My Snowboarding Crash Lake Tahoe, California January 31, 2004 a story of pain on muellerworld

The ground broke my fall

That is the only sound I heard as I crashed hard on the lower part of a ski run called Beaver at Sierra-at-Tahoe ski resort.

I found out that falling on one's armpit is not as difficult as it sounds, but I also discovered that it hurts like crazy.

Even now, after I have been examined by two doctors, a radiologist and a ski patrol guy, what made the cracking sound is a mystery (two votes for neck, one for "important stuff" in my armpit).

What happened? Gravity- and Stability-related issues

"Don't ride flat" is a lesson I have learned many times, and one I won't have to learn again.

After 2½ hours of riding on Green and Blue runs, we were at the bottom of a Blue run and heading towards the ski lift on a flat and smooth section of the run that was about 20 feet wide. I was transitioning nicely from heel-side to toe-side as I worked my way down the hill. Just as I left my heel-side edge, I hit a wobbly spot and I caught an edge on the heel side and immeadiately flipped forward without much warning.

Instinctively, my right (downhill) arm shot out to catch my fall, but it was too high and I landed pretty much on my right armpit and right side. My right ear collided with my right shoulder and that is when I heard the big cracking sound.

Instantly, I was dizzy from the impact as momentum carried me through a cartwheel and onto my butt with my legs convientiantly pointing downhill. When I opened my eyes, I saw stars and heard a ringing sound. I thought I would pass out and the feeling reminded me exactly of the feeling I had when I fractured my right radial head on a horrific first-date several years ago (I should write that experience up sometime).

After a few minutes, I realized that my entire right arm was numb.

Using my left hand, I unstrapped my feet from the snowboard and walked downhill towards Lauren and the small bar at the bottom of the slope.

Lauren asked the barman to call Ski Patrol to get me evaluated and she brought me a glass of water as we waited. Justin showed up as I was feeling my collarbone to see if it was broken. I explained what I remembered and he said "Stinger".

I had no idea what he was talking about.

It's a common football impact injury - he'd had a few of them in his high school days.

He had me wiggle my fingers, rotate my shoulder and stretch my neck. He felt around my neck and shoulders for anything that seemed out of place or broken. Nothing.

I would not be getting a ride in one of those stretchers pulled behind a snowmobile.

Urgent Care Visit

After filling out a bunch of paperwork (and signing to acknowledge that I had recieved their 13-page disclaimer form) and waiting for 20 minutes, I was ushered to examination room number 3. A nurse quickly took my vitals (58bpm resting heart rate, 130/70 blood pressure) and a summary of my injury. A really nice doctor joined me 15 minutes later and asked for a recount of my story. When I got to the part about my numbness, he intrupted me by saying "Stinger". He continued, "Its a common football injury. In 30 years of sports medicine, I've seen a hundred of them. In most cases it lasts a few hours or a few days. Sometimes a few weeks... Sometimes, it is permanent".

He went on to say that it is not a shoulder injury, but a neck injury and, potentially, a serious one. He suggested a series of c-spine x-rays to rule out any broken vertebrae...

Mike took 8 x-rays (83ms for each exposure), only five of which counted (he forgot the film on the first one and didn't like two others). After development, the three of us looked at the x-rays and they said that there was no break or crack or problem with the bones. They said I could fly, but I should take it easy for a while, and suggested that I retire from snowboarding.

Relieved, I paid the bill ($341 USD) and left to go watch the Superbowl in San Francisco (4 hours drive away).

Update:

Three months after the crash, all of the numbness has disappeared, but I occasionally get a little stiffness on the right side of my neck, but it is pretty much back to normal.

A year later, there is no real indication that anything ever happened...