Skateboarding Stretches & Excercise

On Tuesday, I head in for my second knee surgery since I started skateboarding. The first one was to replace my ACL and fix up some cartelage. This time it's just a simple scope going in, to trim up some tears and check things out. Good times!

If you've been skateboarding long, you've probably collected some skateboarding injuries of your own. These knee surgeries are the worst thing I've faced, but I've had piles of smaller stuff, from skinned palms to cracking my elbow while trying to learn to Ollie (after my brother explained to me that you Ollie by standing on the board, and then slamming down on the tail. That's it. So I did, and flew into the air sideways while my skateboard launched across the street. I hear it was funny, but strangely I don't remember laughing...). Getting hurt while skateboarding is normal. I actually feel proud of some injuries!

But, plenty of injuries can be avoided, and the older you get (like past 12), you need to start thinking about stretching before you try anything too fun. And, once you get hurt, you need to start thinking about what to do to help yourself get better. To that end, I have a little article called Skateboarding Stretches and Exercise, written with the help of a physical therapist friend of mine. It's full of ideas for helping to avoid skateboarding injuries, and what to do once you've earned yourself a good one. I hope it helps!

Photo of Jake Brown's X Games Crash © Eric Lars Bakke / ESPN Images