Imagine that you are skiing fresh powder snow. You see a nice little jump in front of you and decide to try some new-school tricks. You hit the jump and start flying… For some reason you fail with landing and you fall on your side. Your arm hits the ground and you feel strong pain in your wrist. Your great day of skiing has turned to a bad one. You have stretched the ligaments of your wrist.

What should you do if something like this happens?Do you know how to help yourself in situations like this?

Let’s start from the very first thing you should remember. Carry ALWAYS cell phone when skiing. If you or someone else gets injured, you or someone else can call help with your cell phone. In America call 911 and in Europe call 112 for help.

If you get injured in slopes, you need to help yourself. With soft tissue injuries such as the one described above, RICE works well. RICE stands for REST, ICE, COMPRESSION and ELEVATION. It is a treatment method for soft tissue injuries.

Components of RICE:

R stands for Rest. You must stop doing all activities in order to avoid additional injuries. With skiing this means that do not ski any more, just stay in rest.

I stands for Ice. In order to stop swelling of the injured area, you need to apply something cold, such as ice, on the injured area. Snow works fine. Apply snow or ice directly to the injured area for 15 to 20 minutes.

C stands for Compression. Another method to stop swelling is to compress the injured area. In case of soft tissue injury in your wrist, you can compress the injured area with your other hand. If you happen to carry bandage, wrap it firmly around the injured area with ice or snow between your hand body part and bandage.

E stands for Elevation. Elevation helps to drain excess fluid through the help of gravity. Raise the injured area or limb above the level of the heart.

If your buddy or someone else injures him/herself, you should apply this same RICE method with the victim. After the first aid is given, you should call for help if it seems that you can’t help the victim to hospital.

Now when talking about skiing injuries, I would like to remind you of the meaning of insurances in skiing. Please, read my article to know why it is important to be insured.