Wrist guards

[tij]

Hi, I've been researching wrist guards for figure skaters and don't see anything outthere except palm protector gloves.
I'm thinking of buying the one used for rollerblading. Any thoughts? I've been reading mixed reviews and that they could be more harmful than not for ice skating. Thanks for your advice.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

NO. Don't do it, if anything they will do more harm than help.

 

[desertskates]

I've never had experience with a wrist injury. But I did fracture the upper part of my humerus during a fall and have a repair with a small rod/plate and screws. It was just a bad luck fall at the wrong angle. During my recovery, I was told by both the surgeon and the PT folks that wrist guards can be bad news because it can transfer the force to the other joints (elbow, shoulder) in an unnatural manner. And that can be more hamrful.
The desire to protect your wrists is understandable, for sure. But 99.99% of falls are just going to result in a few curse words and another try

 

[Diana Delafield]

Hi, I've been researching wrist guards for figure skaters and don't see anything outthere except palm protector gloves.
I'm thinking of buying the one used for rollerblading. Any thoughts? I've been reading mixed reviews and that they could be more harmful than not for ice skating. Thanks for your advice.

There may be different styles, but the ones I've seen were quite stiff. I can envisage a fall where the rigid hand/wrist guard slid away from you as you landed on the hand (which I was taught not to do anyway) and you'd hit your elbow or tear muscles in the arm. Palm protector gloves are enough for most falls, and in addition can be useful in slides and hydroblading to protect against scrapes on chewed-up ice.

 

[sk8dreamzzzz]

The wrist guards for inline skating will cause your hands to slip out from under you and you may hit the ice with your head or face instead. I have done this and I do not recommend it!

The reason you have to wear hard plastic guards for inline skating is that you can't slide on asphalt or concrete. Falling on ice is actually quite different. For figure skating, you can find gloves with some padding or gel on the palm. More importantly, you will need to learn how to fall. There are some excellent videos on YouTube about this. Train your body how to fall on the ice. You should not be throwing your hands down and landing on them.

 

[Elenea]

I skate with a wristguard on my right hand. Due to two former surgeries my wrist isnt as flexible as it should be and is in higher risk of breaking should I fall on it.
I used an old one from inline skating. One with this "bump" at the palm, not the flat ones. And I covered the hard plastic bump completly with suede leather (sewed on) to not slip on the ice when falling. It helped me with a few hard falls, mostly out of back spins.
But I wouldnt wear a wristguard without having serious troubles with your wrists. They suck because they limit your wrist movements similar to wearing a cast. No nice flowly wrist movements with them and troubles with catching your blade for spirals and spins.