Hard Touchdown, Gimped for a day or so.

[Tuna-Salad 0]

I have not really had a problem standing up landings (Only 11 were of my 97 were not stand-up).
The question here is.. sometimes I touch down pretty hard and for a couple days after I am sort of gimped. Usually happens on my left leg (because I think my left foot touches down first)... that I cannot raise my foot up.. or point my toes up to my knee after a hard landing.. the muscle flexes but I can only get my foot 90 degrees or level, but cannot go past.. if I really try then I get a tingling sensation in my thigh. The last time if I tried it would give me the urge to take a leak like someone was stepping on my bladder. When I walk it's like my foot sort of.. stomps as if I'm not picking it up all the way or it's just limp, but goes away after a day or so.
What the hell is going on? Has this ever happened to anyone?

Millions of my potential children died on your daughters' face last night.

[AtomF 0]

Haven't had pains THAT bad. Tingly feet maybe after a hard stand-up.

If the landings are that bad, then you gotta change something. Can I ask what model/size parachute your jumping? It could have an impact on the style of landing.

Edit-
I'm going to purely assume (and do correct me if I'm wrong) that you might be jumping an F111 canopy. I jump one myself- I'm not sure if it's the way that the canopies are meant to land but I've noticed that I don't get "soft" landings on mine unless I'm landing into some wind. One thing that I've done is practice flaring up high, getting the feeling of a fully slowed down canopy after a second of a full flare, and keeping that feeling in mind when it comes down to flare time. It helps me. I'm no professional or anything, but it's advice that helped me.

[Tuna-Salad 0]

I'm still on student gear. Solo 230 for about 40 jumps.
There is no pain.. I just seem to lose use of that foot for a while. It would only hurt when trying to use the clutch on my car while driving home.

Millions of my potential children died on your daughters' face last night.

[DeNReN 0]

You have clutch foot...a common injury with race car drivers...

Ask your doctor.

[Tuna-Salad 0]

ARGH! I googled 'clutch foot' and I'm seeing lots of stuff about surgery.

I'm afraid of needles

Millions of my potential children died on your daughters' face last night.

[BUBLHED 0]

Landing hard shocks the nervous system and most likely in your case it takes awhile for your system to recover. I have jumped some really old ass f111 canopies and the most important thing I found was, flare early enough and flare ALL THE WAY. I emphasize all the way because I would turn my hands down ( thumbs pointing down) at the bottom to get just that much more stroke. My best landings have been when I felt like I had stopped and had to actually wait to be sat down on the ground. If that makes any sense. I guess I'm saying to sink the canopy in the last foot or so.

Might work for you might not?

ATTACK LIFE ! IT'S GOING TO KILL YOU ANYWAY!!!!

[Tuna-Salad 0]

I know exactly what you speak of. I've done it a few times but not always. I'm probably flaring a little late. This does not happen often but when it does it's just... weird.

Millions of my potential children died on your daughters' face last night.

[quade 4]

I know this is going to sound kinda elementary, but I think you're fighting the landing a bit too hard. If you sense it's going to be a hard landing, then PLF and don't fight it. It's MUCH better to not land standing up than to land standing up only to have gotten a sprain.

I've done this exact same thing myself during my declared landings for my Pro-Rating.

Ultimately you should know that your body only has so many really hard landings available to it over the course of your skydiving career. Even if you never go to the hospital, over the course of say, 10 years of skydiving you're ARE going to end up with some minor tears that never heal correctly. This all adds up and eventually you're going to need something fixed. Do yourself a huge favor and roll with the punches rather than fight them just so you can keep some sort of record for stand landings.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Shepp 0]

Quote

I'm still on student gear. Solo 230 for about 40 jumps.

I jumped a Solo 230 for my first 25 or so until I bought my own gear. Nice to fly, not so nice to land. I had to PLF my first 10, had "Oh my god, that really hurt, I probably should've PLF'd" landings for the next 10. I would walk around with my knees screaming for a week afterward.

One thing my instructor pointed out was that the brake lines on the Solo were trimmed such that the canopy was pretty much impossible to stall even at full stroke (unless you have orangutan arms). This was affecting my ability to land softly because I wasn't able to reach 100% flare. Since I switched to a totally ZP 210 (1:1) with properly trimmed brakes, I have only had a handful of landings that really sucked.

The instructors will have the best advice; I'm just pointing out that the canopy you're jumping may be limiting your ability to perform the 'perfect' flare.

Blue Skies

Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward.

Accidents don't just happen. They must be carelessly planned.