Spinal Injuries in Snowboarders: Risk of Jumping as an
Integral Part of Snowboarding

Background: The purpose of this
study was to clarify the occurrence rate
and characteristics of spinal injuries
caused by snowboarding that were sustained
at the Okumino skiing area in Gifu
Prefecture, Japan, from 1988 to 2000.

Methods:  This study was a retrospective
review of 13,490 cases of snowboardor
ski-related injury treated at Sumi Memorial
Hospital over this period.

Results:A total of 7,188 patients sustained
snowboard-related injuries, and
238 of these had spinal injuries caused by
snowboarding (3.3%), whereas 6,302 patients
sustained ski-related injuries, and
86 of these had spinal injuries caused by
skiing (1.4%). Although there were no significant
differences in the difficulty of
slope, location of vertebral fracture, or
spinal cord injury between snowboarders
and skiers, the incidence of transverse
process fractures was significantly higher
in snowboard-related than in skiing-related
injury (p < 0.05). In addition, there
was a significantly higher incidence of spinal
injury among beginner snowboarders
than among beginner skiers (p 5 0.04).
Furthermore, intermediate or expert
snowboarders were more likely to be injured
injuredbecause of jumping than beginners
(p < 0.001), whereas about 70% of spinal
injuries caused by skiing resulted from a
simple fall.

Conclusion: Spinal injuries sustained
while snowboarding are increasing
considerably in incidence and are characterized
as complex injuries. We must educate
young snowboarders of the risk of
this sport, to prevent these serious
injuries.

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