Biomechanical effect of in-line skating wrist guards on the prevention of wrist fracture

A biomechanical study was conducted in this study to investigate if in-line skating wrist guards can effectively reduce the impact forces so as to pro tect the wrist from fracture. The forearm specimens with and without wrist guards were dropped using a specially designed sled to simulate the impact on the wrist while falling. A force plate was used to measure the total imp act force on the dropping weight whereas a load cell was attached to the pr oximal end of the specimen and used to quantify the impact transmitted thro ugh the wrist joint. From the nondestructive tests, mean peak force measure d from a force plate showed no difference between the guarded and unguarded groups whereas mean impulse of the guarded group was significantly greater than that of the unguarded group (p < 0.01). Comparing the peak force and impulse measured from the load cell, the peak force of the guarded group wa s significantly less than that of the unguarded group (p < 0.001), while th e impulse values were similar. When the specimens were dropped from a highe r position (2.5 fr vs. 1 ft), all unguarded specimens had severe wrist frac tures whereas fracture was found in three out of 5 guarded specimens. Compa rison of mean peak forces and impulses showed a significant difference betw een the guarded and unguarded groups only in the mean impulse measured from the force plate. These results suggest that the wrist guard may protect th e wrist by attenuating the peak force transmitted to radius and ulnar altho ugh it may not be effective when the wrist is subjected to an impact suffic iently large to cause fractures.