Wrist Guards Helpful in Snowboarding?

Per my last entry Snowboarding Injuries usually involve the wrist. If you missed it, you can read about common snowboarding injuries here – http://www.handandwristinstitute.com/common-snowboarding-wrist-injuries/

In this post, we’ll talk about how these injuries can be prevented.

Laboratory studies have shown that with a proper wrist guard on, additional energy or force is needed to cause a wrist injury. More importantly, many studies have been done on actual use of splints and to whether they help. The largest study was done by the Colorado Snowboard Injury Survery looking at over 7,000 injuries. This study found that snowboarders wearing guards were half as likely to injure their wrist as those not wearing guards. Finally, the most recent article by Russell, Hagel and colleagues reviewed all studies on this topic and found that consistently wrist guards significantly reduce the risk of wrist injuries. And the beginners received the most benefit.

In my practice, I have not seen a wrist inury where a splint was worn.

It is very important to wear the proper wrist guards when snowboarding. The very short and rigid guards can actualy still have wrist injuries and maybe even lead to injuries as they dont give enoiugh protection.

Unfortunately, there is no standard. It has been suggested that to provide maximum protection, a wrist gaurd should have a degree of flexibility, have protection along the back of the wrist and to extend up to the mid-forearm.

The take home message is obviously to wear proper splints at all times when snowboarding.

Wrist guards should be worn while snowboarding. Even the savviest of black diamond snowboarders have accidents, and their wrists should be protected at all costs. Wrist guards can be purchased almost anywhere and have multipurpose uses during off-season. Make sure when purchasing that the guard allows for maximum flexibility while snowboarding. Another thing to check is to make sure the wrist guard will fit inside your snowboarding gloves. In the unlikely event of an accident or fall, a flexible wrist guard will allow natural movement to occur during landing. Wrist guards can help prevent a serious injury that could have otherwise been avoided.