PREVENTING SKIBOARDING INJURIES
 

Specific advice for skiboarders


The commonest injuries seen as a result of skiboarding are knee sprains and fractures of the lower leg and ankle. Skiboarding has the highest rate of fractures of all the snow sports.

Skiboarding has now firmly established itself as a separate entity on the slopes - its popularity in Scotland continues to rise - with good reason, as its excellent fun!

  • There has been considerable concern regarding the use of a non-release binding system on the vast majority of skiboards to date. This is thought to be responsible for the high rate of lower leg injuries amongst skiboarders. Unfortunately, just under one in four skiboard injuries is a fracture and the non release binding seems to be a major factor in many of these. Thankfully, as my skiboard page details, release systems are now becoming more widely available and hopefully will reduce the number of lower leg injuries seen in time.
  • Be aware that in the event of a fall on a skiboard, there is usually no release mechanism and your knee and/or leg will absorb all the forces transmitted up from the skiboard. If you feel yourself about to fall, try and avoid resisting the inevitable and bow out with grace before the forces become so great that injury
  • Be wary of simply fitting a standard alpine release binding to a skiboard. The evidence is that, although the binding will release at the toe in the event of a twisting fall, it is unlikely to release in time at the heel in the event of a 'blocked tip' (i.e. coming to an abrupt stop whilst travelling forwards - e.g. going forwards into soft snow). It is recommended that the heel setting be reduced by 60% to ensure that it will release. For example,  if your normal DIN setting is 7 then set the heel binding for 0.4 x 7 =
  • Salomon now offer their boards with a releasable binding system and for those of you who have already purchased their skiboards with a non-release system, you can now purchase a release plate system to fit under the standard non-release binding. More details here.
  • Standard length skiboards should not be used by children under 1.5 metres (4ft 10") in height - this equates to the average size of a 12 year old child. This is because it is believed this age group are at an increased risk of lower leg injuries (and fractures in particular) in the event of a twisting accident on a skiboard.