Martial Arts Fall - Wristguards?
 

I've been taking martial arts for three years now, and trained myself to never land on my hand, but rather to fall onto my forearm/body depending on the height i'm falling from... Turns out that the reflex carried over to snowboarding! Assuming I never stick my hand out and land on it, would wristguards help at all while snowboarding?

The martial arts instinct is definitely a good thing. I had tried to teach myself to never fall on my hands, but when it mattered the most, I failed. Broke my wrist. If you're sure you'll never fall on your hands, then don't worry about it, but if you don't mind the wrist guards and you're concerned about it then wear 'em.

I learned to fall in martial arts too (17 years total combined from 4 differents arts), but I still wear wrist guards -- just in case -- except during super deep bottomless pow days. I'm used to wearing the guards so it's not too big of a hassle.

I've got LEVEL gloves which have built in wrist guards, they are very comfortable and have probably saved my wrists from breaking a few times. They are warm and very durable....something to keep in mind if you decide to wear wrist guards.

-Jim

I always where wrist guards when I shred. Better safe then sorry, worst case you end up with a sprain instead of a break.

You can still break your wrist with wrist guards on

I never said you couldn't, in my experience the worst I've ended up with is a sprain.

Just be careful of the type of wrist guard you get. Some cause worse damage.

I personally hate any guard that goes over the top of my hand. I like the ones that start at my palms and go down past the wrist. I had Dakine gloves with these built in and used them while I had a broken hand and dislocated wrist bones (non snowboarding injury). Worked like a charm.

By the way, I did 9 years of Tae Kwon Do and unofficially trained in a variety of other arts like Jiu Jitsu for a number of years. Love the arts!

I don't believe in those wrist guards. You'll just end up breaking your arm above where the wrist guard stops anyway. My friends wife wore them, and well, she did just that, broke her wrist above where her wrist guard stopped. Just practice falling with your fists closed IMO.

A fracture through the mid-radius/ulna has a much better prognosis than a wrist fracture. If you're hitting with enough force to break something, not much is going to prevent it from happening - this will at least make it easier to heal.