Abstract
Introduction
Snowboarding injuries account for nearly 70,000 emergency department visits annually. Wrist injuries are the most common injury sustained while snowboarding, representing 20% to 40% of all injuries. Despite a growing body of evidence demonstrating that wearing wrist protection can reduce this risk by as much as half, the use of protective equipment remains low.
Objective
The purpose of this study is to determine the utilization of wrist protection by snowboarders and to examine underlying attitudes toward use of protective gear.
Methods
This is a cross-sectional study of data collected from anonymous, voluntary responses to questionnaires distributed to snowboarders visiting 1 of 3 designated study sites on the East Coast during the 2013–2014 winter season. Snowboarders under the age of 13 years were excluded from the study.
Results
Of 245 snowboarders approached, 230 (93.8%) agreed to participate. Participants ranged in age from 13 to 58 years, with a median age of 22 years; 77.2% of respondents were male and 22.8% were female. Snowboarding experience was self-selected as novice (7.9%), beginner (25.8%), intermediate (31.9%), or expert (34.5%). Overall, 74.1% of participants reported never wearing wrist protection, and only 9.8% indicated that they always wear wrist protection. The top 2 reasons selected for not using wrist protection were, “I don’t see the need” (48.1%) and “I didn’t know wrist protectors were available for snowboarding” (37.3%). Of note, 54.2% of respondents stated that they would wear wrist protectors if available. Sex (27.55% male vs 70.37% female, P < .0002) and helmet use (30.30% helmeted vs 13.56% unhelmeted, P < .01) were found to be significant predictors of willingness to use wrist protectors if available.
Conclusions
Although wearing wrist protectors has the potential to reduce risk and severity of wrist injury while snowboarding, utilization rates remain low. This study has identified some prevailing attitudes in this population that can be used as targets of behavior change.