Skateboarding Safety

If you enjoy skateboarding, you’re probably a true individualist. Whether you are riding a discount skateboard or the most expensive board out there. You’re not someone who follows the crowd. So the last thing you want to be is a statistic.

You definitely don’t want to be a skateboard-related injury statistic – especially if it’s an injury that could have been easily avoided, right?

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported 130,627 skateboard injuries in 2010. And 46 percent of them involved kids younger than 15 years old.

Most injuries are fractures and sprains. But it can get a lot realer than these relatively minor boo-boos.

Collisions with motor vehicles and hard falls sometimes result in deaths. Nobody wants to go out like that!

Photo Credits: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

To avoid becoming that sort of skateboard “splat stat,” please consider the following safety tips.

Avoid irregularities in your riding surface, unless you really know what you’re doing. (And even then…)

Use the right board for the style you’re riding. There are different boards for slalom, freestyle or speed skating. There are also boards built for the weight of the user, so look into getting one.

Wear protective equipment, such as slip-resistant shoes, helmets and padding. You can go even further and wear a padded jackets and shorts. Padding is also available for hips, knees and elbows. If you fall a lot and tend to catch yourself, get some wrist braces and skateboarding gloves to absorb some of the impact.

Your helmet should fit properly when secured with and a chin strap. It should not block your vision or muffle your hearing.

Learn to fall more safely. If you feel yourself losing balance, crouch down on the board so you won’t fall so far.

Try landing on the fleshy parts of your body, to reduce bone breakage.

It may sound impossible to do, but try to relax when you’re falling. Roll with it. Trying to absorb it with your arms may result in an unpleasant snapping sound.

Always check that your skateboard is in good working order before you hit the sidewalk with it. Don’t ride in a crowd of pedestrians. And stay off the streets! Motorists don’t want to deal with you!