HOME HELP CONTACT US SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:
Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.

This Article Full Text (PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Harris, J. B. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Harris, J. B.

Letter

South Lake Tahoe, California

Dear Editor:

I read with great interest the article entitled "Spinal Injuries in Skiers and Snowboarders," by Tarazi et al. (March/April 1999, pages 177 to 180). In this otherwise valuable article, it was suggested that 1) no prior description of spinal injury in snowboarding had been reported and 2) no earlier snowboarding journal article existed, other than the one mentioned among their references.

Permit me to refer you to my report in Clinical Sports Medicine (published by Chapman and Hall, Ltd, London; Vol 1: 45–56, 1989, "First Report of Snowboard Neurological Injury During a 14-Year Prospective Winter Sports Study"). This first snowboarding medical article included 1) the first reported snowboard-related spinal case, of a 14-year-old snowboarding aerialist who sustained a fracture subluxation of C4–5, C5–6, with transient quadriplegia, as well as 2) the first reported snowboard case of penetrating craniocerebral injury requiring brain surgery (sagittal sinus laceration at the torcula), when a 15-year-old youth attempted an aerial "tail-grab" snowboard maneuver. Therefore, my 1989 report appears to represent the first published report in the medical literature regarding snowboarding and its more ominous and near-fatal morbidity.

Historical inaccuracies aside (unintentional, I’m sure), the excellent observations drawn by Tarazi et al. are very compelling. The authors are to be commended for quantifying the significant disparity in skier versus snowboarder spinal injury, injury largely induced by hazardous aerial maneuvers, seemingly inherent (by choice?) in snowboarding. Their study further validates the earliest publication on snowboard-related injuries, part of my now 18-year prospective, ongoing study of winter sports injuries.

This Article Full Text (PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Harris, J. B. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Harris, J. B.