How to Avoid Injuries in Skateboarding

Skateboarding can be a very dangerous sport if you dont know how to properly avoid injury. These tips are more than just "Wear safety gear". These are general tips that not everyone knows, but everyone should know these. Using these tips, you can avoid injury and skate for longer.

1. Know how to fall

This isnt something a lot of new skater's understand. But there is a certain way that you can fall in order to reduce the risk of getting hurt. Of course, you can't always fall this special way. Everyone still has slams. But me personally, when I fall I rarely ever get hurt, even when falling. I can even be perfectly fine after jumping off something and falling.

How do I fall

Now that you know that you'll have to fall a certain way, how do you do it? Well it's actually very simple. I wouldnt suggest just trying this, but you can. What I suggest, is just trying to do it next time you fall. But the way I fall is important. So if your falling on your back, try to roll instead. It will make the impact way less painful, if painful at all. Than you tuck your neck to the side, and roll over the opposite side of your head. Than all you have to do, is while rolling over your neck, plant your hands down and push off the ground and land on your feet. Just try to fall as carefully as you can, and rolling through the fall instead of slamming will always be better.

2. Know your limits

This seems like a no brainer right? Well you should know your limits. But you should also force yourself to do some stuff. Now that seems counter opposite right? Well I think it's best to do stuff that your scared of, but not stuff that's insane until your comfortable. Like if you ollied a three stair, try to kickflip it. Even try to backside flip it. Do stuff you know you can do, your just scared of. But that doesnt mean that you should seek out and send some ten stair just because I said you should force yourself to do stuff to improve. So this is internally knowing what you can and cant do. Which is important. Because if your doing something way out of your reach and abilities, the chances of getting hurt go up a lot more.

3. Recover the right way

What does this mean though? Let's say you roll your ankle, a very common skating injury. You should be doing your best to let it heal up all the way and correctly before you go out and skate again. Of course it might feel stiff next time you skate and maybe hurt a little still, that'll go away. But you shouldnt be doing anything crazy on it until your recovered. This goes for practically any injury within skating besides cuts and bruises. But any real injury, should be given the right amount of time to heal in order to prevent re-injuring it. Because if you end up re-injuring that injury, it could leave you hurt longer which means no skateboarding for even longer than originally.

4. Know when to stop

Knowing when to stop on a certain trick is important. The more you try that trick, the more tired you'll become, which will only lead to you making mistakes that could lead to injury. For example, my first time trying to backside flip a two stair, I ended up exhausting myself. I didnt land it in my first night because I was so tired. And I knew that if I kept going that night, I was risking getting hurt because of how tired I was. Being exhausted from skating like that and keeping going, not only makes us further from the trick, but also makes the risk of getting hurt way higher.

5. Saftey gear (optional)

I wrote this one as being optional, because not many people skate with the gear like knee pads, helmet, elbow pads, etc. But it is a way to prevent injury if that's what you want. Although I do not and never will skate with that stuff unless it's an indoor park requiring it. I personally dont like them at all. But for someone who's main priority is being safe, it's always a decent idea. Although it might not always help you, it can be a decent help. And it might make you feel stiffer while skating which will make it harder. But there are some great skater's out there who wear helmets, usually it's very rare to see someone who skates wearing anything more than a helmet if that.

Thank You For Reading

Those are some ways to keep safe while you skate and improve and learn. I think that it's important to try and stay safe to an extent, and I hope this article has helped you. Have a beautiful day and skate on :)