Snowboarding Injuries

Wrist injuries as a result of snowboarding
Snowboarding injuries tend to be to the upper limb.
Snowboarders are three times more likely to injure the upper limb than the lower limb, whereas skiers tend to injure the lower limbs. They are twice as likely to have a fracture than skiers.
The most common injury is to the wrist and then the shoulder.
Teenagers are the highest risk group.

Snowboarding relies on balance. The feet are fixed onto the snowboard with non release bindings. Momentum being achieved by movement of the upper body and balance is achieved by the upper limbs.

When a snowboarder falls, the natural instinct is to stretch out the arms and consequently land on an outstretched hand!

70% of all wrist injuries from snowboarders are fractures.
These can vary in severity, from a clean break which just requires immobilisation in a plaster cast for six weeks, to the more severe cases where the bones have broken and then moved. This requires surgery to relocate the fragments and then fix them in place with metal. Further immobilisation is achieved with a plaster cast. This takes longer to heal and will require longer periods of rehabilitation.

Prevention is better than cure.
Wrist guards have been found to prevent wrist fractures in snowboarders. Trials have shown that those wearing wrist guards were half as likely to injure the wrist than those not wearing them.
Statistics have shown that only 10% of boarders wear wrist guards!

There have been discussions about the likelihood of fracturing the arm higher up the limb if wearing a wrist guard, but this only occurred in those wearing the short stubby guards as used by skaters.
A flexible guard with protection along the back of the wrist and going most of the way up the forearm is the preferred type, one recommended by Dr Mike Langran is the Flexmeter, which can be bought online from www.alspear.co.uk

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