From Aerial to A&E

by Robyn Sainty

This is not a blog post I ever thought I would write. I’m currently on my second day of resting after having an accident whilst training aerial hoop. I’ve had a very harsh reminder that what we do is dangerous!

The Accident

I want this blog post to be more a reminder to be safe and advice on how to recover, than going into details about what happened. However I will give you an overview so the blog post makes sense.

I was training aerial hoop and filming a combination. When I was in a move similar to the picture, I fainted and hit my head on the wooden floor when I fell. (The video is pretty impressive!) I went to A&E and got told I have concussion.

It was scary at the time but I feel so lucky that it wasn’t worse.

Prevention is better than Cure

You can take all the correct safety measures but accidents can still just happen. I’ve been doing hoop for about 5 years, I was training moves I’m comfortable with, I had warmed up and I had a big, thick mat under me. There wasn’t anything more I could have done to be safe, it was just bad timing. (Slight understatement, fainting when you’re 2m off the floor is VERY bad timing!) I’m so thankful that I had the mat, even though I fell at the worse possible angle and my head missed, if it hadn’t been there at all, or if it had been a thin pole mat, I’m sure I would’ve broken something. You can never foresee and plan for everything. You can however, take as many precautions as possible to make sure you minimise the risk of getting hurt if anything does happen.

  • Make sure you have big, thick mats!
  • Don’t train alone.
  • If you really can’t get out of training alone, have your phone near you, keep doors/windows open so people can see you and have someone check on you after a certain amount of time.
  • Warm up properly.
  • Have a spotter if you’re not comfortable with a move.
  • Don’t just fall/drop out of moves.
  • Listen to your instructor.

We are not Invincible

I have had to cancel two and a half days full of lessons. Edit: I ended up having to cancel nearly two weeks. As someone who is self-employed, this is probably the hardest part. I didn’t have much choice but I worried about the money I was losing and about how students would react. Luckily, my students are lovely so I needn’t have worried about that!

If you do get injured, it’s so important to take time to recover! You only get one body and looking after it is the only thing you should worry about. The hoop/pole/silks will still be there when you’re ready to go back. If you don’t give yourself that recovery time at the start, you could make your injury worse and be forced to take more time off at a later date.

If you have had a fall, don’t rush straight back into the move you fell from. Come back slowly and build up to it, especially if you’re feeling nervous. Turn it into a positive learning experience and try to work out exactly what went wrong and if there’s anything you can do differently next time.

Although this kind of accident is rare, there are loads of (sometimes funny) Things that go Wrong During an Aerial Class

Be safe guys, for now I going to enjoy being looked after for a couple of days xx