Most winter sports athletes are more susceptible to injury due to the violent nature of the movements associated with their activities. More specifically, upper extremity injuries of the wrists and shoulders are quite common among winter sport athletes, particularly snowboarders. It’s common for snowboarders to get injured when they are attempting to break their fall by catching themselves with their hands. In a sport such as snowboarding, it’s impossible to prevent all injuries but there are certain tips you can follow to be more cautious.

1. When you fall, you will want to make curves out of your body, so that no one point will hit the snow ahead of other points of your body. The skier’s break is a wrist break from locking your arms and stopping your fall with bent wrists. Avoid this painful snowboarding habit by practicing falling safely regularly, so that when you really need to, the instinct to safe falling will properly take over.
2. Curve your arm by slightly bending your forearms, with palm out and your pinky finger–edge of your hand leading away from your body. The blade of your forearm will make contact with the snow, not the top, flat of your forearm. Note: Any kind of martial art that emphasizes rolling is a great help here, Aikido and Judo among them.
3. Bring your body closer to the snow by bending your knees and lowering your center of gravity. If you fall backwards, fall down, rear end first. If falling backwards, protect your head by staring at your navel area. This will help keep your head falling backwards and impacting the slope.

PRORehab has a great staff of physical therapists to assist you in rehabilitation after suffering from a snowboarding injury; however, we hope you prevent yourself from injuries this snowboarding season by employing these tips!