and don’t progress too quickly. Make sure they build up adequate strength and arent jumping/running/swinging into things they shouldn’t be jumping/running/swinging into and stress the them the importance of rest. I know we all wanna be hardcore and pole everyday but when your body is telling you it needs a break….listen.
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I’ve fallen off the pole trying to do an inverted move (i think it was aysha to brass monkey) that I couldn’t quite figure out, so I went for it, got tangled and fell off… luckily I tucked and fell flat on my back rather than my head/neck. Moral of that story was I tried something I wasn’t quite sure how to do and it went wrong, I’d have been much better trying it from a floor handstand first!
Also Gsylass nearly fell whilst doing a cartwheel mount a while ago, she kicked up and overbalanced and nearly fell off backwards. Like the others above said, we were lucky in that I was spotting and was able to deflect her back onto the pole, but as they have already said I wouldn’t have been able to ‘catch’ her and support her weight so it was all about helping her help herself down. Remember you don’t want to damage yourself either!
Only other ones we’ve had here are ourselves nearly kicking one another! -
I’m lucky considering I don’t use a spotter or mats, ever… but that’s what it is, pure luck, so don’t follow my bad example!
Drill "shoulders back and down’ into their heads. I didn’t know about it and had some very sharp, shooting pains in my back between my shoulder blades and soreness when I learned the chopper from not doing that. I’m still not sure if I’m doing it right, but even trying has kept the pain from coming back.
My only fall was a couple weeks ago. I did a half-handspring to butterfly when I was just messing around in my jeans and a sweatshirt. When I went into the butterfly, I started spinning around the pole and lost my grip with the upper hand. Since I was wearing jeans and didn’t have a spotter, down I went. I managed to lift my head so my right shoulder took the hit, but I had a really bad headache after that…
I will say this: it sucks when you’re spinning like that knowing that you’re going to fall and there isn’t anything you can do about it. It’s almost funny… almost.
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I had what I call an ‘idiot’ moment where I had just learned a new trick and was so proud of myself that I forgot that I should come out of the move slowly and carefully! I just let go! Yes i mean totally just let go of the pole!!! I hurt myself badly!!!! So basically you need to tell your students that when they’re on the pole they need to have their brains engaged at all times as well as their muscles!!!!!!!! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif
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First time I got on a spinny pole did a reverse grab and promptly flew off and into my wall LOL – slammed my knee, hip and arm all at once – not pretty…my ego and hip were both pretty bruised.
Second time I got on a spinny pole I had had a wee bit to drink the night before and………sushi…
let’s just say sake, sushi and upside down on a spinning pole is a REALLY REALLY BAD COMBO!!!! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_puke_r.gif https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_puke_l.gif
needless to say I actually stayed away from spin mode for about 2 years – I’m a wuss lol
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First time I got on a spinny pole did a reverse grab and promptly flew off and into my wall LOL – slammed my knee, hip and arm all at once – not pretty…my ego and hip were both pretty bruised.
Second time I got on a spinny pole I had had a wee bit to drink the night before and………sushi…
let’s just say sake, sushi and upside down on a spinning pole is a REALLY REALLY BAD COMBO!!!! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_puke_r.gif https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_puke_l.gif
needless to say I actually stayed away from spin mode for about 2 years – I’m a wuss lol
Me and spinny do not agree at all. I could not even imagine being upside down and spinning…..I would probably have the same response as you!
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Hi!
Congrats on the new job! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif
My accidents:
Once I did the elbow handstand and tried to grab the pole between my legs to get up sitting in the pole. But I got tired in my arms and maybe did not grab tight enough with my legs, so I fell on my head and my head turned sideways. I was a little stuck and could not really drop back with my legs, because I was stuck with my head. Eventually I managed to get back but my neck made a little snapping (krrrk) sound. It did hurt at that time, but in a little while I was ok and went on. But I have the feeling that the "krrrk" sound in my neck is there more often with just normal movements then before the accident with the elbow handstand.
I did not use a crash mat at the time, maybe I should have…I also think it is very important teach people the best ways of getting out of the pole when they have the feeling things may go wrong. I teared my muscle behind my shoulderblade because I just dropped down my legs after an ivert. So I have to be very careful with getting off of the pole.
Good luck with teaching!
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I fall or slide off the pole all the time. But I have three or four layers of mats resting on top of foam peg mats–which are over a layer of carpet. So it’s very well cushioned. I am VERY heavy–nearly 200 pounds–so I really have to use the mats because the force of impact at my weight would probably break a bone!
I haven’t had any serious injuries..but my biceps and shoulder muscles have been pulled quite a bit. I’m really hoping I’ll get to take FLeur’s shoulder injury workshop one of these days.
Joel
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First time I got on a spinny pole did a reverse grab and promptly flew off and into my wall LOL – slammed my knee, hip and arm all at once – not pretty…my ego and hip were both pretty bruised.
Second time I got on a spinny pole I had had a wee bit to drink the night before and………sushi…
let’s just say sake, sushi and upside down on a spinning pole is a REALLY REALLY BAD COMBO!!!! https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_puke_r.gif https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_puke_l.gif
needless to say I actually stayed away from spin mode for about 2 years – I’m a wuss lol
Me and spinny do not agree at all. I could not even imagine being upside down and spinning…..I would probably have the same response as you!
Chemmie I think spinny is really pretty and I continue to try it but like you…my stomach really isn’t into it https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif
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