When do slalom injuries usually occur and how to best avoid them (not an equipment question)?

[TallSkinnyGuy]

I've been seeing a lot of posts about injuries. I am just getting started at skiing a course regularly and know that it will push me harder than free skiing does. Any significant injury can obviously have a big impact on our lives -- not just our skiing. So I would like to know when the majority of injuries occur (e.g. at turn ball, at wake crossing, at 35 off and shorter, etc.) and if there is anything I can do to see them coming and try to avoid them (with a skiing action, not an equipment change).

 

For example, I have read that "stuffing the tip" can cause an injury. So, what usually leads to stuffing the tip and is there a good way to identify that scenario?

 

Again, let's assume we are all using different ski/binding setups and we are not going to change those setups. Also, I am asking about immediate injuries such as broken bones, sprains, etc. rather than repetitive action injuries that occur over a longer time. Insight from you longtime ballers would be greatly appreciated by those of us who are less experienced and would like to reduce our risk of injury.

[Ilivetoski]

If we aren't changing equipment, the only way is not to get hurt... Sorry if that sounds sarcastic but a lot of times it happens so fast you can't do a thing about it. If you're on OB4 or Reflex vs a Wiley binding your going to be more safe. If you crash hard enough to break a bone you crashed pretty hard pretty quick.

[Edbrazil]

From back in the Olde Daze: if you can tuck and cover your face with your arms, that is one step.

I had some squirrely SL skis. You might do a faceplant when changing edges into the buoy

and have your face hit the water before your eyelids were closed.

In jumping, you have a second or two to prepare, but the crashes are harder than SL, usually.

[jayski]

Ego and/or testosterone causes the greatest amount of injuries regardless of line length/speed...having enough brain function in practice to lay off or realize early the pass is going south...

[303Skier]

Hitting balls and getting out of position have been my two biggest injury causers. This isn't the same for everyone but skiing too much can lead to pulled muscles, especially biceps and back. I know I have issues with my biceps and back if I ski too much.

[gregy]

As I've gotten older I have to make myself remember when to give up a pass or through the handle when I have too much slack. If your getting into course skiing take the time to get good instruction and learn proper technique and make sure your ski is set up properly. I want to experiment with my settings. I've probably spent 10 hours making notes and ready on ski setup this week.

[Wish]

@jayski and @gregy said it best. Period. I toss the handle A LOT when things are getting dicey. I stay at 35 until I feel an easy.. easy.. did say easy one happen knowing full well that taking a pole at 38 is well within my reach of completing. Many many 35s go down long before a 38 attempt. I suspect half of the 38s I've missed this season have been because the 35 was just so so. Pushing your limit, point of failure, every time or close to every you ski IMHO is dangerous. Especially us older guys.

[Orlando76]

I think all of my spills have come at the ball, many different reasons but all at the ball. I hadn't splashed on the wake in years. The only severe injury I've sustained thus far was poor form... Racing on-coming boat wake.... Showing off, and the impact was so hard the zipper from my USCG vest separated my sternum cartilage. I've since learned a non USCG vest may be safer imo.

[Ali]

I thought this was a great tip from Than, don't throw the handle. Hold it up away from you until the boat takes it away, when you know you are in trouble and not taking the hit. Throw it, and who knows where it goes

[MISkier]

In 40 years, I've had two ankles sprains and one good bell ringer - all three were OTF at the wake after getting pulled forward out of my offside turn. I would bet most crashes and injuries happen after the offside turn and into the wake.

 

Hitting the buoy is probably the issue for most shortline skiers. Usually leads to a stuffed tip/OTF. Many ankle issues.

[wart]

Wish is correct and correct that @jayski and @gregy said it best.

 

Also, I think beginners are more likely to fall heading to and through the wakes. As we improve, falls tend move back to the turn.

Oh, and reason for most falls can be traced back to something you did incorrectly two or three moves ago.

 

That all said, don't fall. He who throws the handle today, lives to ski another day.

And how about this? When you make a mistake, ease up, skip a buoy, or two, and try to get back in the game. This will give you the opportunity to learn how to recover and how patience can payoff in the course, especially at longer line lengths.

 

I ski at a lake with really good skiers. They fall / throw the handle all the time. They spend more time in the water, than on top of the water. This seems very unproductive. Even at short line lengths, I'll skip buoys, even the gates, just to get more time on the water learning how to handle the handle, the wind, etc.

In other words, you learn more on the water than in it.

[Wish]

@Ali the term "throw the handle" is a figure of speech. I've never seen a skier actually throw a handle to avoid a crash. More of a let go or move the handle away enough (toss) so as not to get tangled up in it.

[Than_Bogan]

I consider myself an extremely safety-conscious skier. It might be fair to call me paranoid. Nevertheless, I've run some -38s, so it's not holding me back TOO much. Here are my top safety tips (some of which are redundant with the above).

 

- Don't be a hero. If you're completely out of control, then call it. Extra half and quarter buoys are usually not worth it, especially in practice. Stay healthy and get better and you'll add more than that fraction of a buoy anyhow!

- Don't run over buoys. If you're aiming straight at a buoy: See "don't be a hero."

- Use the safest equipment that doesn't compromise your performance. A head-guard in your handle is a must - to my knowledge that is the only potentially fatal injury so it's in a completely different category. Also use a good release system, set it up correctly, and check it regularly

- Control the handle. Don't just let it go -- that creates improbable-but-incredibly-dangerous possibilities like wrapping rope around yourself, skiing into the handle, arm through handle, or head through handle. Control the handle until the boat takes it away from you. At that point, but not before, throw it to get it even farther from danger.

- Use safer buoy styles like Wally, Bubble, or water-filled, and make sure no more than half of each skier buoy is above the water.

- If you're going out the front, keep the handle for a while. You probably will still crash, but at least you have a chance to pull yourself into a better position.

- Tuck head and pull in arms and legs when a massive crash is happening. It's remarkable how much time you have to better prepare yourself for impact if you keep your wits about you. Flailing limbs and head can get yanked when they hit the water -- fetal position is usually best for impact.

- Don't ski with a frayed rope or handle or any other sketchy equipment.

[Than_Bogan]

@Wish What Ali was referring to was something I suggested to his wife after she did something I've seen quite a few skiers do: simply releasing the handle at the moment they realize they won't be getting any more buoys. In some situations, especially when the line is slack, this is unnecessarily dangerous, as I discuss above.

[eleeski]

Waterskiing is not a particularly dangerous sport. While injury discussion is common here, take into account that most of the posters here are fairly old. The fact that we are able to perform at high levels at our ages says a lot.

 

Achilles injuries become much more common with age. Naturally, bindings and other equipment are designed to reduce these injuries and are quite important to the older skiers. But when we were all young, nobody talked about ankle injuries.

 

Stitches were the injury of youth. As @Edbrazil noted, covering to protect your face and head was a skill we all learned.

 

My back used to hurt. Improving my core strength dealt with many of those problems. Now it randomly goes out because I'm old (pushing the plane back in the hangar should not cripple me - but something has to screw up Nationals).

 

Realize and understand your physical limits. If you do well with that, you will get skilled and experienced enough to have to worry about injuries from age. Take heart in the sheer number of old skiers still excelling.

 

Eric

 

When young, injuries to my wallet were the most debilitating.

[oldjeep]

For me it is either the "one last run" or trying to get a ball that there is no way for me to reasonably get around.

[thager]

Mine always occur when riding a bike!! Out 3-6 weeks with shoulder injury because I am a klutz!!

 

[Wish]

@thager ...damn that sucks. Heal quick.

[skialex]

I believe that watersking is relatively safe sport considering the generated speed. Think about MX or downhill skiing.

I try to avoid OTFs, try not to ski when tired or ski easier passes and try to let go if possible when needed.

[oldjeep]

Downhill skiing is pretty safe unless you hit something. In a normal crash even in a race course you definitely don't come to abrupt stops like you do in waterskiing.

[wilecoyote]

@TallSkinnyGuy

Sounds like you are about where I was a couple of seasons ago. I was king of the otf for quite a while. For me, I was dropping my shoulder and breaking at the waist and my worst falls were between the second wake and the ball. My stack still needs a lot of work but I've only had one otf this season and it was coming into the first wake, and it was a bad one. I've skied pretty much 6 or 7 days a week all season, so one otf is pretty good compared to the past. Everyone says don't be a hero and let the handle go when things start going bad, but that takes experience. When you're new to the course you don't really know things are going bad until it's too late.

 

I've let the handle go many times this season and I never used to, so I think we all need to get through that early phase where you just haven't learned to let go yet and hope nothing serious happens.

 

One thing I will say is that I would NEVER hook my arm through the handle when I'm just resting behind the boat. I know many top pros do it, but at our level especially, stupid falls can happen at any time and if your arm is through the handle...

 

As for how common injuries are, at our club, there has been at least one season ending injury every season that I've been there (one was mine). So injuries are not uncommon.

 

[Niles Taylor]

I just experienced my first course injury. Morning set not skiing well...hot coming into ball 3 (LFF) and tried to make a really hard turn. A lot of time when this happens I end up riding the tail but this time i kept my weight forward. Anyway I believe this is what @Than_Bogan refers to as being a hero. It got me a minor ankle sprain and probably done for the season. Even thinking about winterizing the MC already.

 

I have a ski partner that pushes himself really hard. He always takes a hard spill when he goes out for that one last set or pass and he bruised some ribs pretty good early in the season.

 

All that being said, don't try to ski passed your ability or passed your endurance level and don't ski passed your gear's ability either.

[Lovell]

Try to avoid taking slack hits in practice. I took two going out the exit gates earlier this season when I was really wanting to complete a new pass more consistently and I injured a muscle between my ribs and it has been with me on and off all season. My advice take a hit in a tournament. Let the handle go in practice

[Horton]

I may seem ironic for the guy who ruptured his bicep to say this but… I do not understand the need to drop the handle very often. If you have coils of slack all the time you need work on your skiing but I do not see that as an issue for many skiers very often.

 

Most injuries I see are ankle related. It is all about bindings. If you expect to ski at a higher level you have to go for broke when you run all the way up the line. I am not saying you should run all the way up the rope very often.

 

My recipe for safety is trying to ski smooth and understanding what ever binding system you are using. If you cannot get out of your bindings without loosening or unbuckling you are going to get hurt sooner or later.

 

[Lovell]

@Horton I agree with you. I almost never drop the handle and almost always go for broke and knock on wood have not had an OTF in a Long time. Frankly the slack hits never caused a problem skiing my consistent passes. on a new pass that is not as smooth, however, can result in skiing straight at 6 ball, still making the exit gates and too much slack line. As the pass got easier later this year the slack problems disappeared at that pass. But they'll be back as I move up.

 

Ski smooth no problems. Easier said than done .... For a guy like me LOL

[ozski]

The older you get the more unexpected and variable the injuries seem to become. But I do agree that binding setup is pretty important. I'm a firm believer in double boots as the best and safest setup for me, I've also learned to ski with them pretty loose and its not impacted the way I ski at all.

[pregom]

@Horton, you say "My recipe for safety is trying to ski smooth and understanding what ever binding system you are using. If you cannot get out of your bindings without loosening or unbuckling you are going to get hurt sooner or later." So for a new slalomer like me who is catching 2-3 balls at 15 off 29 mph and is skiing on borrowed old equipment from the local ski club (Connelly Elite or HO CDX-1), is it better to "invest" in learning to ski smooth with what I have and safety is ok? Or should I also look into getting a modern ski and bindings for extra safety? My friends at the club tell me that at my level I should concentrate on learning to ski the course smoothly first and wait on any purchase. Thoughts?

[Horton]

@pregom I say coaching first but you are not far away from needing your own gear

[crashman]

@pregom the best coach for you may already in your local club. I have spent money on coaching from coaches used to coaching elite skiers, but I learned and progressed more in the few sets I've skied with @PurdueSkier than any coach I've paid for.

 

As for the injuries- I used to be a guy that would speed the boat up every time I made a pass whether it was clean or not. Took too many hard falls doing that. Lately I've decided that I ski for exercise and fun and I like going around all 6 buoys. I also know I'm one more ankle injury away from being a surfer. So I'm willing to ski a speed until it gets so easy that I'm bored before increasing speed.

[sunvalleylaw]

@Live2ski , what is it that concerns you about the Wiley bindings? I had Wiley high wraps for probably 30 years or more. Always came out if I had to. But maybe they have changed? My D3 bindings are all ripped up and I need to replace them. Those D3 (circa mid 00's) are hard to get into so I was considering going back to the Wiley's I basically grew up with. But if there is a safety issue relative to other bindings, I may reconsider.

[Zman]

I left rubber for Radar Strada (now Vapor) boots after an ATR. Could not be happier.

[GAJ0004]

Know your limits. When you feel like your form is breaking down, take a break. You may not feel the fatique right away, but it can effect you. I usually ski 7 or 8 passes in a set in the slalom course. I never do a third set of slalom. If I ski after that I will barefoot, or trick ski. Use a different set of muscles. If you get a ton of slack in the rope after at turn, throw the handle. It is not worth getting yanked over your ski, or getting hurt. Stretching is everything off the water, especially one you turn 30.