Snowboarding Injuries - Tips On How To Avoid Them & Snowboarders Safety Gear

Avoiding snowboarding injuries is crucial if you want to have a safe enjoyable time on the mountain. In this article we will take a look at some top tips to help you to avoid snowboarding injuries. We will also look at general snowboard safety, snowboarding protective gear and safety equipment and basically see how to have a safe enjoyable time while out snowboarding.

In recent years the sport of snowboarding has drastically risen in popularity. With this though have come the injuries. Snowboarding can be a very dangerous sport if precautions are not taken. While many snowboarders like the thrill and danger of the sport, there is nothing wrong with being aware of safety while out on the mountain. There are various pieces of safety equipment snowboarders can wear and lots of things that can help you to avoid injury while snowboarding. So now let’s take a look at some tops tips to avoid snowboarding injuries.

Helmet - One of the most important pieces of kit for a snowboarder can be the helmet. Head injuries are common among snowboarders and wearing a helmet will greatly increase your chances or surviving a nasty fall. Whilst it is not always necessary to wear a helmet there are certain times when it is vital. It is always recommended that beginners wear helmets, even though you may be on an easy slope, if you can’t control the snowboard then you could end up in trouble. If you are more experienced but plan on riding in the park, attempting kickers and jumps or are hitting some rails, then a helmet is very important. Whenever you are taking on a more serious run with any dangers a helmet should be worn. The only time when you probably don’t need a helmet is when you are on the more basic slopes and you are not planning any serious moves.

Wrist Guards - One of the most common snowboarding injuries is broken or sprained wrists. When a snowboarder falls they will often throw out their arms to break the fall. At high speeds as the wrist slams into the snow it can snap the wrist back and break it. This is where the wrist guard comes in. You can buy specially designed snowboarding gloves with a wrist guard built in or you can buy them separately. The idea behind the snowboarding wrist guard is that it won’t allow your wrist to bend backwards. This is a great piece of gear to help avoid snowboarding injuries.

Other Padding - There are various other forms of padding you can buy that will help to prevent snowboarding injuries. Any part of the body that is susceptible to injury can be protected in one way or another. A piece of kit that many snowboarders wear are knee pads. Some people have week knees so wearing simple pads underneath your clothes can help to protect this area. The same goes for elbow pads, these are something else that people sometimes like to wear. You can even buy full back guards that protect your back when falling. These are ideal for people who may have already had some form of injury and yet still want to get involved in snowboarding, the simple padding can help prevent further snowboarding injuries.

There are many different pieces of safety gear you can wear while out snowboarding. Although non guarantee that you will remain free from injury they do greatly reduce the risk of snowboarding injuries while you are out on the mountain.

On of the first things you should be taught when learning to snowboard is how to fall. This can greatly reduce the chances of a snowboarding injury. How you fall will likely depend on what kind of snowboarding you are doing, but there are basic principles that you can always use when you do fall. When you start to fall the first thing you instinctively do is put your arms out. This is however very dangerous, as already mentioned this can easily lead to wrist and also shoulder injuries. The force of hitting the snow can snap the wrist back or jar the elbow or shoulder. For this reason it’s better to fold your arms in instead of throwing them out, this should help you avoid snowboarding injuries.

Another thing to remember when falling is to go with the fall. This is especially true when falling at high speeds. Trying to stop the fall by throwing out your arms can lead to injury. It’s better to just bring your arms in and slide to a stop. If you are in dangerous terrain throwing out limbs can result in breakages whereas sliding to a gentle stop will usually be much safer.

Whatever level of snowboarding you are at you will have limits to your ability. While it’s good to take a few risks and improve your skills, you must be careful not to push it to far. Every ski resort has a variety of runs ranging from beginner to very difficult. It would be very unwise for a beginner to attempt something that they are not yet capable of. This could easily lead to them losing control and getting seriously injured. Knowing your limits and not pushing to hard will help you avoid snowboarding injuries.

Another thing to be aware of is landing areas of jumps. More experienced boarders may love to try and get big air of some nice kickers, however, don’t do blind jumps. First check the kicker and the landing area. Is the area clear? Are you capable of landing the jump and how much risk is involved? There are many serious injuries that result in people attempting jumps that they should not, first check a jump is safe, then go for it.

Most of the things we have looked at here are just simple common sense. Snowboarding is a wonderful sport and something that millions of people enjoy, however there are various risks involved in the sport. If you take simple precautions though and know your limitations you should be able to avoid any serious snowboarding injuries.