Q. How can I prevent ankle injuries?
I had a bad season ender last season, i sprained my right ankle on a 360.
How can i prevent myself from having more ankle injuries this season?
thanks.
Pat
Gavin Ehringer answers:
Ankle injuries are not as common to snowboarding as upper body injuries, but
as you can attest, they do occur. Since yours happened while spinning, you
probably twisted it on landing because you failed to get all the way around.
Practice spin jumps on the flat until you can get your body rotating and
re-orienting itself to the fall line without fail.
Most ankle injuries, however, happen when riders fail to remain centered
over their boards. This is especially true of landing jumps but also when
bashing moguls. Try to avoid "getting in the back seat," which is to say,
getting your body stretched out behind the board's center. Also, never land
with your legs "boned" or straight ‹ always maintain flex in the knees.
Finally, if you do bite it, keep your knees bent and your board up in the
air, rather than digging it immediately into the snow. Once you start to
slow, ease the edge into the snow to slow your slide. Try to get the board
behind you and uphill ‹ jamming a board into the snow downhill with all the
weight of your body behind it almost always gives your ankles and knees a
heavy jolt.
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