Most snowboarding injuries occur in the head, upper torso, wrist and ankles, but certain scenarios make riders susceptible to knee pain and injury, says Dr. Mike Langran of the Ski-Injury.com website. Specific types of accidents, as well as faulty technique, inappropriate equipment, fatigue, lack of fitness and overuse may cause snowboarder knee pain.
Technique
Snowboarding has a shorter learning curve than downhill skiing, which leads some people to believe that they don't need lessons. In fact, the results of Dr. Mike Langran's research indicate that most novice riders learn from friends, who may not be qualified to teach the sport. While the sport demands a moderate amount of leg strength, snowboarding requires you to let your body surrender and respond to the downhill forces of gravity. Unschooled novices, lacking a true understanding of the sport, may tense their leg muscles, creating unnecessary knee-joint pain.
Equipment
Beginner snowboards are more flexible and forgiving than those designed for experts. They are also somewhat shorter. A snowboard that is too long or too stiff for your level of riding proficiency may cause you to use excess muscle power to control your ride. When your muscles fatigue from overuse, they destabilize your knee joints and cause pain. Poorly sized boots and snowboard bindings placed in an improper position impede form and may cause painful knee movements.
Fitness Level
Some people learn to snowboard as a means of getting in shape, but you actually need to get in shape first to ride efficiently. If you are unaccustomed to bearing weight and remaining in an upright position for hours at a time, your knee joints may hurt due to muscle weakness. The constant leg flexion and extension involved in snowboarding requires reasonable hamstring and quadriceps muscle endurance, and the balance challenges imposed by the sport require active core muscles for stability. A weak core makes you unstable on the slopes. Instability may lead to falling, and falling causes knee pain.
Knee Pressure
Three types of knee pressure may occur during snowboarding. The first involves an unpleasant and unfortunate encounter with an inanimate object, such as a tree or a lift pole. The second type occurs when falling on your knees. The third type has nothing to do with accidents. Snowboarders often use a kneeling position when resting between runs, or when transitioning to a different body position. The body surfaces of your knees may be unable to tolerate this position. Some riders use specially-designed pants, which come with padding around the knees. Others wear the type of knee pads used in inline skating.
