Snowboarding Injury Preventation

TIPS ON AVOIDING SNOWBOARDING INJURIES

The reason for the growing number of wrist injuries is that most boarders learn on their own or from friends. They don’t seek professional instruction and learn the proper way to fall and preventative steps they can take to avoid injury.

• Snowboarders often ignore the extent of the injury, and return immediately to their sport, especially if it was competitive. As a result, treatment and recovery is compromised. For some, the long-term consequences prove even more devastating and result in chronic wrist problems followed by disabling arthritis.
• Learn fall techniques from an instructor. For example, when you fall forward, use your arms tucked in your chest to cushion your fall. When falling background, fall on your buttocks first.
• If you injure a wrist, see an orthopedic doctor who specializes in hand and wrist care. Otherwise, you may pay the price for years to come.
• No matter which way you fall, get in the habit of making a fist. Making a fist keeps your fingers from splaying out and your wrists from hyper-extending. Along with making fists, using your forearms (instead of just your hands) helps to keep your wrists from hyper-extending. Putting your forearms down also helps protect your face from slamming into the snow. If falling forward, absorbing impact with your knees helps to lessen the force with which you fall.
• Typical safety gear consists of wrist guards (a few brands of gloves and mittens have wrist support built in), tailbone pads (a few brands of snow pants come with extra padding in the rear), elbow pads, knee pads and helmets.

BACKGROUND ON SNOWBOARDING/TECHNIQUE

• Injuries in skiing are usually torque-related injuries to the lower extremities whereas typical snowboard injuries usually affect the upper extremities because both feet are strapped onto one board. When snowboarders fall, they typically land on their hands, shoulders, rear-ends, or heads. The most typical snowboarding injury is a wrist fracture. There are also wrist sprains and elbow contusions and dislocations, and a lot of contusions and rotator cuff injuries in the shoulder. Broken collarbones, concussions, and other head and neck injuries are common, too.
• Riding heel-side is when you are turning on your heel-side edge and your back is facing the slope. Riding toe-side is when you are turning on your toe-side edge and you are facing the slope.
• The #1 reason for falling on a snowboard especially when just starting out is due to "catching an edge". This happens when an inexperienced rider is not riding on either a toe or heel edge and the metal edge along either side of the board, cuts into the snow unexpectedly. In a successful run a rider would be on toe edge, ease off, and then on to heel edge, hence carving down a slope. When becoming familiar with the skill of turning and the general mechanics of snowboarding, the trick is to not be in limbo between edges — the rider should more-or-less always be on an edge or in the process of committing to an edge, otherwise they will catch an edge.
• When you catch your heel edge, you'll fall backward. When falling backward, your head and tailbone are at risk. If you feel yourself falling backward, tuck your chin toward your chest. This is good advice for beginners on the bunny hill, but — before you hit the slopes, get a helmet.
• When you catch your toe edge, you'll fall forward. When falling forward, your fingers, wrists, and elbows are at risk. The natural inclination is to extend your hands out in front of you to break your fall. Make sure you RESIST this temptation. Doing it can break your fingers, or worse, your wrists. Instead, make fists (to prevent your fingers from breaking), hold your arms in front of your chest (bent, not extended), and fall on your forearms, not your elbows. The surface of your forearms you should fall on is the one that makes contact with the dinner table when you rest your arms comfortably on it.