Staying Safe On A Skateboard
What comes to your mind when you hear the word skateboarding, if you are an enthusiast or even a mere novice then everything from a 360˚ flip to many of the skateboarding greats such as Tony Hawks or Danny Way? The farthest thing from your mind, however, was keeping yourself safe especially when you are attempting to successfully pull off a triple kickflip, but we are here to help you look after yourself at all times.
Safety really should be one of your key concerns, if you disagree remember the fact that this one body of yours has to last you for your entire life, hence why while you are out there hurtling down the sidewalk or pulling ten thousand and one tricks out of nowhere, you should be keeping your safety in mind.
Probably the most obvious and easiest way to protect yourself is by wearing a helmet, some of the most common injuries experienced within the world of skateboarding are injuries to the head. Now while many of these injuries can be mere scratches or cuts that are easily fixed with a couple of stitches, however, there are far more serious cases that can lead to cases of brain injury, hence why you need to invest in a proper helmet that will shield you from a variety of situations.
Even worse is that some head injuries can lead to you contracting symptoms such as a temporary loss of vision, a reduced ability to be aware of your surroundings, anxiety attacks and the loss of basic motion within your limbs. This can often lead to the patients having to be cared for by someone else, as they will be entirely dependent on them for everything, from washing their bodies to walking down the corridor.
One of the other things that you need to watch out for should you want to skateboard in ordinary suburban areas, is namely cars and other people. Getting knocked over by a fellow motorist while on a skateboard can be a life-threatening situation; therefore the best option is to make use of demarcated parks and communal areas within your neighborhood that has set up skate parks or ramps for your leisure. This way the threat of traffic and external danger is greatly minimized.
Another reason to make use of specially built parks and ramps for your skateboarding is that if you use any surface you happen to come across you run the risk of skating on a poor surface and therefore falling and ultimately, injuring yourself. In addition, skate parks have the obstacles removed from them, therefore, you are less likely to fall over something or crash into an obstacle while moving or attempting to pull off a trick somewhere.
Your safety gear list is not done with simply wearing a helmet, however; you will need to wear wrist guards and knee pads, along with pads for your elbows, which will help protect all of your joints and ligaments. If you really want to push the boat out and indulge with all of the safety tips then be sure to look into securing a variety of extra gear for your skateboarding such as hip pads, skateboard gloves and of course, jackets with extra padding which will serve not only as a means for protection against the elements but will help to lower the likelihood of severe damage against injuries when falling off your skateboard.
A further point for you to consider is none other than your shoes, those little covers around your feet aren’t mere decoration, oh no these little gems can be the main difference between you nailing a double kickflip or landing in the emergency room with a broken jaw.
Hence your shoes cannot be an ordinary pair of kicks, oh no you are going to need a pair that has gum rubber and not ordinary rubber in order to allow them to stick to the board and not slip off. Another point to bear in mind with shoes is that the shoes you buy have to be closed; otherwise, you might just end up with a broken toe.
Another piece of gear that may not have crossed your mind as yet is a mouth guard to further protect your jaw in the event that your face decides to attack the ground; a little unfortunate but face-planting concrete is an experience that most of us will have at some point in our lives.
Finally, before you see an old stairway, an abandoned house or a pool that has recently had the water drained out of it and think that you have landed the proverbial jackpot, well when it comes to skating venues at least, be sure to check out the structure. The railing could collapse under you and then all of a sudden you no longer have your front teeth or worse. Hence we advise keeping safe at all times, especially when there is an increased chance of danger such as a large number of cars.
