This for sure. I have unfortunately witnessed it multiple times. It is made worse in some cases by people not learning how to crash properly, or not having enough time to react in the moment. The instinctive reaction is to put your your hands, but of course this is often insufficient to take the weight of the falling body and avoid impact to the head (or face). I think people need to learn how to roll into their crashes...I'm not saying that people can just do a nice little ninja-roll and come up unscathed. My first instinct it to throw one arm across my body if I go OTB- almost like a punch. When I was young and limber, I would actually practice this and intentionally endo onto nice soft grass to practice the movement. This helps get the body out of a pure lawn-dart orientation and into a tumble where force can hopefully be distributed through multiple impacts rather than one big one. I'll take the lost skin and other injuries if it means protecting my head and spine. Nothing is surefire, and one can't protect against everything, but practicing falls seems like a better option than hoping they won't happen.
Dec. 3, 2024, 3:48 p.m. - jdt
This for sure. I have unfortunately witnessed it multiple times. It is made worse in some cases by people not learning how to crash properly, or not having enough time to react in the moment. The instinctive reaction is to put your your hands, but of course this is often insufficient to take the weight of the falling body and avoid impact to the head (or face). I think people need to learn how to roll into their crashes...I'm not saying that people can just do a nice little ninja-roll and come up unscathed. My first instinct it to throw one arm across my body if I go OTB- almost like a punch. When I was young and limber, I would actually practice this and intentionally endo onto nice soft grass to practice the movement. This helps get the body out of a pure lawn-dart orientation and into a tumble where force can hopefully be distributed through multiple impacts rather than one big one. I'll take the lost skin and other injuries if it means protecting my head and spine. Nothing is surefire, and one can't protect against everything, but practicing falls seems like a better option than hoping they won't happen.