Oh no! Adult figure skating and osteoarthritis

Today marks the second year of my adult figure skating journey! And what a journey it has been 🙂

I’m now in DELTA level which is the last level before FREESTYLE! I can’t believe I’m soo so so so close to doing jumps and spins. As an adult figure skater in the Philippines (who’s in her 40s!) it has not been that easy. While I have experience in strength training and lifting weights, I’m not really the athletic type and quite the klutz.

It took me roughly around 6 months to finish BETA which covers backward crossovers, t-stops, and backward stroking. Honestly, this was the hardest level. I couldnt’ count how many times I fell on my ass (thank you butt pads) and I was so close to giving up. I had negative thoughts saying “maybe figure skating is not for you“; but I soldiered on and kept on going. It took time but everything finally clicked.

Gamma went like a breeeeeze! It took me around 3 months? Even if I failed my first exam (my examiner was coach bert) because of nerves. My legs went stick straight and I kept flip flopping, even if I already knewwww in my heart how to do forward outside threeturns, hockey stops, and mohawks. I finally got it on my second test with high scoresss!! 9 8 8 8!

Now I’m learning DELTA which covers forward inside three turns, forward consecutive outside and inside edges (figure 8), bunny hops, and a lunge. I feel so giddy that I learned each skill in a single training session, but now each needs polishing! I don’t want to take an exam unless I can do each element with my eyes closed. Jk jk jk. (bunny hops are on/off but I shall work on it!)

HOWEVER…… *starts to write teary eyed*

Recently I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis, and I won’t be able to do as much jumps moreso progress in FS levels. With age, comes the extra bagg-age. So that’s why my left knee has been aching for so long! I thought I got injured from doing too many jumps, but after the x-ray revelation… it’s more than that.

My doctor told me that I could still skate, and strength training is beneficial. I need to make my muscles stronger so that my bones won’t compensate from the weakness. Not only that, I need to stop eating inflammatory foods so that I don’t get puffy knees and pain.

Action plan:

Quit caffeine
Lessen sugar intake (as much as possible little to none!)
High protein, low carb
Strength training
Limit jumps (10 attempts per jump per training sesh)

It’s been 3 weeks since I slowly tapered of caffeine and sugar/processed foods and I can already see the difference. My knees aren’t aching anymore, and my face is less puffy.. and my tummy less bloated.

Making lemonade from lemons, there are still moves in field and ice dance so it ain’t over til I say it is!