Wrist injuries in guarded versus unguarded first time snowboarders.
In 1999, a study was done examining the injury risk and pattern in first time snowboarders versus first time skiers. Although these rates were similar, snowboarders sustained a higher percentage of injuries to the upper extremity, particularly wrist sprains and fractures. As an extension of this previous study, the protective value during snowboarding of an off-the-shelf wrist guard originally designed for inline skating was tested. Two thousand three hundred fifty-five first time snowboarders were evaluated at one northeastern ski resort. Five hundred fifty-one snowboarders wore wrist guards and a control group of more than 1800 snowboarders did not wear wrist guards. Forty wrist injuries were sustained in the control group (2.2%), compared with no injuries (0%) in the snowboarders who wore wrist guards. Importantly, there was no increase in more proximal or distal upper extremity injuries in the group of snowboarders who wore wrist guards.
O'Neill
Daniel Fulham
DF
New Hampshire Knee Center, PO Box 840, Ashland, NH 03217, USA. pso@cyberportal.net
D000056:Accident Prevention; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011482:Protective Devices; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012865:Skiing / Q000293:injuries*; D013997:Time Factors; D014954:Wrist Injuries / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*