Possible Injuries from Wakeboarding?

[Afun]

Any possible injuries from wakeboarding? What's the most common?

Slalom on the other hand, injuries are very possible....correct?

Your thoughts?

[WakeGirl]

I gave it up because I was always breaking myself. 2 torn rotator cuffs, broken ribs, a badly sprained knee with partially torn meniscus that took over a year to heal, back problems that I'm still dealing with, & my best....a shattered foot that put me on crutches for 4 months & required 2 surgeries to fix. My foot will never be right again, although it is awfully good at predicting weather now.

You can hurt yourself doing anything, including skiing. But wakeboarding can be a whole 'nother level of pain. I know people that have been seriously injured skiing, but I don't see it being nearly as common as it is in wakeboarding. I'm not basing that simply on my own experience, but also what I've seen from my friends & here on the board over time. If I had to guess, I'd say that the concussion is most common.

[Deven]

Lots to choose from. Anything that could happen from hitting the water real hard with a board attatched to your feet.

Knee, ankle, and foot injuries, concusions, broken ribs, stitches from the board hitting you.

[mikeyg]

Concussions, knee and ankle injuries are fairly common. I've had a serious concussion from impacting the water and two ankle fractures.

[Afun]

Now, if you are taking it easy like edging, and jumping easy....will you still get hurt? Meaning not Xgames style.

[WakeGirl]

You can, yes. Faceplanting at 20mph hurts, and it can concuss you. I was on a boat when that happened to a girl that was just learning to board. Ended up with 2 black eyes & a concussion, & she wasn't doing "XGames" style. Again, you can get hurt doing anything.

[Afun]

You can, yes. Faceplanting at 20mph hurts, and it can concuss you. I was on a boat when that happened to a girl that was just learning to board. Ended up with 2 black eyes & a concussion, & she wasn't doing "XGames" style. Again, you can get hurt doing anything.

What the slowest you could go and still be functional

[WakeGirl]

I don't know how to answer that. Most vdrives won't produce a clean wake below 17-18 mph. It gets difficult to ride a wake (especially for a new person) when it isn't clean. But you can still get hurt at that speed. What is it that you're so concerned about?

[WakingMeHappy]

Drowning.

[barefootpaul]

I would rather catch a toe barefooting at 40 than catch a toe wakeboarding at any speed....

[Falko]

Water in the ear up through getting hit by a jetski. Anything can happen.

[Afun]

I don't know how to answer that. Most vdrives won't produce a clean wake below 17-18 mph. It gets difficult to ride a wake (especially for a new person) when it isn't clean. But you can still get hurt at that speed. What is it that you're so concerned about?

You may be younger than me, but that's a simple question to answer. First of all, I am a father of two wonderful children. They are 5 and 2 years of age. I am also a husband to a 5'4 inches very angry only nice when she is sleeping wife. Also,I am the sole bread winner for my entire family. Anything that could interfere with the above, I seriously need to question.

[Bill_AirJunky]

HHehehe, come on. Really?

Your in deep water. Traveling 18 - 22 mph. Coming down from jumps. OF COURSE there can be injuries.

A bunch of years ago, we had a girl break her femur getting up. It was bizarre, and I imagine it was strain on an old injury.

If you can take the heat, surf. And even that has risks.

[CL-Rides]

Broken eardrums... I had to get stiches after a surf board caught me in the head when I fell.

[jaciche]

I learned to wakeboard before barefooting. Now, I barefoot whenever I can and wakeboard rarely. I have taken lots of bad falls wakeboarding, bu never did any serious damage. My best friend got a concussion wakeboarding his 2nd time out, I got a concussion slalom skiing once, got ejected out of my bindings and the first thing to hit water was my face, and have taken about 20 falls barefooting over the last 2 years. I was always able to get back up and keep going. I would say barefoot falls feel the best, then slalom, then wakeboarding. It really does blow your mind how you can injure yourself so easily at 20-24 mph. I would highly recommend getting wakeboard bindings that eject your feet.

[Deven]

There are risk when you put someone behind a boat at any speed doing any activity.

[windy1]

I have been slolom skiing for over 40 years and never been injured. wakeboarding for 4 years, 1 mildly sprained knee and broken eardrum. why do I wakeboard at 50+? becouse flying through the air never gets old.

[WakeGirl]

You may be younger than me, but that's a simple question to answer. First of all, I am a father of two wonderful children. They are 5 and 2 years of age. I am also a husband to a 5'4 inches very angry only nice when she is sleeping wife. Also,I am the sole bread winner for my entire family. Anything that could interfere with the above, I seriously need to question.

I doubt it.

Look, I'm going to be blunt. If you're afraid of them getting hurt & don't want them to participate because of it, then they're going to live their lives that way - in fear. I've raised 2 sons & I know the feeling. But in the end, getting hurt is one of the lessons in life. My opinion. What are you going to do if one of them wants to play baseball? A fastball to the ear is as dangerous as any of the things that we're talking about here. Any sport at all (including any of the "safest" ones) runs the risk of injury. Heck, getting up in the morning & potentially slipping in the tub is a risk. You can't wrap them in a bubble.

Now if you're concerned about keeping a happy wife, then that's a whole 'nother subject.

[BlastRlxi]

I say that anyone who is that worried about getting hurt skiing/wakeboarding should just stick to tubing.

[vaporbluebu]

What the slowest you could go and still be functional

I'm 5'10" 175lbs and very much a beginner wake boarder. My furthest "jump", if you can even call it that, is landing on the top of the opposite wake. I feel most comfortable at 15-16 mph, so I can imagine if all you are going to do is a little carving and cross the wake you could even go a bit slower than that.

[Nitrousbird]

I'm not all that great at wakeboarding. No significant tricks, not a whole lot of air, usually only board around 20MPH.

I've taken some mean falls causing head aches and back aches. My only real injury has been tearing my knee up on a hard fall, but luckily healed with time and no need for surgery or anything.

Slalom I've taken some hard falls but other than some immediate pain I've had no injuries. I had a toe injury tubing (okay, fighting a friend on a different tube) and some pretty good back pain from tubing.

I only started surfing last year. This far it has been injury free though I'm sure I am going to take a surf board to the head sooner rather than later. Almost (twice) ran into the back of the boat from my daughter pulling back on the throttle.

[aggie08]

My worst wakeboarding injuries occurred when I was first learning at slow speeds (18-20 mph). Completely unexpected edge catches, trying to jump with terrible technique, skipping off the 2nd wake to nose catch, ankle sprains landing, sore knees, hell, getting in and out of old school binding was a pain.

I rode with a pretty serious, semi-pro crew in college and literally everyone but me (knock on serious wood) has torn their ACL or meniscus at one point or another.

Just edging around and not pushing yourself, no, you probably won't suffer catastrophic injury, but no one can promise you that.

In short, if you're really THAT worried, sell your boat immediately and don't drive your car again, ever.

Also, is this thread a joke that I'm too dumb to get?

Edited May 15, 2013 by aggie08

[nyryan2001]

Spring 2010 I was behind a 23LSV full ballast and wedge finally getting these huge airs you see landing 10ft outside the wake....I thought I was something ... i was out on a set banging them 10-15ft high or so and was into my 6th or 7th jump and was feeling confident. had no idea I was off or anything... when I landed I must have caught the front edge of the wakeboard and talk about an instant pivot snap from front edge of wakeboard up to eyeballs slamming into water at 40mph or so due to the cut across the wake everything went black....out for 5-10 seconds. twin black eyes within 45 mins...... didnt do wonders for my back either.

Memorial Weekend 2012... was wakesurfing like normal and took a fall.... as i fell the wakesurf sliced into the water sideways in front of me towards the boat....then as it went in the blast from the prop grabbed the board and sent it back at me with with 410hp worth of anger. Imagine taking a small baseball bat diagnol across the face dead center across your mouth. unconsious again for 5-10seconds blood everywhere looks like a scene from Jaws. Both upper and lower lips slashed, 3 loose teeth, nearly fractured my upper gum bone. Its been a year now and my upper lip still isnt healed all the way...and 1 tooth still wiggly.

gotta ensure you turn your face away from the board as you fall.... and ALWAYS wear a life jacket.

[skyskier]

I have been slolom skiing for over 40 years and never been injured. wakeboarding for 4 years, 1 mildly sprained knee and broken eardrum. why do I wakeboard at 50+? becouse flying through the air never gets old.

50 MPH? Really? What a stud!

[John I.]

I say that anyone who is that worried about getting hurt skiing/wakeboarding should just stick to tubing.

Tubing isn't a guarantee against injury. I've only had to leave the lake to make a trip to the emergency room a couple times in 20+ years of boating, and one of those trips was for a tubing injury.