How often were you wakeboarding when you got injured??
 

I am always trying new stuff, which means I'm always falling. So neck whiplash and hurt joints have been a part of life for the last 2 years. I'm starting to wonder if the people getting more seriously injured (broken bones/joints and actual tears like the ACL) are getting there because of riding speed, riding frequency or just bad luck.

I was really starting to think riding frequency might have a lot to do with it (both alot and a little). if you beat up your joints a few times a week and they can never fully heal, I can see how they end up getting blown out on a bad fall instead of just tweaked a little.I could also see that if your don't go too often and your inflexible and out of shape that could lead to a bad injury too (my 2 injuries I can probably attribute to this)

So then, how often were you guys riding when you had your serious injury?

I feel like I stay hurt to a greater or lessor degree. Mainly muscle strains and stuff like that. I sprained the crap out of my ankle last year trying to learn dum dums. I've taken such beating trying to learn dum dums that I'm starting to think its not worth it
https://www.instagram.com/p/6JVdl9Oi...by=plilernator

Injuries are crazy. I have had multiple with varying degrees of riding frequency.
I have seen avid and consistent wakeboarders blow knees, get concussions, or other injuries, but at the same time, first time riders the same. Usually not bad knee injuries, but smaller sprains, definitely sore muscles and strains. Unfortunately I have seen newbies to veterans get concussed.

The worst injury was a snapped femur. The dude was very athletic, snowboarded a lot, but hadn't been on the water in years. Like his second cut out cased the landing wake and *SNAP*

It was greusome...

Looking good! Dum dum's look very hard haha

Wow. I'm just trying to make sense of it all! I've had a class 2 tear of my pec (my fault, held onto rope after falling) and 2 rib injuries. They were all during my newbie days though. I feel like since then I have learned to fall better I think.

Now I am constantly leaving with a headache, tweaked knee/hip or some serious neck whiplash. But I haven't had any serious injuries in a while. I'm just really trying to keep it that way. I'm OK with limping and moving like a cripple during the week because of soreness, but I don't want actual injuries.

Maybe it's because I pulled the rope into 60ft and lowered the speed to 19.2mph. The falls have been so much less intense this last year since I did that. Or is it because I learned to fall better? AHHH.

Snapped his femur from casing the wake?! Was it a basic W2W? That's bad luck

Twice a week... broke my knee, or 'tibial plateau', trying to learn a switch tantrum after riding all day. I would contribute it to being tired and not paying close enough attention. I just forgot to bend my knees to absorb the landing. 22mph @ 70'.

Small concussions over time can be cumulative and not good. I get headaches sometimes too on a rough day trying to learn something new. I do my best than think about trying to minimize this.

I wonder if it's actually concussions though. I would think if it is concussions I would have more serious symptoms. I know that pulled neck muscles leads to headaches, so I'm guessing it's this. Atleast I'm hoping it this!!

What other choice do we have. I can do Jumps, backroll, 180. That takes about 5 minutes to do all that. Then what? Nothing left but to try new things. I'm currently *almost* landing like 6 or 7 new tricks (Tantrum,TS Front Roll, Mexican backroll, 360, raley) so maybe once I land all those it will be enough to put a routine together and not have to spend most the time working on new things and falling.

Yeah, some of us take a beating at that stage, and many stop about there because the pain isn't worth it. (and some kids just seem to be able to land anything, are fearless and never seem to hurt themselves :mad: ). I'd suggest that you relax on the heavy tricks, & try other tricks that may not beat the body up so much. Stuff you can try that will make you a better rider without as much pain: (and you probably have these, but just putting them out there)

Ollie to blind
SW ollie to blind
TS ollie to blind
Ollie FS 3's

Inside out roll 2 revert
1 wake R2R
1 wake ts backroll

Anything from this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COThs7Ab2Do :)

I'm still working on this list... particularly the last one :)

Keep it fun & take your time!

Wow that guy has some great board control. He also makes powerful cuts on tap look effortless. Is that board featureless? He has some insanely smooth buttery slides.

I can do all the 180 2 blinds in the TS/HS side, but not the switch.

I stopped trying to get the ollie 360 once I almost landed it and took to trying it at the wake. I should probably go back and learn it.

Another big thing I've been working on is taking my jumps & backroll into the flats. w2w is easy, but I only picked up the skill required to go really massive in the last few months. It just doesn't always work as planned haha. So I've been trying to get it honed in so I can land where I want and how I want more consistently. While I don't really fall anymore doing this, its definitely high impact on the joints and extremely tiring. Doesn't help the injury/wear situation.

At the end of my sets I've been working on my switch riding. It's seriously lacking. Thats why I haven't taken my back roll to revert yet. I don't think I'll handle the possible harsh switch landing of the r2r yet. I've been trying to improve it by landing a few 180's into the flats, but that too ends up in falls sometimes.

I've also start to really focus on improving my flexibility and strength at the gym. I think this will be very important in preventing further injuries.

I guess I'm exaggerating a little to say I can only do a few things and then what. I understand I can do alot of grab variations, surface tricks, drills and other things I know how to do. But theres nothing like learning a new flip/spin haha. But you are definitely right. I should start spending more time on lower impact high skill things.

Too much to learn and not enough time!

Sounds like you have a good list on lock down and a big list on the almost there. I'd focus on one thing at a time. Progress days, where you try something over and over take a long time and you spend a ton of time in the water waiting for the boat to come back and get you after a fall.
And, although you already mentioned it, I'd add grabs to anything you already know. Try some unique grabs too. Just ideas.