Entries Tagged as 'buying a snowboard'

Preventing Wrist Injury While Snowboarding

Areas of the body such as the ankles, wrists and knees are all prone to becoming injured either from a fall or a hard landing while snowboarding. Even though snowboarding is an exceedingly pleasurable activity the reality is that there is a definite prospect that it can result in injury. You may feel as though you’re as safe as can be on your Roxy snowboard but there is no harm in being prepared for a fall.

There are measures you can take to avoid injuries as well as reasonable protective gear to use and wear, but frequently no matter how aware of the dangers you are, sometimes accidents simply come about.

This doesn’t mean that you should avoid going snowboarding or that you should not buy a snowboard. On the contrary it is still quite a safe activity. As with all sports the more care you take the less prospect you’re going to get injured.

The most ordinary types of injuries sustained while snowboarding are wrist injuries. For people who are learning to ride, falls are regular particularly those where you fall backwards and automatically put your hands out to pad the impact. You are going to fall but when you do, try not to save yourself with your hands, but instead keeping your hands out in front of your body and allowing yourself to fall onto your elbows. Your elbows will be able to absorb the impact a lot more readily than your more fragile wrists.

An answer that is even safer is to try to keep your arms close to your body and allow yourself to hit the snow and roll with the force. By going with the fall there will be a lot more surface area with which the impact will be dissipated. Sure, you’ll get more snow on your body but your wrists will stay safe.

You may find it impossible to stop from using your hands to catch yourself so invest in a set of wrist guards. Some gloves are made with wrist guards incorporated into them, but if you have some skateboarding or skating guards, use them beneath the gloves. They are the best process for ensuring you don’t get a wrist injury and if it’s an image thing you’re concerned about no-one needs to know that they’re under your clothes.

For the first week of snowboarding in particular you should be very aware of the hazard to your wrists. A modest bit of prevention could save you weeks or months of pain as you find yourself laid up and recovering from a break.

Unravelling the Meaning Of Snowboard Flex

When you want to buy a new snowboard, say for instance somehting from Forum Snowboards, whether it be in a real store or on the Internet, you will encounter a few expressive terms about the boards that may be slightly mystifying. One of those words when talking about a characteristic of a snowboard is flex.

Flex talks about how hard or easy it is to bend a snowboard when you try bending it along its length. You will find that some boards are stiffer than others and it takes more force which as a rule means the board has a thicker core. Boards that are harder to flex as a rule grip the snow better and are more stable. They impart better force on the surface of the snow.

Because of the superior grip and maneuverability they grant, racers and heavier riders will have a preference for stiffer boards.

On the other hand, softer-flexing boards are more well-matched to lighter and less aggressive riders as well as the type of snowboarders who enjoy performing freestyle tricks. Boards that are softer flexing are made with thinner cores and are usually lighter.

A snowboard also comes with what is called as a flex pattern. It is actually talking about the level of flex that the snowboard is capable of at various points. A board may be stiff at the tip and soft at the heel or vice-versa. The pattern of the different flexes to the board is the flex pattern. The assorted types of materials used in the manufacture of snowboards allows for a selection of flex patterns and consequently the performance from one board to the next will also vary.

First you must work out what type of rider you are – aggressive or non-aggressive, heavy or light – and then the sort of snowboarding you want to do – freeride or mountain freestyle. This will help you in choosing the type of flex you will be looking for in your new snowboard.

There are a lot of snowboard manufacturers in the industry so the job of buying a snowboard is going to be a difficult ordeal. Snowboards HQ examines a large number of the makers out there as well as the range of snowboards obtainable for sale.