What pole design hurts thumbs?

My wife fell on her thumb a couple year ago and it took many months to heal.
The orthopedist told her to use poles where the grip wraps around the hand,
rather than the kind with straps, to protect her thumb in the future. The
wrap around kind is no longer available, so I have picked them out of
discard piles whenever I see them.

I also use the wrap arounds because I don't like the straps, and you can
hook them on the chairlifts rather than hold them. Several people have
noticed mine and said they used to like them also, but they are not
available anymore because they can cause thumb injuries.
Well, that is the exact opposite of what her doctor told her. (and she is
sure she isn't confused on what he told her.)

So, which kind is safer for thumbs? I am not going to change either way,
but she should be using the safer ones. Thanks.

I like the older ones better too and still have mine even though I use the
newer ones with the straps . I was on the lift one day with a ski patrol guy
and he told me there is a special way to wrap the strap around your wrist
when gripping the pole but It might not be easy to explain . He said to put
your hand through the strap and instead of just gripping the pole , to put
your hand over the strap so it's between your index finger & thumb and then
grip the pole . If you can make sense of that then your all right . As far
as which is safer for the thumb I'm not sure but it would seem obvious the
older style is , at least to me anyway . I've actually heard of quite a few
people hurting their thumbs with the newer style poles but I don't know if
it's related .


"toller" wrote in message
...
My wife fell on her thumb a couple year ago and it took many months to
heal. The orthopedist told her to use poles where the grip wraps around
the hand, rather than the kind with straps, to protect her thumb in the
future. The wrap around kind is no longer available, so I have picked
them out of discard piles whenever I see them.

I also use the wrap arounds because I don't like the straps, and you can
hook them on the chairlifts rather than hold them. Several people have
noticed mine and said they used to like them also, but they are not
available anymore because they can cause thumb injuries.
Well, that is the exact opposite of what her doctor told her. (and she is
sure she isn't confused on what he told her.)

So, which kind is safer for thumbs? I am not going to change either way,
but she should be using the safer ones. Thanks.

Ron - NY wrote:
I was on the lift one day with a ski patrol guy
and he told me there is a special way to wrap the strap around your wrist
when gripping the pole but It might not be easy to explain . He said to put
your hand through the strap and instead of just gripping the pole , to put
your hand over the strap so it's between your index finger & thumb and then
grip the pole .

The advantage of using the strap that way is you get more leverage when
you're poling across the flats. It's essential for X-C, but I'm not
sure I see the advantage for downhill.

Personally, I don't put my wrists through the straps - you're supposed
to unstrap when you get on the lift, and with the small hills here it's
just not worth the extra ten seconds to re-strap every run.

Note that going strapless is a really really bad idea if you're skiing
terrain where self arrest may be necessary. So whenever I encounter
such a slope, I carefully put my wrists through the straps, taking
sometimes three or four minutes to do so. Usually by that time I've
come to my senses and go ski some other run.

Returning to the OP's question, The "handguard" style pole is probably
useful for bashing gates, but I doubt it's really much help in
preventing injuries where the thumb falls on the pole. Usually, these
are a result of someone trying to break their fall by putting their hand
out in front of them.* The safest bet is to fall with your hands close
to the body and trying to land on your hip. Or not fall at all (c:


* Yes, this happened to me. I speak from experience - broken thumb
metacarpal.


--
//-Walt
//
// There is no Völkl Conspiracy

On Fri, 18 Mar 2005 16:32:02 -0500, Walt
wrote:

Ron - NY wrote:
I was on the lift one day with a ski patrol guy
and he told me there is a special way to wrap the strap around your wrist
when gripping the pole but It might not be easy to explain . He said to put
your hand through the strap and instead of just gripping the pole , to put
your hand over the strap so it's between your index finger & thumb and then
grip the pole .

The advantage of using the strap that way is you get more leverage when
you're poling across the flats. It's essential for X-C, but I'm not
sure I see the advantage for downhill.


The advantage I find is that if you let go of the pole in a fall, then
it's dangling harmlessly from your wrist, leaving your hand completely
free. Whereas if you do the instinctive thing (reach horizontally
_through_ the loop so that you only grip the pole, rather than reach
UP through the loop and then grip both the pole and the strap), then
when you let go, the pole hangs from the strap which is nestled in the
webbing of your thumb, turning the pole into a very well-braced lever,
admirably suited for tweaking your thumb or wrist.

bw

"bdubya" wrote in message

The advantage I find is that if you let go of the pole in a fall, then
it's dangling harmlessly from your wrist, leaving your hand completely
free. Whereas if you do the instinctive thing (reach horizontally
_through_ the loop so that you only grip the pole, rather than reach
UP through the loop and then grip both the pole and the strap), then
when you let go, the pole hangs from the strap which is nestled in the
webbing of your thumb, turning the pole into a very well-braced lever,
admirably suited for tweaking your thumb or wrist


Yep , that's pretty much the idea I got from it . But it's a little bit of a
nuisance to do and it makes the grip feel a little weird because your
holding the handle plus the double thickness of the strap and it feels like
your not getting as tight a grip . But then again a broken thumb can be a
nuisance too :-) .

Ron - NY wrote:
"bdubya" wrote in message

The advantage I find is that if you let go of the pole in a fall,
then
it's dangling harmlessly from your wrist, leaving your hand
completely
free. Whereas if you do the instinctive thing (reach horizontally
_through_ the loop so that you only grip the pole, rather than reach
UP through the loop and then grip both the pole and the strap), then
when you let go, the pole hangs from the strap which is nestled in
the
webbing of your thumb, turning the pole into a very well-braced
lever,
admirably suited for tweaking your thumb or wrist


Yep , that's pretty much the idea I got from it . But it's a little
bit of a
nuisance to do and it makes the grip feel a little weird because your

holding the handle plus the double thickness of the strap and it
feels like
your not getting as tight a grip . But then again a broken thumb can
be a
nuisance too :-) .

I think you'll find that the "weird" feel is only weird because you're
not used to it and, as long as the strap is threaded through the buckle
properly, so that it isn't twisted, the extra thickness isn't really an
issue and you won't even feel it with your gloves on. It must not be an
issue for most people because almost everyone I ski with uses their
straps in this way.

As for it not feeling like you're getting as tight a grip, well, when
using the strap this way you don't need to have a death-grip on you're
handle in order to keep your hand from slipping down it when you put
some weight on it because the strap supports your hand and keeps it
from sliding down the handle. You can have a loose, relaxed hold of
your poles and yet be more secure than you would be no matter how tight
you gripped it without the strap.

Lastly, if you're worried about catching the pole on a something and
having it dislocate your shoulder then just by a decent set of poles
with break-away straps. I use the Life-Link Alpine Extreme Carbon Fiber
- AEC (www.life-link.com) pole which also doubles as an avalanche
probe. I think they're well worth the price but there are certainly
cheaper alternatives out there.

A.

Note that going strapless is a really really bad idea if you're skiing
terrain where self arrest may be necessary

The things I learn here :-) . What does self arrest mean ?

Sources close to the investigation reveal that, on Fri, 18 Mar 2005
18:11:28 -0500, "Ron - NY" wrote:

Note that going strapless is a really really bad idea if you're skiing
terrain where self arrest may be necessary

The things I learn here :-) . What does self arrest mean ?


It's like a citizen's arrest, but you turn yourself in.

Either that, or it's what you do when you've fallen, you're sliding,
and you won't stop naturally.

--
Bill Griffiths
"The fool hath said in his heart, there is no such thing as justice." Hobbes

In article ,
Walt wrote:

Note that going strapless is a really really bad idea if you're skiing
terrain where self arrest may be necessary. So whenever I encounter
such a slope, I carefully put my wrists through the straps, taking
sometimes three or four minutes to do so. Usually by that time I've
come to my senses and go ski some other run.

How can you use the poles to self arrest when your hand are in the
straps?

....After sliding about 75 yards a few weeks ago, I discovered that I was
unable to slide my hand down to the basket end of the pole in order to
use the pole as a pick. So, I just kept sliding and sliding, etc..
Fortunately one ski came off during the fall and I was able to dig the
front of my boot into the slope to eventually stop below experiencing
the full length of the trail.

Some skiers say keep one hand out of the strap when on difficult/steep
runs. But isn't the point of the strap to keep you from losing the ski.
Damned if you do, and damned if you don't???

-Dennis

--
Dennis Kessler
http://www.denniskessler.com/acupuncture

no spam wrote:
Walt wrote:
Note that going strapless is a really really bad idea if you're
skiing
terrain where self arrest may be necessary. So whenever I
encounter
such a slope, I carefully put my wrists through the straps, taking
sometimes three or four minutes to do so. Usually by that time
I've
come to my senses and go ski some other run.

How can you use the poles to self arrest when your hand are in the
straps?

I believe the idea is to grab the pole with your other hand near the
basket. At least, that's the technique I've used.

...After sliding about 75 yards a few weeks ago, I discovered that I
was
unable to slide my hand down to the basket end of the pole in order
to
use the pole as a pick. So, I just kept sliding and sliding, etc..
Fortunately one ski came off during the fall and I was able to dig
the
front of my boot into the slope to eventually stop below experiencing

the full length of the trail.

If you still have both skis on, don't bother starting with the pole
arrest. Just get your skis downhill and put 'em on edge. Unless it's
super-steep (i.e. over 50 degrees) this usually works for most skiers.
If you're still sliding after engaging your skis, then add the pole
arrest. Typically, pole arrests are done after you've lost both skis.

Some skiers say keep one hand out of the strap when on
difficult/steep
runs. But isn't the point of the strap to keep you from losing the
ski.
Damned if you do, and damned if you don't???

Best bet is still not to fall.