Arm injuries

[yyzcanuck]

I try to keep my hand/arm/shoulder injuries to a minimum by isolating them from the snow with the following compound... readily available at all ski/boarding locations.

Nitrogen N2 78.084% 99.998%
Oxygen O2 20.947%
Argon Ar 0.934%
Carbon Dioxide CO2 0.033%
Neon Ne 18.2 parts per million
Helium He 5.2 parts per million
Krypton Kr 1.1 parts per million
Sulfur dioxide SO2 1.0 parts per million
Methane CH4 2.0 parts per million
Hydrogen H2 0.5 parts per million
Nitrous Oxide N2O 0.5 parts per million
Xenon Xe 0.09 parts per million
Ozone O3 0.07 parts per million
Nitrogen dioxide NO2 0.02 parts per million
Iodine I2 0.01 parts per million
Carbon monoxide CO trace
Ammonia NH3 trace

[fivat]

Interesting: I didn't know that there was so much Krypton.
One number is not realistic: in the mountains the concentration of Ozone is higher...

Patrice Fivat

[drzone]

http://www.orthop.washington.edu/should ... xercise/01
Another good link, especially the video (aoubt 45minutes lecture and question/answer period) about shoulder instability and dislocation. Makes you wonder whether to EC with arms against the body...
I did ask our physiotherapist, one solution would be to have the shoulder muscle under tension (ie not relaxed because you won't have time for the muscle to react if the arm catches) going into the back side, so if the arm catches the snow you will tear the muscle(which will heal in 2 weeks) vs. tearing the shoulder ligaments/dislocate (which might not heal at all).
There are a number of exercises available, including push ups with the elbows way out of the body. The main thing is prevention.
I guess the trick is to have the shoulder muscle tense but to be overall relaxed at the same time...
Jacques or Patrice, maybe you could post a sequence with 'arm against the body style' (carve extremement manchot...)

[Jakob]

I broke my wrist in my first hour on the board 14 years ago. It was a nasty injury with plaster and all and the most stupid thing is that it happened on the easiest skilift ever...

Never since (knock knock) had I had any serious arm injuries on board, apart from some minor finger twists, where the pain fades in a couple of days.

[Freeky]

CO2 nowadays is higher. If I remeber correctly it is in the 360-370 ppm range (0.036-0.037%)

[Baka Dasai]

Have you injured your hand or arm? How did it happen?

I broke my thumb while carving in soft boots. My hand touched down for a brief moment, the turn was unaffected, and by the time I got down to the lift I was shaking my hand, saying "that hurt!". It never occurred to me that I had done any serious damage, and I kept riding all day, although I occasionally stopped to apply snow to my bare thumb to try and reduce the swelling.

I also rode the next 2 days, and then did the the 3-hour drive home, whereupon I went to the hospital to get my thumb checked out. The pain hadn't got any better in 3 days, so I figured there might be something seriously wrong with it.

Having a broken thumb really sucks! Ever seen a cat trying to pick something up in its paws? That's how I felt for the next few months.

I've worn No Gomer wrist guards ever since as they have built-in thumb protection - they stop the thumb from being bent backward. Even better, they scoop up snow in a really uncomfortable way if you ever put your hands in the snow while turning, so you quickly learn to avoid doing that

[Shakul]

I don't do EC yet but I do carving on skiis a lot (including the really awkward body twist to get both hands on one side of the skiis onto the snow) and I did have minor damages.

Two times I wrenched my arm backward and that can hurt like hell. It was due to overbalancing and literally supporting myself on the snow. It was too soft so the hand dug in and got wrenched backward.

Another thing that happens more often is a sort of beat damage to the thumb. Happens mostly on fresh groomed snow in the early morning when small clumps of hard snow hit the thumb gliding over the snow.
To reduce the chance of that happening I have changed the angle of my palm so that the thumb sticks a little up and only the thick fleshy part of palm slides over the snow.
Much less hit damage and also easier to avoid wrenching a shoulder since the palms slide better.

Greetz