If someone dont read news about other skaters
http://www.ctvolympics.ca/figure-skating/n...wsid=17415.htmlPosted Thursday, October 15, 2009Patrick Chan withdraws from Russia Grand PrixCanadian Patrick Chan has withdrawn from next week's ISU Grand Prix figure skating event in Russia because of a tear in his left calf.
Chan hopes to compete as scheduled at the HomeSense Skate Canada International in Kitchener, Ont., Nov. 19-22.
Skate Canada high performance director Mike Slipchuk said: "Patrick was really excited about competing for the first time in Russia. After consultation with his doctors and coach, however, it was the right decision to withdraw from this event at this point in the year.
"It's important for Patrick to get back to 100 per cent in preparation for the season ahead, which includes the upcoming 2010 Olympic Winter Games.'
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http://www.ctvolympics.ca/figure-skating/n...mes+muscle+tearOctober 15, 2009
Chan blames muscle tear on fluToronto figure skater Patrick Chan says pushing himself too hard, too soon after a bout of influenza caused a muscle in his calf - an injury that has sidelined the 18-year-old from next week's Grand Prix event in Russia.
Chan came down with an illness last month that kept him from skating for much of the Vancouver high performance training camp.
"We even believe it might have been H1N1 because the symptoms were quite similar," Chan said in a conference call, Thursday.
"I lost a lot of weight, lost a lot of my muscle power and mass. I think together it just combined and really brought down my muscle strength way down," Chan said. "And also I was so hard headed that I thought I could do certain jumps that I shouldn't have and I pushed my body when I should have just waited for it to heal."
It was two weeks before Chan was able to return to the ice, he said. Once skating again, a pain developed in his left calf and grew steadily worse.
"Nobody really found the real problem with my calf until I came home just recently. Just on Wednesday," Chan said, "I saw the doctor and he found that I had a tear in my calf- a slight muscle tear in my calf."
Chan also learned that the antibiotics he had been given to battle the flu were known for breaking down muscle mass, and believes that may have contributed to the tear.
Chan says the injury is not overly painful, and he can even skate through it. However, the tear is in his takeoff leg and it hinders his jumping.
"The recovery is about a week. Maybe five days from now I'll be able to start jumping," he said.
By pulling out of the Russia competition, Chan hopes to be completely healed by Skate Canada next month. The competition in Kitchener, Waterloo, is the only other Grand Prix event on Chan's schedule.
Because he will also be ineligible to compete in the Grand Prix final in December, Skate Canada will also be Chan's only chance to compete in front of international judges.
"The only disadvantage is not having the chance to show the program and kind of get a chance to kind of fine-tune the program, especially in competition," Chan said. "I just look forward to going to Skate Canada now. I'm very hungry to come out and skate harder."
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