Figure skating is a beautiful sport, isn’t it? The detailed costumes, the elegant music, the skillful spinning and jumping, all combine to deliver a masterpiece on ice.

The truth? There are bruises, scratches and bandages underneath the sparkly Spandex suits. The physical demands on the body are exceptionally high, particularly for elite skaters. These athletes spend hours, days and months perfecting their skills. That amounts to years of wear and tear on the body.

Researchers have done tests to measure the physical impact of figure skating. They estimate that the landing force on a figure skater’s body is between five to eight times their body weight. In comparison, the force on a runner’s body is two to three times their weight. Skaters jump on average 50 to 100 times in one training session.

I was an elite figure skater for 13 years. My life until the age of 17 was devoted to the sport. It was my job. Figure skating was also the reason there are days I can barely walk because of a back injury I suffered that ended my career. It’s the reason I suffer from chronic pain every day. I’m only 25.

Stress on the body

Elite, competitive skaters can spend anywhere from two to five hours on the ice every day.

Claudine Morency, a Level 3 figure skating coach, operates and owns the École Excellence Rosemere figure skating club in Québec with her husband Yvan Desjardins, one of Canada’s most recognized coaches. Their club has trained and produced some of Canada’s top figure skaters.

“On an elite level, this sport needs three hours of training on ice and an hour of training in a gym. Nutritionists, physiotherapists, and masseuses surround skaters of this level. During the weekend, they need to keep an athlete’s lifestyle in order by eating the right diet and having the right amount of hours of sleep. Like any high level competitive sport, figure skating needs a rigorous training regimen,” she says in French.

Elite athletes are required to follow a specific and strict training program in order to be successful.

Significant shifts in figure skating have increased the physical demands on athletes. Athletes are pushing beyond what was once the norm. A more difficult element will earn a higher level from judges. So new elements are created and executed regularly, raising the level of difficulty and forcing skaters to take more risks.

“The biggest misconception of figure skating is that people think it’s a girly sport,” says Kevin Darwish, a former elite figure skater who now coaches young athletes.

“Yes, it is partially based on artistic, but it is actually physically intense. I would almost deem it as an extreme sport.”

More male skaters are attempting the quad jump (four rotations). Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford, four-time Canadian pairs champions and the 2015 world pairs champions, have successfully executed the quad salchow in their programs, something that has rarely been done by any pair team in the world. Radford throws Duhamel, who spins four times in the air before landing on one leg.

“Figure skating is an extremely difficult sport on a physical and mental level,” says Morency.

“Different physical elements are used during the programs. One needs to be flexible to present beautiful body lines, while being strong to do the jumps, agile and fast, with elegance.”

Nicholas Young spent years as an elite skater, rising to the senior national level. Now he’s a Level 3 coach.

“On the physical side training hurts. The hardest part was always restarting the year,” Young says. “You are constantly chasing perfection, which is demanding.”

Training ramps up during the fall as competition season begins. It cools down in the summer.

“During the year you have numerous competitions but are looking to peak at the right time,” he says.

Like Young, former figure skaters Kevin Darwish, Rolanda Steenweg, Vanessa Cavalie and Emily Warren have suffered injuries.

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In 2013, researchers from Brigham Young University examined the physical impact of the sport. They found that as skaters jump and land, the body doesn’t have enough time to absorb forces that are five to eight times their body weight.

“In general, coaches and skaters may not talk about landing forces all that often,” researcher Sarah Ridge says in a video describing their work.

“It’s just kind of a necessary evil. This is what happens. You land a jump and you have these high magnitude forces,” she adds.

“That force just gets transmitted straight from the ice, up through her lower extremities up to the back.”

Skaters repeat jumps and spins over and over in an attempt to make it look easy and effortless during competition.

“I understand that a lot of people think figure skating is ‘easy’ but I think that is mostly because making an element look ‘easy’ or well executed is actually what the skater is being judged for and takes a lot of hard work,” says Rolanda Steenweg, a former figure skater.

Injuries

Not all figure skaters suffer traumatic injuries. Still, many elite figure skaters face some sort of severe injury that either puts training on hold or ends their career.

The number of injured skaters is difficult to pinpoint. In a survey from about 15 years ago, 118 competitive Canadian skaters reported a total of 314 injuries to Dr. Wilbour Kelsick, a Vancouver-based chiropractor. He sent the survey to 900 skaters.

Recently, two-time Canadian champion Kaetlyn Osmond, 19, returned to competition after missing all of last season due to a broken leg. Osmond swerved and her blade got caught on the ice, causing her to fall and break her fibula. The injury required surgery.

Elvis Stojko, two-time Olympic silver medallist, and seven-time Canadian champion, was plagued with a recurring groin injury throughout his career. Stojko also suffered an ankle injury during the warm-up at the 1995 Canadian championships, which forced him out of the competition. Later that year he finished second at the world championships on a still unhealed ankle.

Researchers Nathan W. Saunders of Longwood University in Virginia and Steven T. Devor of Ohio State University gathered information on lower extremity injuries in figure skaters.

They say that as many as 20 per cent of figure skating injuries are stress fractures. They suggest that the direct cause of this injury stems from the lack of shock absorption when a skater lands on the hard ice.

Saunders and Devor compared the lack of protective equipment in figure skating to gymnastics.

“Gymnasts, by comparison, practice new, potentially dangerous skills with mats, foam pits, and spotters. Even in competition, gymnasts perform their skills over protective mats in the presence of spotters. In contrast, when practicing or even learning a new skill, figure skaters for the most part just ‘go for it’ without any additional protection,” they say in their report.

Figure skaters wear no protective gear. A helmet is only required in the early stages of learning. At the elite competitive level, if you fall and hit your head on the ice, there is nothing to protect you. There are no gloves on your hands or padding anywhere on your body.

Saunders and Devor point to the skating boot as one source of injury. The boot, made mostly of multiple layers of leather, is the only equipment worn by figure skaters. The ankle has limited motion because of it. When the athlete takes off for a jump and lands, the tendons are compressed and sustain sheer forces.

“Most of these injuries are directly or indirectly related to boot structure and design, training volume, jump mechanics, muscle strength, muscle inflexibility, or a combination of these variables,” the researchers say.

Alison Beaton, physiotherapist and owner of Scotia Physiotherapy in Halifax, has seen the damage figure skating does to the body. She says the most common types of injuries are through overuse and traumatic injuries.

So what measures need to be put in place to protect the athletes from injury? Beaton suggests the following:

• Proper instruction,
• Avoiding over training,
• Good warm-up and cool down,
• Appropriate conditioning off the ice,
• Adequate rest,
• Proper fitting equipment.

Skaters at an elite level know the risks of injury are high. Coach Claudine Morency knows this too and tries to help her athletes to be safe while pushing themselves at the same time.

“It’s a difficult sport on a mental level as well because athletes fall on a daily basis. No one likes to fall! In figure skating, falling is part of the learning process. It hurts the body as well as an athlete’s mental health because it affects self-confidence,” she says.

“During competitions, the best athletes are those who are mentally strong and who stay focused beyond their mistakes.”

Why keep going?

So why do figure skaters skate through the pain? What makes the sport worth it? Why do these athletes continue training for a sport that will likely lead them to injury?

Passion and national recognition.

“As much pain and suffering I had to overcome because of my sport, I guess the reason being for my strive to continue is mostly the love and passion for the sport. You have spent every day for the past 10 to 15 years training for a goal. You aren’t going to let an injury or anything else get you down. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!” says Kevin Darwish.

“I always trained with one motto in mind that a fellow competitor once told me:
A smooth sea NEVER made a skilled sailor!”

Unlike in professional hockey and football, for example, where athletes sign million-dollar contracts, figure skaters make little to no money. While endorsement deals and funding are possible, usually this is only available to national and international level skaters.

Winning the national title or the rare Olympic gold medal is the ultimate accomplishment for an elite figure skater. This is why skaters spend countless hours and days training.

At 17, my career ended because of an injury. I was a high jumper, and one day lost control in the air and landed right on my back. I fractured two vertebre. Morency, along with my other coaches Yvan Desjardins and Lyne Houde, helped me accept that I had to hang up my skates.

Today, I suffer from pain caused by two herniated discs. This was directly related to that fall. I am now 25 and comfortable with the fact that I can no longer call myself a figure skater.

Now, I interview them.