This Location

In this blog I’m going to convey to you, the reader, what went through my mind as I performed the motion that resulted in my worst injury in five years of Parkour.

I will try and illustrate the moment as my mind portrayed it.

It is often said that your life flashes before your eyes when your about to die, what they don’t tell you is when you hit the ground and you feel your knee jar out of place, every knee injury you can recollect flashes before your eyes.

Some of you may recognise the place of discussion when I mention the steps leading to DeMontfort University’s Campus Centre - if not then it’s a set of concrete stairs with around 7 steps. It was a fair few months ago when the thought first occurred to me that a Side Somersault down the stairs in question would be both possible and very nice. However, it wasn’t until recently though that I decided to put this action into practice.

Mistake.

What started as a light technical session to kill some time became what would initiate three weeks on crutches and another month’s worth of physiotherapy. Drilling a large arm jump and some technical combinations was the aim of this small session.

Me and Sean decided to move on after a friendly chat with one of our lecturers whose words at the time were along the lines of “be careful and don’t hurt yourself”. Bad omen maybe, who knows.

On our way to the next location we pass the Campus Centre steps, I glance at them think back to that night when I almost went for it when I first considered this task. I tell Sean to stop as I ascend the concrete stairs. I convince him I can do it and assure my safety. Sean at this point is determined to film this attempt but I decline the offer. Mistake two (I would have liked to see where I went wrong!)

My initial worry as I stared at the stretch of ground in front of me was the road which began around eight feet from the bottom of the stairs. I figured I could stop before the road and began to run at the stairs.

Anyone experienced in Parkour at this point will understand me when I say that a run up often makes things harder; there’s more time to think as you run toward a jump, more time to imagine yourself falling and more time to picture the consequences. Funnily enough, as far as I can remember, none of this went through my head as ran toward the stairs - I had complete self confidence in my ability to Side Somersault and land safely, I must have done it hundreds of times before this so I wasn’t phased!

Take off.

Perfectly executed. Right foot down first and my body begins to turn to the right as my left foot plants close the edge of the top step. Right foot leaves the ground and is forced upward. Left foot leaves the ground and I’m in the air. Maybe a bit too much power put into it but I wanted to ensure I didn’t land on the stairs.

Rotation.

The second stage of any trick. I’m sure most trickers would agree this stage is always fairly short and gives little time for concurrent feedback. Having said this, I remember executing the usual sequence of subroutines. Extension of the body to gain distance. This is followed by a sharp motion to tuck the body into a small ball shape by bringing both knees to my chest and firmly holding my shins to lock my self in position. This position is held briefly as most of the rotation is performed. I look to the floor as my body is horizontal to it’s harsh surface. At this point I let go of my shins and open my body into a star shape to prepare for landing.

So first my right leg hits the ground and bends slightly to absorb the impact; this felt perfectly fine - a good start to a potentially good landing. My left leg remains straight as my foot approaches the ground.

Impact - and my leg still hasn’t bent!

It feels like my leg is locked in place. I can feel the pressure building on my knee joint until my knee cap suddenly jars out of place. This part was incredibly painful. It moves sharply and violently to the left and snaps back into place with a crunch.

At this point a few experiences went through my head; a school friend who experienced a similar injury whilst dancing, the image of the 2009 Free Running Championships when one contestant injured themselves landing a Loser Somersault with a half twist too heavily and my friend at University causing muscle damage in his knee joint the last night of the first term.

After the initial shock my natural reaction was to roll sideways to prevent any further damage and spread the impact across my body. I sat on the concrete with adrenaline flowing through my veins. I’m not in pain but my instinct tells me I’m in trouble. I don’t try and stand yet I just let what happened sink in.

The result of this accident was simply the dislocation of my knee cap. I’m currently going through physiotherapy to build my left leg’s strength back up.

What kept me going whilst I couldn’t train was inspiration from this man: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxjrBd4WE2U - Bill Shannon AKA ‘Crutch’.

So for those who were wondering where I’ve been for the last month or so, I’ve been recovering from an incident of which I will remember the details for the rest of my life.

-Jak