[An overview of snow-boarding injuries]

Snowboarding is increasing dramatically in popularity in Switzerland as well as other countries. Work aimed at improving the design of the boards 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 instruction at an officially approved training centre. Appropriate snowboard training has mostly been quite inadequate, and protective devices (e.g. waterproofed support gloves). The anatomical distribution and the types of injuries sustained in snowboarding differ from those in alpine skiing. The wrist (and forearm) and the ankle are the most frequent 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 snowboard injury rate was higher than in alpine skiing (1.7-8/1000 snowboard days versus 2-4/1000 ski days). Falling forward on the slope was the major mechanism of injury (80%), and torsion the next most frequent (20%). Snowboarding injuries were sustained most often on ice and hardpacked snow, compared with soft powder snow for alpine skiing injuries. Appropriate preseason conditioning, snowboarding lessons from a certified instructor, appropriate selection of rigorously tested equipment and use of protective devices are the main steps that must be taken to prevent injuries.