We previously wrote a post on the best knee pads for roller skating, but we feel wrist guards need a bit more attention they get when you lump them together with everything else. Wrist fractures, specifically distal radius fractures happen at a scarily high rate in inline skating, roller skating, skateboarding, and ice skating. You definitely need the best wrist guards for skating that your money can buy.
Also read: Best roller skate protective pads
There’s tons of options out there that promise to the job better than everything else. But the best wrist protection for skateboarding and other styles of skating is actually a particular pad design from a particular. Stick with us for a bit and you’ll we’ll uncover this amazing wrist protector and the brand behind it.
Two Wrist Fractures That Happen to Skaters
According to this credible source (Johns Hopkins), there are two kinds of distal radius fractures (broken wrist fractures) namely a Smith fracture and a Colles fracture.
Broken Wrist Bones Are Painful And Can Freak You Out!
Bujie, one of our members here at skatingmagic.com, tells us that he once jumped off of a speeding motorcycle to avoid grave danger. But he ended up with a broken wrist, an event that kept him from skating for months.
*Please note that none of the information provided here should be construed as medical advice of any kind or form. If you just fell off of your board or skate and suspect you fractured your arm, make sure to talk to your doctor soonest you can.
Smith Fractures
Smith fractures happen when you fall and your wrist is closed or bent inward. It can also happen if something hits the back of your hand really hard. If you take a tumble with your hands stretched out and your wrists bend back, you’re likely to break the bone near the wrist.
Remember: Smith fractures are just one kind of broken wrist that can happen when you fall rollerblading, roller skating, ice skating, or whatever. According to Cleverland Clinic, it can take up to 12 months to bounce back from a Smith fracture.
Fortunately, the right wrist guard design combined with correct use can significantly minimize the odds of this nasty occurrence.
Colles Fractures
According to Cleveland Clinic, you can get a Colles fracture when you try to catch yourself during a fall. You can also get it due to traumas like car crashes. It’s pretty painful and normally requires a trip to the emergency department. It can take several months, maybe even up to a year, for your wrist to fully heal.
Colles vs Smith Fractures What’s the Difference?
A Smith Fracture is like the opposite of a Colles fracture. In fact, it’s called a reverse Colles fracture. When it happens, your broken wrist bends a bit to the side and not the usual upward angle.
Bujie Once Sustained a Wrist Fracture; It Wasn’t Pretty
We asked him what the experience felt like, and he said that he started feeling lots of pain after the fact, especially when touched. Also, there was a hugely visible bruise swelling and bruising around the wrist.
But what freaked the dude out was the wrist being deformed and shifting to a pretty odd position. Luckily, this skater was 15 years old then, which means the healing process didn’t take forever.
If you’re an older skater of any kind, we strongly recommend wearing the best-quality wrist protection you can afford. Because 45-year-old wrists can take quite a while before they’re back in shape.
7 Wrist Fracture Statistics in Skating
- Studies have found that these fractures can make up a significant portion, ranging from 45-82 percent, of upper limb injuries seen in emergency departments after ice skating accidents.
- As per the Hughston Clinic, the typical age of ice skaters who suffer an accident is 33 years old. The same authority asserts that 1 in 700 recreational ice skaters will sustain an injury at some point, a statistic that equates to about 0.14 percent. Wrist fractures are the most common ice skating injury. Even though the idea of skating on a slippery ice might make it seem extremely dangerous, recreational ice skating is a pretty safe activity.
- Compared to casual ice skating, ice hockey is riskier and more physically taxing. This sport had the greatest injury rate at the Olympics in 2010, cutting play time for up to 35 percent of players. Due to the higher contact involved in this vigorous ice skating style, elbow and wrist injuries are less common compared to shoulder, hip, thigh, and knee injuries. That said, wearing good wrist guards before getting on the ice rink is a good idea.
- Forearm and wrist fractures are a prevalent type of injury in inline skating, aka rollerblading. They constitute 40 percent of all (pdf) inline skating injuries. Skaters should be aware of these risks and take precautions to stay safe.
- A study revealed that nearly half (47 percent) of roller skating injuries involve the wrist. These injuries often occur due to balance loss, falls from height, or landing on a hard surface. Among the common injuries during roller skating are wrist sprains and fractures.
- The most common skateboarding injury is a broken bone, specifically in the wrist. When a skateboarder, regardless of experience level, loses balance and lands on an outstretched arm, they can suffer injuries to the hand, wrist, or shoulder.
- It’s estimated that approximately 95,000 snowboarders experience wrist fractures around the globe annually. These injuries often occur during high-speed falls and in most cases affect various parts of the wrist and hand, including the ligaments that link the radius to the ulna. Sprains are another frequent type of hand and wrist injury observed among snowboarding enthusiasts.
If the skating wrist injury numbers highlighted above haven’t made you realize it’s foolish to skate without wrist safety gear, stop reading this article. Because you’d be wasting your precious time going forward.
Do Wrist Guards Offer Any Real Protection?
Now that we know there’s a decent chance of you or someone you know getting a wrist fracture, there’s one BIG questions that begs an answer:
Do wrist guards help prevent fractures during skating? Let’s let science and research answer this all-important question.
Wrist guards play a crucial role in preventing wrist injuries in snowboarding as well as in-line skate injuries. They achieve this by distributing force and absorbing impact energy during less intense falls. Studies have demonstrated that wrist guards can effectively decrease the risk of snowboarding wrist injuries by up to 85 percent.
These wrist protectors guards alleviate stress on the bones in the lower arm, enhance energy absorption. Aside from that, they minimize strain on the bones located at the back of the lower arm. Also, they do not increase strain at the middle part of the lower arm bone.
Overall, wrist guards provide essential protection and stability to the wrist during skating other activities involving high impact.
Best Wrist Guards for Skating
When I say skating, I’m talking about three different kinds of activities namely roller skating, inline skating, and skateboarding/longboarding. Falls aren’t a rare occurrence in these sports, and while no wrist guard is 100% fracture-proof, credible sources have shown gearing up can save your wrists on a bad day.
In this section, I’ll go ahead and list down 4 wrist guard models that skaters everywhere like. Because they work for them. Unlike others, I won’t give you a list 57 best wrist guards for skating lol. I’ll simply link you up with the best of the best wrist savers so you can end the search now and go skate.
1.Demon Fleximeter D30 Double-sided Wrist Guards: Best Overall
Bujie, a skating magic team member who’s been skating for the past 15+ years recently tested these arm shields. And below is Bujie’s experience with the Double-sided Fleximeter D30 Wrist Guards:
Bujie speaks…
I’d been meaning to test these wrist shields, and I got lucky recently. Someone let me try theirs on; size Medium. I imagine most men to be specific.
I inline skated for about 25 minutes with these wrist armors. And they performed better than others I own from other brands (mostly Triple Eight) as far as comfort and fit. Well, I didn’t go down during the testing period, but the owner had them in a bad fall. They simply got up and walked away, wrists intact.
Perhaps 25 minutes isn’t long enough testing time, but my impression of the Fleximeters was similar to many others I’ve read on a bunch of skate communities online.
One BIG difference between the Fleximeters and most other wrist guards is that they don’t hinder wrist mobility. A French doctor designed these skater-loved wrist guards, and they created them to prevent wrist and lower arm injuries.
They’re super comfortable, too, and they don’t get in the way when you’re doing other things. You can wear them all day and forget you have them on. One skater I interacted with a little on a skate-focused forum even said they can type at their PC with the guards on. And someone who had wrist issues reported that they made their life easier and nicer.
The best wrist guards overall, in my opinion, are the Double-sided Flexmeter Wrist Guard. These are often sold under the Demon brand, a brand known for its highly protective downhill helmets.
Well, they’re not cheap. They’ll set you back almost $I00, but that’s because you’re unlikely to get many options that are as comfy and protective.
What if your finances are a bit stretched but you still want to get these hand safety gear for skating? If you can’t afford them at full price, maybe you can get a used wrist pad set instead.
Fit: If you have rather slim wrists, go for the medium size, otherwise, choose size Large. And while you’re at it, consider adding reflective tape for nighttime rides. And they fit beautifully over Fleximeter Over Gloves. Here’s the Fleximeter wrist guard size chart. They fit true to size.
Pros
- Fits like a glove, true to size
- Can be worn alongside Fleximeter Over Gloves
- Allow for wrist movement, making fractures somewhat less likely
- Received heaps of praise from skaters of all stripes
Cons
- Expensive: not accessible to all budgets
2.Ennui City Wrist Brace: Also Good
The Ennui Powerslide City Wrist Brace
3. Triple 8 Hired Hands: Best for Triple Eight Lovers
Looking for skating wrist safety gear that works great, fits great, and doesn’t cost the whole wide world? Try on the The Triple 8 Hired Hands.
And if you can’t find it at your local store, measure your wrists as per the size chart provided and then size up. Because these guards run pretty small. Some skater reviews I saw reported that buying two sizes bigger worked best.
I own their cheaper but less flexible sibling, the Triple Eight Wrist Saver Pads. Those cost me $25-ish if memory serves versus $45-ish for size Large Triple 8 Hired Hands, but is the pricier option worth it?
4.Rollerblade Skate Gear Wrist Guards: Best to wear with a Watch
Looking for skate wrist protectors that are smartwatch-compatible so you can track each session? Lucky you! Because there’s actually a <$20 deal on Amazon and other places that works well for skaters who wear their Apple smartphone while skating.
It’s from a brand that makes some of the finest beginner-level and higher-level inline skates, Rollerblade. Oh, and did you know this is brand that popularized inline skates to a point where people started calling every inline skate a Rollerblade?
The Rollerblade Skate Gear Wrist Guards maybe cheap, but it doesn’t mean they’re so-so quality. In fact, they might just be the wrist protection you need to wear for your next skating session.
These wrist guards are impressively tough. Made from sturdy goat leather, they come with a unique design that puts plastic only on the undersides for a natural hand position and added safety and stability during wipeouts.
I’ve worn two sets so far, and I loved what I got each time. My third set will arrive in a month or so (I’m thousands of miles away from Amazon). I mean these things are good, but they’re not long lasting. Every time I go down hard, the plastic piece breaks down and I just have to buy new pads.
They once prevented a broken wrist in a rollerblading accident bombing a steep hill in rural Kenya. They’re comfortable, ergonomically designed, and somewhat breathable.
All now what I didn’t particularly like: I found that if I didn’t flex my wrist downward while strapping these guards on, I experienced quite a bit of discomfort from the side seams. Also, I noticed that the left guard didn’t slide as smoothly as the right one. This could posing a risk during really hard tumbles, but it’s an issue I could overcome with use.
If you’re willing to look past these minor drawbacks, you’ll love these guys. They might even become your favorite wrist protector due to their superior performance and attractive price compared to the competition.
Pros
- Low-cost wrist protection
- Made of high-quality goat leather
- Flexible and allow wrist movement during a fall
- Smartphone-friendly
Cons
- Discomfort from side seam if you don’t flex your wrist downward when putting them on
- Left pad not as slidey as the right one, but you’ll get used to it
What the Most Protective Wrist Guards Look Like
When it comes to protecting skater wrists, not all forearm protective gear is created equal. Some skaters have reported breaking an arm even when they wore wrist guards. And many felt that they’d have been somewhat better off had they gone out skating without the guards.
It turns out that wrist guard design can make the difference between going back home wrists intact or spending the next one year away from skating.
Fit
Measure your wrists circumference at the exact place the size chart say you should and order the recommended size. But wait…read skating wrist guard reviews to learn how the model that’s speaking to you fits.
In some cases, you may have to size up or down for the best fit. Remember, poorly fitting wrist guards of any brand are a no-no. They tend to slide around and are absent when called upon to protect you in a crash.
Material
One way that all of the pads I recommended here stand out from the crowd being made from leather. Other guards are made from nylon and stiff splints and you may not experience natural wrist mobility.
Watch-friendliness
One of my buddies skates wear wrist guards with their smart watch. But they recently experienced a severe wrist sprain after a hard fall. I leave my personal treasures (smartphone and Apple Watch) at home. Because the thought of a bad tumble smashing these items into smithereens freaks me out!
If you must wear your expensive Apple smartwatch while out inline skating, roller skating, or boarding but can’t find watch-compatible wrist guards, consider the following workaround:
- Loosen the strap and position the watch further up your arm during skating.
- Wear your smartphone with the face against the inside of your arm to protect it. Also, consider throwing a sweatband over its face to prevent scratches. Fellow skaters on a Reddit community I frequent highly recommend the Rollerblade Skate Gear Wrist Guards as a smartphone-compatible option.
Wrist Guard Color
Obviously wear something that blends beautifully with your style. And you’re in luck because the skate gear market offers boatloads of wrist guard models in all shapes, sizes, and colors.
Price
With the exception of the Rollerblade Skate Gear Wrist Guards (under $20), be ready to pay at least $50. And who says you can’t buy used hand protection gear?
Best Skating Wrist Guards: Final Thought
Many skaters have rated doctor-designed Fleximeter as the best wrist protection for rollerblading, skateboarding, roller skating, and even ice skating and snowboarding.
They maybe a tad bulky, but they fit true to size. Unlike the typical pads with a hard stiff splinter, these ones let your wrist a certain degree of movement. They’re good for all-day use; you could even use a computer with them strapped onto your hands.
While they’re pricier than most, this protective device has been a wrist saver of choice for many out there. Why not give it a try and come back here to tell us what your experience was like?
