Ice Skating Injuries:
I myself have had a total hip replacement to my left hip. At least I had more years out of my skating career than they are having now. some as young as 14 yrs old have had to quit because of hip and knee injuries.
Crashing onto the left hip on the landing of an uncompleted rotation or an out of alignment jump happens hundreds if not thousands of times during a skater's life. Everything a skater does from jumps to spins to spirals (in extreme positions) to extremely difficult foot work which involves a lot of very strenuous hip rotation and a lot of knee action, is going to take it's toll on one's body, so the skater has to be as prepared as possible to be able to withstand it. From the beginning of their program to the end there is nowhere to really relax or breath at all. The body is not evolved enough to endure this kind of training year in and year out and come out in one piece. Michelle Kwan skated at senior world level for 10 years so can almost expect to have some wear and tear on her body with so much repetition over such a long period of time, not to mention the time she took to get to that level. There are a lot more competitions now with the new selection system - one after the other. You have to maintain consistency in all the jumps which are still paramount in this sport even though the rules and marking system have changed. A skater has to be as brave and tough as an astronaut and as graceful and agile as a ballet dancer with great expression and musical interpretation all unfolding together to make a complete performance.
Artistry in Figure Skating:
As a skater grows and develops their individuality, it becomes more acceptable for them to be more daring and different from before. When they have developed their technique they usually find a need to expand in other directions. We can go a lot further with the artistic and creative side, than we can with the technical because it is more infinitely possible. I would like to think we could next add a purely artistic program without any jumps or spins at all. Instead of pressurizing skaters to do triple and quad jumps, let's go in a more "mind body and spirit direction which encompasses the whole person! With jumping alone we are governed by the laws of physics. How high can we jump to achieve more rotations and how fast can we spin, and how will we see it and appreciate it with the human eye. We after all, human beings and not robots. Let's be happy about that!
Skating has always been classed as a very beautiful, expressive, artistic and athletic sport but has turned out to be one of the most demanding sports on the planet. It is physically very demanding to achieve great technical expertise but it is even greater and more memorable to create an everlasting impression by being "unique!"
