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abjectwoe
May, 2025

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How do spine protectors work?

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ARMADAR7
Posts: 401 - Karma: 36
As the title says i dont quite understand how they protect youre back other than youre back hitting a tree when you fall, i just dont see how that is helful, i have never hurt my back skiing, does it restrict your back from bending or like keepcthe wind from getting knocked Out of you, i know this seems like a stupid questiion but i just dont see how they work And please excuse any typos i did this on a touchscreen
13 years ago
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Simmo
Posts: 512 - Karma: 28
I wrote quite a long reply to this and then realised it didn't make a lot of sense. Clearly I don't know enough to explain it properly, so i'll just give an example:

Ripping one day in bad vis, run right into where a cat has been piling up snow and left behind a huge mess of ice bolders and ridges. Hit one ridge, get bucked into air skis first, land on my back on the top of the next ice ridge. Could've been bad, but thanks to spine protector just a little shaken.

I see them being more useful in the big mountain rather than the park. Where if you fall you could be in a situation where you might impact something hard directly on your back.

13 years ago
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ARMADAR7
Posts: 401 - Karma: 36
Thats what i was thinking, do you think that it would be usefull to a glades skiier? And +k for helpfull answer
13 years ago
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callmeteo
Posts: 367 - Karma: 321
I have been skiing with a back protector for three years now. I never ski without it now since its saved my ass from being out at least half a season before. Its prevented me from all sorts of injuries and makes me feel safer. Also, yes it would be useful to you for skiing glades. We dont have much snow this year which leaves a lot of the rocks and other rough stuff uncovered. It will save you from that shit if you fall wrong. So if youve got the gear you want and youve got some extra, buying it might not be a bad idea.
13 years ago
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Mt_Baker_Man
Posts: 2012 - Karma: 105
I was cruising through a familiar pow run and decided to pop a 180 off a roller. It turned out to be a drift, and I caught my tails in the snow, and slapped onto my back at about 30MPH. I landed square on the top of a pointy boulder. If I had not had a shovel and a backpack with a built in spine protector, I would be dead. It would have ripped a softball sized hole through my spine and I would have bled out in minutes.

That is what back protectors do. Save your life, or ability to walk.

For a technical explanation, see below.

The main goal of impact safety gear is to reduce the amount of force transferred to your spine/body. If its a sharp impact, the spine protector spreads the impact over a much greater area, reducing your risk of spinal injury.
13 years ago
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ARMADAR7
Posts: 401 - Karma: 36
Thanks + k for the helpfull responses, i will be looking into these because i do like to ski switch in glades
13 years ago
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oil.
Posts: 2255 - Karma: 1,257
the same way a helmet does. puts something hard in between you and the tree. over the last couple of years they have become very popular, especially for racers, because they are really good at what you do (if you have a good one)
13 years ago
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