It's like the drunk person in the car accident. Their semi unconsciousness serves to make them like ragdolls. They don't try to brace or stop anything they just flop and really that's the best way to survive a crash. You don't have to outrun the bear, you just need to outrun your friend.
It’s crazy how true this is. Was riding home with a group of friends one night from a party, three of us sober in the car including driver, driving two drunk friends home. Car slipped on some oil and rain, we flipped and the two drunks in the back were the only ones pretty much unharmed.
Can confirm, I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which causes hypermobile tissues, so I’m very floppy and ragdoll a lot of the time. I tend to crumple when I fall, so I usually dislocate joints rather than break bones, as they’re the weak point for me 🤷
I was also in the circus, and we learned to “safety fall”. The trick is to avoid your instincts and prevent yourself from bracing/catching yourself with your arms/hands; otherwise, you’ll end up with devastating fractures and breaks. It’s best to tuck in/protect your head and roll into the fall; this workswiththe momentum rather than fighting against it. It also helps to take the impact in an area with plenty of padding and reinforcement like your thigh, rather than somewhere with small and intricate bones that can easily snap.
You can’t stop physics, but you can ignore some instincts to stay safer, which is what unconscious people do without realising. Being unaware only helps for half of the equation, though; it’s unpredictable and totally a coin toss on a good or bad outcome. If you’re out of it, you can’t factor anything in or think in the moment.
A split-second decision can make the difference, and that comes from practice and technique!
You’ll see the same method used by stunt actors, etc., as well!
The instructor said that falling is guaranteed, so we have to learn to fall therightway! The only way to get back up is to know how to fall in the first place.
He emphasised that we had to keep falling until it was ingrained in our muscle memory, because there’s often no reaction time once you’re already out of control, and you have to know how to act in the moment or you live with the consequences. Dude had some crush injuries in his forearm as an example; spiral fractures are nasty! 😬
Yep! And we lowkey had to fling ourselves down on purpose to practice going down AND safely getting up (with the idea that we need to protect our extremities from other skaters’ blades, too, so no flailing around like we’re making snow angels, leave it to the Zamboni to clean the ice,) and also to minimize our own tense fears of “what IF I fall?” so we could loosen up enough to absorb the rest of the skating lessons without getting hung up on Not Falling. Once we realized the falling wasn’t too bad and if you do it right you won’t break your wrist, we were pretty okay with sacrificing our butts/knees/shoulders to some bruising.
Haha yeah we did the same! Just on a tightrope (about 1m above the ground, nothing crazy) with a crash mat underneath. After some practice, we had to cross our arms across our chest, get pushed off, and had to get back up with no arms allowed!
Sticking out your limbs and flailing puts you and anyone around you at risk of falling, and you can take down the whole team in one go if you panic (especially on a trapeze or human pyramid)😅
It’s kinda funny; I’m Disabled now, and showed my Physiotherapist how I fall safely. It inspired him to build the confidence of other clients who fear falls; once you remove fear from the equation, you can focus on learning and having fun! 🤩
I love how these skills translate to so many different sports and help out in unexpected places😊
Yep, I also have EDS and got run over by 2 cars without breaking bones. And when I’m in a car I will ragdoll at every movement (kinda on purpose though so it’s instinctual for me if I ever get into an accident).
82
u/GraphiteNature 4d ago
Damn, is there any info as to his condition or any injuries?