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Skiing with damaged shin

Jersey Skier

aka RatherPlayThanWork or Gary
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I had a little incident yesterday with a broken stair. Took off a layer of skin on one shin and nice sized bruise. I'll save you the gory photos.

Any thoughts on how to keep skiing? It's right where I would pressure the boot tongue.
 

cantunamunch

Meh
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Guy in Shorts

Tree Psycho
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Feb 27, 2016
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Killington
Simple answer is ski from the center of the boot until it feels better. Skiing while recovering requires adjustments.
 

Eleeski

Making fresh tracks
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San Diego / skis at Squaw Valley
Suffer! Ski through it. I fell off the tractor, skinned a shin and got a golf ball bruise on my shin. Happy I didn't do anything serious. But with a Japan trip a couple days away, I was worried.

Band aids and triple antibiotic cream brought it to a manageable pain level in the couple days before skiing. Sure, I felt it but it was minor against the background of all the other skiing sensations.

Bandage up as best you can and go ski. Clean socks so you don't get an infection.

Eric
 

Prosper

This is the way.
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Suffer! Ski through it. I fell off the tractor, skinned a shin and got a golf ball bruise on my shin. Happy I didn't do anything serious. But with a Japan trip a couple days away, I was worried.

Band aids and triple antibiotic cream brought it to a manageable pain level in the couple days before skiing. Sure, I felt it but it was minor against the background of all the other skiing sensations.

Bandage up as best you can and go ski. Clean socks so you don't get an infection.

Eric
This. Don’t forget about the acetaminophen and/or ibuprofen.
 

Coach13

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I agree with the advice given to treat/deal with the injury but that aside, this topic always confuses me. I’m certainly sympathetic to the OP’s injury but when I read the initial post my 1st reaction was just stand up and ski. When I ski I balance over my arches and just ski. Mind you, maybe it’s because I’m not an accomplished skier or I pressure the tongues without thinking about it, but it doesn’t even cross my mind. When I lay in the front of my boots and ski the only difference I see is that I get tired.
 
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LiquidFeet

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I agree with the advice given to treat/deal with the injury but that aside, this topic always confuses me. I’m certainly sympathetic to the OP’s injury but when I read the initial post my 1st reaction was just stand up and ski. When I ski I balance over my arches and just ski. Mind you, maybe it’s because I’m not an accomplished skier or I pressure the tongues without thinking about it, but it doesn’t even cross my mind. When I lay in the front of my boots and ski the only difference I see is that I get tired.
There are people who "lay into the front of the boots" and people who don't.

Here is what I think of when Coach13 talks about "laying into the boot cuffs." These skiers use this cuff contact when they ski, too. They have shin-tongue contact. If they had big sores on their shins from some accident, they might be trying to avoid rubbing on those sores as they ski, but I doubt they'd give up the shin-tongue contact. I doubt their skiing style and form is causing undue fatigue.
Screen Shot 2016-12-26 at 8.08.05 PM.png
Screen Shot 2016-12-27 at 8.49.59 PM.png
closed ankles #2.png


The advancing skiers imaged below are not laying into the cuffs. They are not maintaining shin-tongue contact. They would be fine skiing with sores on their shins, I bet. In my experience, these skiers do get tired and their quads burn. They need to learn to maintain that contact.
open ankles #1.png
Screen Shot 2018-03-26 at 1.04.30 AM.png

So when seasoned skiers who know what they are doing on snow say they don't "lay into the cuffs" I am confused. @Coach13, are you suggesting an amount of shin-tongue contact that's somewhere in between the two sets of images is best? Or am I misunderstanding you altogether?
 
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Kneale Brownson

Making fresh tracks forever on the other side
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I skied in a clinic once with Victor Gerdin, who had fallen off a ladder and broken a leg during the summer. To avoid pain from the boot, he was using plantar flexion to pressure the front of the ski.
 

vindibona1

Getting on the lift
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I skied in a clinic once with Victor Gerdin, who had fallen off a ladder and broken a leg during the summer. To avoid pain from the boot, he was using plantar flexion to pressure the front of the ski.

That's how I ski all the time. I use very little leverage from the shin/tongue. Most of the pressure comes from my feet, as Kneale calls it- plantar flexion. The pressure on my shins \ is mostly for stability rather than leverage. I've discovered that you don't need very much cuff leverage if everything is adjusted properly.
My approach is that I will find the support (fulcrum) point in the middle of my foot and make sure that is well supported under my insole. usually with thin layers of tape and then slightly pad underneath the fleshy part of my toes (careful not to pad too far forward) so I can gain more leverage from my foot simply by pushing my toes down. I'm sure somehow I extend the ankle too a bit, but I am largely unaware of that. Being limited and having to find alternative ways to approach things can often unveil a better way to ski.

Interestingly... I was just with my nephew yesterday who was lamenting about his boots. I had an hour to kill, so I took apart his boots and started "upgrading" his "custom" insoles. I started with the toe pads. It doesn't take much. I stacked 5 layers of 3M shipping tape and cut it to the right shape. I ultimately doubled that to 10 layers before he could feel a difference. Once that was done, I added a about the same amount of tape at his foot's "fulcrum point" in 1/2" x 12" oval. When I put him back in his boots, even in his living room I could see his stance was entirely different. It was remarkable as he was then able to access the inside and outside edges of his boot with no body movement, only feet and ankles. I won't get to ski with him, but he's off to Aspen next week, so I'm waiting for a full report.
 

Kneale Brownson

Making fresh tracks forever on the other side
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Did you shellac or otherwise seal the duct tape to prevent wadding up with repeated foot insertions?
 

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