In-line skaters' wrists at risk

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), Oct, 1996

In-line skaters should not rely solely on wrist guards to protect them from injury, warns Frank B. Giacobetti, an orthopedic resident at Philadelphia's Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. While they can help protect against scrapes and abrasions, more serious injuries such as fractures still can occur.

Giacobetti studied 40 cadaver arms with and without wrist guards to determine how effective they were in protecting against wrist fractures. Each arm was placed in a hydraulic testing apparatus to simulate the pressure that occurs when an in-line skater falls on an outstretched arm. Radiographs, taken to identify the types of injuries that occurred after being placed in the testing system, revealed distal radius (wrist) fractures in 38 of the 40 cadaver arms. Two, with and without wrist guards, sustained proximal radial fractures.

"We found no significant difference in the types of fractures sustained in the arms with or without the wrist guards," he points out. "Based on the experimental conditions of the study, currently available in-line skating wrist guards are not effective in preventing wrist fractures."

Giacobetti offers the following safety tips for in-line skaters: * Learn the basics of the sport, particularly how to stop properly, before venturing into vehicular or pedestrian traffic. * Wear protective gear, including a helmet, wrist guards, and knee and elbow pads. * If you feel that you are going to tall while skating, try to fall on your left or right side, instead of on an outstretched hand. * Perform warm-up exercises before and after skating. * Obey traffic signals, stay at the right side of the road, and do not weave in and out of lanes. * Avoid skating in crowded walkways.