BIOMECHANICAL ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF IN-LINE SKATING WRIST GUARDS FOR PREVENTING WRIST FRACTURES

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effectiveness o f commercially available wrist guards in preventing wrist fractures. F orty arms were harvested from 20 cadaveric specimens. The forearms fro m each cadaver, one with a wrist guard and one without a wrist guard, were then fractured using an Instron Servohydraulic Material Testing S ystem. The group of forearms tested to failure without wrist guards fa iled at an average force of 2245 N, while the group tested with wrist guards fractured at an average force of 2285 N, revealing no statistic al difference. Similarly, observed fracture patterns were not noted to be different in the two groups. The in-line skating wrist guards test ed were not effective in preventing wrist fractures under the experime ntal conditions of our study.