Traumatic paraplegia in snowboarders

STUDY DESIGN: Patients with traumatic paraplegia resulting from snowboarding accidents were reviewed. OBJECTIVE: To understand the clinical features and mechanisms of paraplegic snowboarding injuries. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: The recent explosion in the popularity of snowboarding has resulted in dramatically increased numbers of snowboarding injuries. However, little information is available as to the types and mechanisms of snowboard-related spinal injuries and their neurologic involvement. METHODS: The subjects of this study were six male patients, with an average age of 23.7 years, referred to the authors' institution for neurologic deficits associated with spinal injuries between January 1996 and March 1999. The clinical features of these patients were reviewed with respect to the mechanism of the injury, fracture pattern, neurologic status, treatment, and clinical outcome. The mean follow-up period was 23.7 months. RESULTS: The six snowboarders with traumatic paraplegia constituted a very homogenous group with the following features: They were all young men between the ages of 23 and 25 years. All the injuries had occurred at the vertebral junctions. The primary mechanism of the fractures was a backward fall from an intentional jump. The fracture patterns were of the flexion-distraction type. These homologous features suggest that this snowboarding group is at high risk for severe spinal injury. CONCLUSION: The high risk of traumatic paraplegia for a group within the snowboarding population requires the development and provision of injury prevention strategies specific to this group.