INTRODUCTION: There is only one observational study published on falling in the sport of snowboarding (Cooper & Greenwald, 2005). This work concluded that terrain park facilities in mountain areas are associated with an increased risk of falling. Further investigation of landing and falling body movements within such areas of ski resorts is therefore warranted. METHOD: Patrons of the terrain park facilities at New Zealand ski fields were approached for recruitment. AH individuals actively using jump obstacles were eligible for inclusion in the study. A short questionnaire was implemented to assess skill level, previous injury and sporting experience. Video recordings (50 Hz) were made of participants performing aerial manoeuvres within the terrain park. Each Video was reviewed and coded by a single Individual to give a full description of the movements involved and the success of the jump attempt. The coded trials were pooled to give overall descriptive statistics of jump landings. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Of the 704 table-top Jumps analyzed, 151 (21%) resulted in a fall. This rate of 1 fall in 5 attempts is comparable to a previous study (Cooper & Greenwald, 2005). Straight aerials constituted 74% of all observed Jumps. Spinning maneuvers represented between 4% and 7% of all jumps performed depending on spin direction and degree of rotation. Ground contact was made on the landing ramp for 45% of all jumps, on the knuckle (transition from flat top to landing ramp) 35%, and on the flat top of the jump 20% of the time. This analysis of landing zone was quite surprising because in 55% of all jumps, snowboarders landed in areas of suboptimal impact attenuation (the need for additional study on jump design is therefore indicated). The majority of ground contacts were made with the tail of the board (57%), compared to flat (32%) and nose first (11%). This is a positive finding as earlier kinetic data collected by the author identified decreased impact loads with tail first landings (McAlpine, 2006). Maneuver type appears to be related to falling incidence. As technical difficulty increased so did falling rates. Spinning maneuvers increased falling incidence by 290% compared to straight jumps. With regard to the falling direction, the majority of falls (51%) were in a posterior direction and towards the tail of the board. Thus, it is not surprising that the first body contact point was the up hilt hand. The first point of contact for all falls is depicted in Table 1 adjacent. CONCLUSION: This study investigated snowboard jump landings and falls using an observational coding technique. The complete data set should be considered for use in future Simulation based studies focused on landing. Jump data collection, including half pipe, will continue throughout this and subsequent ski seasons to build upon current data.
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