# Wrist Guards



## larrytbull

My son broke his wrist this season which cost him 4 weeks, and now I am making him wear wrist guards. I bought him level gloves thinking they would help, however In speaking with a mom on his team. Her daughter suffered 2 wrist breaks (different arms) this year doing bordercross , and each time she was wearing level gloves. This makes me more cautious on using Level gloves, and trying something else. Has anyone else broken their wrist while using wrist guards? if so what brand?


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## raffertyk2

IMO once you know how to get up to speed on a snowboard wrist guards can just make it even worse. If you take a hard fall it will push the force up your arm and you can suffer a much worse break. 

The key here is learning how to fall safely, being aware during a fall is just like air awareness it is unnatural 

Sometimes there is just no avoiding an injury though shit happens its part of the game, i know just as many people that hurt their arm or even their wrist with guards so I don't have much faith in them.


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## KIRKRIDER

larrytbull said:


> My son broke his wrist this season which cost him 4 weeks, and now I am making him wear wrist guards. I bought him level gloves thinking they would help, however In speaking with a mom on his team. Her daughter suffered 2 wrist breaks (different arms) this year doing bordercross , and each time she was wearing level gloves. This makes me more cautious on using Level gloves, and trying something else. Has anyone else broken their wrist while using wrist guards? if so what brand?



Level gloves are great, I need a new pair.


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## Motogp990

I use burton wrist guards (under the glove) but typically only when i'm in the park. They have taken a few hits without any complaints from me.

I've never broken my wrist but have taken a few hard smacks. Either from a complete crash or from hitting kickers imperfectly and having my rear hand/wrist smack down hard on the flats/ground.


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## Maierapril

raffertyk2 said:


> IMO once you know how to get up to speed on a snowboard wrist guards can just make it even worse. If you take a hard fall it will push the force up your arm and you can suffer a much worse break.
> 
> The key here is learning how to fall safely, being aware during a fall is just like air awareness it is unnatural
> 
> Sometimes there is just no avoiding an injury though shit happens its part of the game, i know just as many people that hurt their arm or even their wrist with guards so I don't have much faith in them.


Totally disagree with most of this. There more than a handful of studies that back up the claim that wrist guards are effective at preventing injuries. Google the Hagel study done back in 2005). The notion that wrist guards redistribute force to break the upper arm is dead wrong. Given how much stronger your forearms are compared to the bones in your wrist, your forearm is more than capable of handling pressure that would normally break your wrists. If you want proof of this, the Medical Journal of Australia did a study on this to prove the effectiveness of wrist guards and disproving the statement that wrist guards increase upper arm injury.

I agree with you that people need to learn how to fall, but even then it's not 100%. Depending on the situation, not everyone can properly fall every time and you really only need one awkward fall to break your wrists and end your season.

At the end of the day, wrist guards aren't 100%. If the force of a fall is strong enough, you're going to break something regardless of if you are wearing wrist guards or not. However, statistically, wrist guards can be effective at reducing/preventing those smaller injuries that could potentially ruin your season.


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## raffertyk2

Maierapril said:


> Totally disagree with most of this. There more than a handful of studies that back up the claim that wrist guards are effective at preventing injuries. Google the Hagel study done back in 2005). The notion that wrist guards redistribute force to break the upper arm is dead wrong. Given how much stronger your forearms are compared to the bones in your wrist, your forearm is more than capable of handling pressure that would normally break your wrists. If you want proof of this, the Medical Journal of Australia did a study on this to prove the effectiveness of wrist guards and disproving the statement that wrist guards increase upper arm injury.
> 
> I agree with you that people need to learn how to fall, but even then it's not 100%. Depending on the situation, not everyone can properly fall every time and you really only need one awkward fall to break your wrists and end your season.
> 
> At the end of the day, wrist guards aren't 100%. If the force of a fall is strong enough, you're going to break something regardless of if you are wearing wrist guards or not. However, statistically, wrist guards can be effective at reducing/preventing those smaller injuries that could potentially ruin your season.



Fair enough, I was not speaking from any professional opinion. Just have seen just as many people if not more hurt their wrists and arms with them than without them. It may be due to some sort of false security they have and usually people wearing them are just starting and therefore put their faith in the wrist guards to much. 

It would be interesting if one of the ski patrollers around here would tune in from personal experience it would be interesting insight. 

If you feel safer definitely wear them/have your son wear them. They would definitely help in the smaller falls for sure getting off the lift, catching and edge when riding in the flats or sliding of a box or rail the wrong way, I can see them being useful. Just for me the effectiveness of wrist guards is outweighed by their inconvenience and when teaching someone new I always focus on how to fall properly in order to avoid injury. 

I understand your son is in a different situation being a proficient rider and riding a lot of Park the extra protection may be a big up. 

Dakine also makes gloves with removable wrist inserts so you can keep them in or take them out. My fiancee wore them when she was still recovering from a wrist injury she suffered snowtubing actually of all things. The gloves were good quality and we still use them without the wrist inserts as our backups or when its really cold cause they are real warm.


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## dave785

Level gloves (with biomex inserts) are great because they're the only wrist protection at the moment that doesn't transfer force up the arm.

My gf fractured her elbow while wearing wrist guards last season and landing on her hands.

TBH id much rather break an arm or an elbow than my wrist... wrist is a very complex series of joints and bones that take a looooong time to heal.

That being said, id be willing to bet that your friend's daughter was wearing the level gloves meant for boardercross and ski racing. _Those gloves do NOT have the biomex wrist insert!!!_ You need to get the level fly mittens/gloves.

Or you could go really old school and tape the wrists. When I went to whistler and the airline lost my snowboard gear, I ended up grabbing some tape from a local pharmacy just to give myself peace of mind. Taping has been around for a long time, and if you don't mind the work involved, and if you practice doing it right so that you don't hurt the circulation, it's the most effective way to protect your wrist from landing on your hand.


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## kriegs13

Ive suffered a fracture on the same bone in my left wrist three times so after a scare on my first day this season i got the Demon Flexmeter guards. They're bulky (only glove I've found to fit it is the dakine titan in XL which is a bummer because i have smallish hands), they're annoying, they're diesel. 

While probably overkill, I would say they're the most protective of the bunch.


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## f00bar

Just because seat belts don't save everyone doesn't mean they don't work.


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## larrytbull

dave785 said:


> Level gloves (with biomex inserts) are great because they're the only wrist protection at the moment that doesn't transfer force up the arm.
> 
> My gf fractured her elbow while wearing wrist guards last season and landing on her hands.
> 
> TBH id much rather break an arm or an elbow than my wrist... wrist is a very complex series of joints and bones that take a looooong time to heal.
> 
> That being said, id be willing to bet that your friend's daughter was wearing the level gloves meant for boardercross and ski racing. _Those gloves do NOT have the biomex wrist insert!!!_ You need to get the level fly mittens/gloves.
> 
> Or you could go really old school and tape the wrists. When I went to whistler and the airline lost my snowboard gear, I ended up grabbing some tape from a local pharmacy just to give myself peace of mind. Taping has been around for a long time, and if you don't mind the work involved, and if you practice doing it right so that you don't hurt the circulation, it's the most effective way to protect your wrist from landing on your hand.


so the level glove i am questioning right now as the one rider broke both her wrists while wearing them

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## SnowMoose

larrytbull said:


> My son broke his wrist this season which cost him 4 weeks, and now I am making him wear wrist guards. I bought him level gloves thinking they would help, however In speaking with a mom on his team. Her daughter suffered 2 wrist breaks (different arms) this year doing bordercross , and each time she was wearing level gloves. This makes me more cautious on using Level gloves, and trying something else. Has anyone else broken their wrist while using wrist guards? if so what brand?


I haven't broken my wrist....but I use 'flexmeters'

Flexmeters and Other Snowboard Products to Purchase | Snowboard Secrets

They seem to have done a fair bit of research into making them.

Hope the healing goes fast!


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## larrytbull

his wrist is back to norm. he competed thus weekend and won 3rd place on rail jam. thanks for the good vibes

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## SnowDragon

dave785 said:


> Level gloves (with biomex inserts) are great because they're the only wrist protection at the moment that doesn't transfer force up the arm.


Did you read the post above about this statement being erroneous?
Maierapril beat me to it this time, but I have posted several times over the years that this belief has been shown to be a sporting myth.
@larrytbull, I have worn several different wrist guards over my 12 year snowboarding career. The best protection is provided by Flexmeter. However, as noted above, they can be difficult to wear because of their size.
I currently wear Dainese Hector wrist guards. They are the second best level of protection imo while still relatively comfortable. They are available to be worn under your gloves, or as a built in piece in a Dainese glove.
I ordered mine from the U.K. as I couldn't find them in North America.
Strong recommendation for these from me.

Btw, I have never had a wrist injury, and plan to keep it that way.:grin:


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## raffertyk2

larrytbull said:


> his wrist is back to norm. he competed thus weekend and won 3rd place on rail jam. thanks for the good vibes
> 
> Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk


Video was sick! Definitely agree with you his degree of difficulty was much higher than the other competitors from what I saw

Congrats!


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## psklt

i had a really bad break on my right wrist and it never healed properly. I bought a pair of Flexmeter wrist guards just for the one and it's been doing pretty well for me. They aren't just a solid piece of plastic, they let your wrist flex to a certain point, but not too far. I only wear it every once in a while now, but it helps boost confidence for trying new things.


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## pointblank

I am using the Dakine gloves with built in wrist support. 

So far so good.


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## dave785

larrytbull said:


> so the level glove i am questioning right now as the one rider broke both her wrists while wearing them
> 
> Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk


I don't quite understand that sentence.. Just so that we're clear: 

Level makes a lot of gloves. Very few of their gloves actually have dedicated wrist protection. 

Unfortunately, their "heavy duty" racing gloves with "extra protection" don't actually have the wrist guard... they're just very stiff and very padded.

I would question whether or not the person with the broken wrists had the level gloves with biomex inserts. Given that it was a BX event, I'd assume she was wearing racing gloves, and none of level's racing gloves have the biomex insert.


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## larrytbull

they had the gloves with the inserts

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## t21

I have been wearing the level gloves with biomex wrist guard for the past four seasons(riding for six now) since i landed both my wrist on some granite rocks when my heel edge slid from underneath me riding over snow covered rocks. Luckily, i did not broke them but it hurt like a m#^*^@#_+^! though. I had times that my wrist guard save me from breaking or painfully injuring my wrist on situations where i needed to use my hand to deflect objects or keep my self upright on a sudden change of snow to ice trails where some small ice chunks are present. IMO, it does its job and i feel safe with them on.


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## MR.

I've been wearing Level gloves with Biomex for the last couple of years. My son and daughter also both wear Level gloves. I've heard that the Level's don't work for everyone, but I know they have saved my wrists multiple times. I drag my hands a lot, and the gloves have held up really well. Probably worth the price even without the wrist protection.


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## coreysloan

Broke my wrist 1st week this season and immediately bought wrist guards. I got the Burton Impact guards and some over sized mittens. I've landed on my wrists several times with them on and have been fine. Fairly cheap definitely recommend.


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## SnowDragon

coreysloan said:


> Broke my wrist 1st week this season and immediately bought wrist guards. I got the Burton Impact guards and some over sized mittens. I've landed on my wrists several times with them on and have been fine. Fairly cheap definitely recommend.


You'll want to learn to stop falling on your wrists rather than relying on wrist guards to keep your wrists uninjured.


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## kriegs13

GreyDragon said:


> You'll want to learn to stop falling on your wrists rather than relying on wrist guards to keep your wrists uninjured.




While this is true without question; shit happens. 


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## elstinky

Moreover human's standard reflex, instinct if you will, to falling is sticking out arms and hands. One of the reasons being that evolution thaught us we have to do whatever it takes to protect our heads from smashing into stuff. 
I completely agree learning to fall with minimum wrist injury risk is a must but it also has to be said: it is kinda hard as you're fighting against instincts here.. Harder then learning the basics of boarding I'd say.


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## offthewallds

Maierapril said:


> ::snip::
> 
> I agree with you that people need to learn how to fall, but even then it's not 100%. Depending on the situation, not everyone can properly fall every time and you really only need one awkward fall to break your wrists and end your season.
> 
> ::snip::


QFT. Learning how to fall and the ability to make split second positions is crucial to minimizing injury. I had a really bad fall off a vert wall last March, about 9' to flat at a cement park. Keeping my head and wrists up prevented the worst possible cases. Managed an open compound fracture to the radius and ulna on a similar fall that took my buddy's life.

Most importantly, proper safety gear is paramount to learning how to fall. Had I been wearing my kneepads and helmet, I'd have walked away unscathed. Had my buddy been wearing a helmet, he'd still be skating and walking this earth.


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## SnowDragon

kriegs13 said:


> While this is true without question; shit happens.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk





elstinky said:


> Moreover human's standard reflex, instinct if you will, to falling is sticking out arms and hands. One of the reasons being that evolution thaught us we have to do whatever it takes to protect our heads from smashing into stuff.
> I completely agree learning to fall with minimum wrist injury risk is a must but it also has to be said: it is kinda hard as you're fighting against instincts here.. Harder then learning the basics of boarding I'd say.


Agree with both of you.
However, he indicated that he is regularly falling on his wrists.
A trained change in reaction is in order here I believe.
It can be done, maybe not every time, but more than zero and that should help.


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