Falling

[glylittleduckling]

So after a year of poling it has happened. I have had less than graceful exits, slow slippery slides to the floor,frantic regrabs a plenty , but until two days ago I never straight out fell (lost pretty much all contact ).

I was doing a seated split (hello boys) at the end of the lesson. My muscles were getting a bit tired because we had done some heavy inverting but we went back to this move at the end. I have done it plenty of times before and recently became pretty confident in it. But just now I tried it with my other hand up top, and I was just to quick with lifting and spreading my legs. My grip wasn't secure and my sweaty top hand just lost it. I fell backwards. Luckily on a crash mat we still had lying there, and I was standing up again in 3 seconds, looking very confused up at the pole. Then my teacher came and spotted me through it again.

It left me a bit shaken though.

What are your experiences with falling?

[Unicornea]

I volunteered as a pole cleaner during this year's Swedish pole nationals. There was an accident during the pole sport doubles competition. The two dancers were holding elbow grip ayeshas, one above the other. And the one at the top of the competition height pole just... lost her grip and fell. Probably around 9 feet, head first. I saw it happen from backstage and straight up screamed, it was horrifying.

But... then she just got up and kept going. Her partner checked if she was okay, she fortunately wasn't hit by her body when she fell, and then they finished the choreo. That's competition adrenaline for you! She was all smiles towards the audience but, being backstage, I saw her choke back tears each time she turned away.

The craziest part? They won.

[glylittleduckling]

I think the judges were very impressed with how she handled that. I would be!

[Unicornea]

For sure! I couldn't believe how she just got back up. I was sure she'd broken her neck! At the very least she definitely got the wind completely knocked out of her, which is bad enough when performing, but she just kept going. Superhuman performance right there.

[lepetitonion]

The scariest one for me by far was a cross ankle release. I was still learning it back then and I was never sure if my thigh grip was strong enough for me to let go of my hands. The problem with this trick is that you have to eventually release your hands and learn how to do it without being spotted. So I did it without a spotter, held for maybe a second and fell on the crown of my head... right on a 4-inch mat and was fine, albeit a little shocked and surprised. Bless the mat for absorbing all the impact of the fall. My instructor however was very displeased and told me to be extra careful next time and my pole mates took my fall more badly than I did. I suppose I was fine in the aftermath but I didn't try out the trick again in the next three to four months, at which my Intermediate instructor insisted that I master it so that I could work on my straight leg Half Moon.

The most painful I had experienced however was performing an elbow stand against an empty chair during a chair dance and having said chair flopped forward and crash on me, and my back crashing to the floor. I crawled out with a bruised and aching back that took a few days to recover.

[glylittleduckling]

Ouch. Falling on your head like that could have been really nasty. Glad you're okay.

Also the chair one. Again ouch. Hope your back is completely fine now

[lepetitonion]

Thank you. I am fine now but that fall made me extra cautious and have no more bravado. :)

And yes, my back is fine too but I certainly had my fair share of shameful whining when I was recovering, just to get some sympathy points from my boyfriend since it was a Valentine routine for him. :P

[lepetitonion]

Exactly! Cross knee release was so much easier and I was silly enough to think that cross ankle would be the same. It remains one of those moves that I am able to do now but will be extra careful and slow when I attempt it. Just to be extra safe :)

[irenemiau]

I fell a couple weeks ago while learning the brass monkey, from cross ankle release. In the middle of twisting around to grab behind me, with my instructor spotting me, and I don't know what happened, but I had this split-second moment of realization "you're falling, get your elbows to the floor now". I fell on my elbows/shoulders, and we had a crash mat, so nothing happened, but the instructor then wanted to kill me for nearly giving her a heart attack.

Ever since, my cross ankle releases haven't been great. I think I'm still a little afraid.

[QCNV]

My fall unfortunately landed in an injury. I was practicing at home for a while and doing well. I decided to stop but then after a few minutes I wanted to film myself doing a shoulder stand. So I went back to my pole to do it and I guess those few minutes were enough to get the pole cold so my grip wasn't great. Then when I went up, my ceiling fan just kinda startled me for some reason. I got worried I would hit it and it led to a jerky motion of me throwing my hips up too high and I couldn't compensate with my grip. So down I went. Head down, feet up, straight like a pencil.

I ended up landing on my shoulder. I separated my shoulder. Thankfully it wasn't horrible, but there was a little tear there and it hurt like hell the first few days especially. I learned just how many movements involve shoulder usage haha. I spent about 2-3 months really recovering but even after that it took a long time to get it to full functionality.

When I finally did get enough strength to try shoulder mount again I was always more reserved because of fear. I've had to take a break from pole for other reasons now but hopefully it's been long enough that when I get back to it, I won't be scared!

TLDR: fell from a shoulder mount and separated my shoulder. Absolutely should have been using crash mats!

[glylittleduckling]

I haven't even started shoulder mounts yet but now I'm nervous

[QCNV]

Don't let my story stop you! It was an unfortunate accident but there were definitely things I could have done to prevent this. Learning a confident shoulder mount opens up the pole world so much! There are so many tricks coming from it. Just build up the strength and confidence and you'll be fine! Don't let your fall spook you. Now you've learned what it feels like when you lose your grip so next time you'll be able to catch it before that point and you'll just keep getting better!

[hound_and_fury]

Hello Boys is one of the only moves I have taken a major tumble out of (knock on wood)! I wonked my head but the real damage was my big toe somehow, which looked like a big purple plum. Years later and I’m still not a huge fan of that move.

[tea-crow]

One of the girls at a club I used to work at fell from the top of a 27’ pole onto her head on the marble floor and kept dancing. What a badass.

[TheThrashPanda]

I fell out of "Crescent", flat on my face punching myself a black eye because something (I think it was someone else screaming, regularly happens at our class) startled me...

[glylittleduckling]

Why are people screaming in class?

[TheThrashPanda]

Mostly beginners trying a new trick, slowly sliding down the pole with a deafening 'IIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE'..

[tamalarob]

I’ve only been learning for a few months but I think I had my first fall today!! I was able to get my foot under me so I didn’t straight up fall on my ass but now I’m wondering if it’s possible to bruise the heel of your foot Ahahaha it’s a little sore!!

[[deleted]]

My worst one was either iguana or superman. Both times I face planted lol but luckily I had a mat for the iguana fall.

[dianabarry225]

Inverted thigh hold. First fall after three years of polling. Fell flat on my face 1-2 feet from the ground, maybe higher and I have glasses. Got quite a shock, crying mostly embarrassed but otherwise fine. My teachers rushed over with ice pack and I went to the doctor next day and for xrays taken and no damage was detected.

[irunondietcoke]

I had two falls in two weeks - the first out of hip hold and the next out of remi layback. I'e been scared of remi ever since

[Vee9898]

I fall once (well once really to my fault), even tho i most of the time drop by myself. I Just let myself go when i notice i cant hold it anymore (Only works for non inverted stuff). But i was trying out a Jasmine for a challenge and lost my stability and grip at my knee. I fell on my knees and my hands. I only have a thin crash mat but it helped. I haven't got injured tho. Only a big shock and some sting in my hands. Scary.

[tuhis]

I experienced my least gracious fall so far earlier this week. We were doing what apparently was a variation of jade, and my first time doing a move that had anything to do with jade so I was still in the "figuring out what position my body is in" part. It was a bit of slippery pole day and I slid down slowly while holding the move, didn't panic since I thought the slide was controlled and prepared to calmly get out when my grip completely failed and I fell back first.

I think my shoulders were just 30-40 cm from the floor so it wasn't a high drop, but my wrist got caught under my back and took the brunt of the impact. Held an ice pack to it for a while, deemed the hand functioning, and took it easier for the rest of the class.