…uhh i usually try not to catch myself if its anything that involves landing lower than i left the ground, or high(er) speed falls, i find that you have time to roll up or do something to diffuse your fall better from higher places, and i have a tendency to ditch the unicycle and land on my feet if i’m not going to make a jump, i know my limits very well tho, and can tell when i’m going to make or break a jump.
I second this, and would particularly recommend MAs that focus on throws and takedowns: shuai jiao, judo, aikido, some types of jiu jutsu.
Agreed. IME, tucking up is always better than trying to catch yourself, unless you’re specifically trying to keep your torso from being impaled on some jagged branch or spiky rock.
Six weeks and my broken fingers are just starting to be usable, though it hasn’t stopped me from riding 
Hand injuries are common if you fall on your hands, the same could be said if you fall on your head 
I wear full gloves with wrist splints on both sides, but there’s no good way to protect your fingers other than don’t fall with oiutstretched hands.
Think of it this way: If you fall, you’re gonna land on some part of your anatomy, so which one do you prefer, your face?
Get some leather gloves and tape your fingers together in pairs, so you’ll have a thumb and two sets of double fingers, it still works for muni, and the two finger combos are stronger and more injury resistant than the individual fingers. I leave my gloves taped and just slip them on and off.
[making ET noise] loook at my hands, i am an alien! … … … mmrooowwww… … …
really tho, that seems like it would get to you after a while, and fingers would become very sore very quickly.
Buddy taping your fingers like Nurse Ben suggests might help. I agree with others though the best way to get good at falling is to fall a lot.
Martial arts like Judo or Jujutsu would be great training.
Also if you are falling on your hands try not to spread your fingers but do not make a fist. have your hands in a nice neutral position (fingers close slightly curled etc)
I dont know about the uni yet so thanks for this thread! but I’ve fallen a million+ times skating. Forwards is safest. I find its best to impact multiple places so I hit knees, elbows and wrist guards. More areas disperses the impact I find. Odd falls, collapse (keep body loose), get small, roll it out. Worst thing is outstretched arm. Even with wrist guards, the force travels to your forearm. I wish I knew how to fall sideways with my head going towards the ground. Natural instinct is put arm out. So thats how I shattered my arm! I guess to tuck arm around head to hit many places and roll it out?
I think its a good thing to learn to dive and roll, and be able to tuck up and break roll out of bails. It spreads the force out more in a hard fall. Other than that wear protection lol, it’s simple.
Yes. No. Meaning: probably it doesn’t take a long time for those lessons to become sufficiently ingrained, so they still would help in a practical case.
Before I started riding 36" unicycles I had never had a fall while I was going faster than I could run. After some practice on a 36", going faster than you can run is not uncommon. Knowing that I would fall, I rehearsed mentally what I should do when I would lose it and fall forward: tuck my head and roll over my (right) shoulder. Mind you, I had never actually done this, but I did read about this technique. I’ve had a couple of such falls now, and much to my relief I was successfully able to do such a roll without much thinking. Like you say, when you fall everything happens so fast that you don’t have time to think.
Now in your case, riding off an 8" step, you’re not going faster than you can run, so in principle there no need for a roll. Remember that the uni will save itself, but you have to save yourself. That means: bail out early enough that you can land on your feet. But if you can’t (e.g. because you try too long to correct and stay on the wheel) and are about to eat it, that same tuck-and-roll technique might help.
Back to the case described in your initial post: better is avoiding to fall in the first place. If you ride off an 8" step, you could absorb the landing by bending forward. Also, don’t put your weight on the seat, or you’ll bounce off of it.
Thanks everybody, your input has been really helpful. I’m taking notes here… Better gloves, wrist protection, taping paired fingers, basic martial arts, don’t make a fist, stay relaxed, avoid outstretched arms, improve technique to avoid falling in the first place, fall more 
, etc. It all makes sense, and I’ll look into it all. Any further tips on technique to avoid injury or equipment recommendations are appreciated.
Oh and Klaas Bil… I think you probably found the cause of my wipeout- too much weight in the seat. Thanks for the suggestions.
Kurt
I can’t help you, so for I have broken my back and torn my meniscus in my knee! I suck!
Woops, for some reason I was thinking about just bailing, in general, rather than falling from some height. So forget my post. :o
Me too! (I only wish this was the only kind “bailing” I did!
)
thanx Max for the vid! that helps me more then just explaining it. i know my arm isnt strong yet so i think i have it figured out how to fall forwards and backwards w/out hands. pretty much forwards i guess go over the shoulder, kinda twist to the side, backwards backward roll. still should wait a few weeks, grrrrrrrrr…
Ugh. I’d rather bail off a unicycle all day.
It could only take a couple of martial arts classes.
At the first one tell them you primarily want to learn to fall safely. Then practice a bunch on a gently sloped grass field. In your second class make sure you have the proper technique for a variety of falls (including rolling forward to the left & right, and odd angles).
I conciously try to rotate my hips forward and try to get my feet under me. Strengthening my lower abs & hip flexors helped. This reduced the frequency and severity of falls, especially of the superman variety.
Since my legs don’t really work right, falling has a much higher likelyhood of not landing on my feet, so a lot of the things I do to challenge myself have a high rate of failure, but a low risk of falling. For example riding on the sidewalk, staying exactly on the length-wise crack, or riding rough terrain as smoothly as possible.
To play it safe I wear a lot of protection gear.
-661 Bomber Pro padded shorts - Always
(not much muscle back there for padding since breaking my back 9 yrs ago)
-mtb style helmet - Most of the time
-wrist guards and/or padded cycling gloves - Always
-661 4X4’s w/ knees cut off & hard shell skate kneepads - For Muni, always
-Fox Racing hard shell elbow pads - For Muni, usually
hope im not hijacking the thread, but interested in knowing about protective gear. i broke my radial bone 3 places, about healed but now if i fall i know i will NOT touch my right hand down for a long, long, long time. so i need some THICK elbows. how do the Fox elbows differ from the pro-designed standard elbows. are they 1" thick? right now i have the prodesigned kiddies but i want major protection for my arms.
i know if i go forward, my arms will be in so i will slam on the elbow/side of arm more likely.
do they have youth sized knee/shin guards that are good? i have to wear gaskets just to fit in the smallest vert pads so im sure ill have the same problem. i have small bones. :o
These are the pads I got. I think they only come in two sizes, S/M & L/XL, so the smallest be to big for you.
www.amazon.com/Fox-Racing-Launch-Elbow-Pads/dp/B0012DS5LK
661’s 2X4’s has a kids size, but soft pads don’t protect as well as hard shell pads can. If you are concerned about your forarm make sure whatever elbow pads cover more than just the elbow like the pads in your link.
The Fox kids knee/shinpads made for kids that I’ve seen (as well as most other brands) was pretty minimal looking. The knee/shin version of the elbowpads I got is only available in adult sizes, fit well on my long skinny legs, but the back is exposed, and I was concerned about possible chafing behind the knee and the quick release adjustment part of the straps wearing out.
I think there is a psychological dimension to hurting oneself.
I have practised martial arts (Aikido, Karate) I’ve practised skiing like mad … I almost never hurt myself.
Since I started unicycling : in ended twice in the ermergency room, broke numerous things and just today got another wrist badly twisted… Since I am as protected as robocop I suspect that I have some psychological blocking and a tendency to hurt myself … Why with unicycling only? I dunno…
I really like Muni but everybody is saying “you should quit!” no way!
how about these?
http://www.bobscycle.com/browse.cfm/4,99195.html
the adults would be too big. how thick is the padding? i know with skating, usually you might only hit the elbow, thus the design but now i will go down with a bent right arm.
the good thing about PD pads is that he can custom make them. the adults standard would take up my whole arm and I would have no spandex lol. thats why i used the kiddies. my arms are definitely child sized. the knee pads are an issue as my knee cap isnt big enough so they spin around. ive had to custom make many things since the kiddies dont provide extreme protection. i made butt pads out of motorcycle rubber that are 1" thick padding so now im hippy lol, but girls are supposed to have curves. i slam bad on my hips doing tricks skating so ive got to.
i wish there were a body parts renting dept. I would so rent an arm tomorrow! its my b-day and i cant have fun. maybe ill go to dave and busters and ride the motorcycle so i can spin on my head on the seat over jumps lol.