Falls can bruise more than your ego
Falling off our horses is common. It’s just an occupational hazard that we all have to deal with from time to time.
How is it that something can happen so quickly and in slow motion all at once?
One second you’re going along nicely then suddenly
Thud.
You’re on the floor and your horse is either standing there looking at you or has made its break for freedom. (not sure which of these is more preferable really). Do you ever think about how the impacts of falling can take a toll on your body?
A lot of the time (depending on the severity of the fall) It feels like you are sore for a day and then everything seems to be ok again, but these repeated impacts over time can cause our bodies to become stiff and less mobile. This is because the impacts from the falls can actually knock your body out of line.
Our body learns to compensate for these misalignments, which sounds great, but it can result in one muscle being stuck in a shortened position while the opposite muscle is overextended.
What does that mean for you? Well, you may find that you cannot reach as far in a certain movement, or that you have a constant niggle that you just can’t seem to shake no matter how much you rub it or stretch it.
One thing many people don’t realise too is that just because a muscle feels sore and tight doesn’t mean that it is. Sometimes the pain we feel is from a muscle that is in an over-extended position due to a different tight muscle. The pain we feel isn’t always caused by the muscle that we feel it in. This is a prime example of where stretching will not improve the issue.
We’ve been taught from a young age that if you fall off “you just get back on.” Once nothing is broken or badly damaged enough that you can’t. But have you ever had a check-up with a physio after the stiffness has eased? Or had a check-up with a physio at all to find out why your shoulder/knee/back has been sore for several weeks/months/years?
Oftentimes, we put it off because we think that we will be told that we cannot ride, or we won’t be able to do things for a certain period of time. This is rarely the case. A good physio will be able to work with you so you can continue to do what you love. They may advise stopping doing certain things for a short period of time in order for the injury to properly heal, but they will also give you a plan on how you can get your body back in working order so that the issue doesn’t resurface in a few weeks.
The longer you ignore it, the more you risk it becoming a much bigger problem. One that will result in you being sidelined for an extended period of time, so would you not rather avoid this happening? Your body can only compensate for so long, at some point something will have to give and it always does.
Our bodies go through so much as equestrians and we need to look after them just like we look after our horses. Now is the time to get those issues sorted once and for all. Imagine what it would be like to be pain-free. No shoulder that catches, no knee that tells the weather, not referring to your left and right as “good or bad” sides. Is this alone not worth it?
Do you suffer from stiff, tense or grindy hips?
Follow this link for my FREE PDF “Happy Hips for Horseriding”