Do wrist guards work?
Research done to date suggests that wrist guards are useful in preventing wrist injuries, especially for novice riders. At one resort, for example, one set of novice riders were given wrist guards, while another was not. The group that did not use wrist guards had an injury rate of 2.2 percent. The group that used the guards had zero injuries. Further, there was no evidence that wrist guards increased the risk of elbow or shoulder injuries. (Daniel Fulham O’Neill, “Wrist Injuries in Guarded Versus Unguarded First Time Snowboarders,” Clinical Orthopaedics & Related Research, April 2003). Researchers in Canada looked at 19 ski areas and over 2,000 riders in Quebec. They concluded that use of wrist guards reduced the risk of injuries to the hand, wrist or forearm by 85 percent. (Brent Hagel et al, The effect of wrist guard use on upper-extremity injuries in snowboarders, American Journal of Epidemiology, July 15, 2005.) The authors suggest that wrist guards may increase the risk of elbow
