REVIEW OF TYPICAL SNOWBOARD INJURIES

Snowboarding is increasing dramatically in popularity in Switzerland a s well as other countries. Work aimed at improving the design of the b oards and of the boots and bindings has also increased rapidly during recent years. Most injured snowboarders are fit young men and boys who describe themselves as beginners and have had a minimal amount of ins truction at an officially approved training centre. Appropriate snowbo ard training has mostly been quite inadequate, and protective devices (e.g. waterproofed support gloves). The anatomical distribution and th e types of injuries sustained in snowboarding differ from those in alp ine skiing. The wrist (and forearm) and the ankle are the most frequen t locations of injuries (23%) as against the knee and thumb in alpine skiing. Sprains and strains were the most frequent types of injuries ( 46%), followed by fractures (28%) and contusions (13.5%). The snowboar d injury rate was higher than in alpine skiing (1.7-8/1000 snowboard d ays versus 2-4/1000 ski days). Falling forward on the slope was the ma jor mechanism of injury (80%), and torsion the next most frequent(20%) . Snowboarding injuries were sustained most often on ice and hard-pack ed snow, compared with soft powder snow for alpine skiing injuries. Ap propriate preseason conditioning, snowboarding lessons from a certifie d instructor, appropriate selection of rigorously tested equipment and use of protective devices are the main steps that must be taken to pr event injuries.