Spinal cord injuries from mountain biking exceed hockey, other high-risk sports

One thing to note is that British Columbia, especially the bike park in Whistler, is basically the Mecca of [this type of] mountain biking. For most people around the world it's not a cheap trip, riding there might be something they've dreamt about for years, and they intend to make every minute count, even though they're tired and some of the trails are unlike anything they've ever ridden at home.

This tracks with my own bias as an ER doc. I do feel that the risk of c-spine injuries from mountain biking is understated. As they said in the article, you are especially vulnerable to a hangmans fracture when thrown over the handlebars. I wonder if the ergonomics or geometry of a bicycle could be modified to better protect a rider’s neck.

Mountain biking needs to be split into two.<p>There is casual off-roading on a mountain bike and there is the dare devil downhill stuff. Very different risk profiles in my mind

This article makes it sound like mountain biking is riskier than hockey (in terms of spinal cord injuries), but without relative participation rates, one cannot draw that conclusion.

It&#x27;d be good to see the breakdown by types of mountain biking. I imagine downhill has a higher injury rate, but is it like 50% or 90%?<p>I&#x27;m very into cycling, and like casual mountain biking. I&#x27;ve tried downhill a couple of times and it feels way too dangerous.

It has a lot to do with the amount of risk some bikers are willing to take. You can be very safe if you&#x27;re careful.<p>I&#x27;d say in general, the risk of getting hit by a car in traffic is much higher than something happening out in the mountains, depending on the city of course.

I predict this will get worse as e-bikes increasingly allow people to get to places they do not have the experience, fitness and skill to get their on their own.

I visited by Whistler, watched some of these guys, basically doing somersaults on mountain bikes on a pump track, going at high speed. So not surprising at all. Not exactly sure where I was. All I remember it was like meters away from nudist beach (nudist wooden dock, really). Which being immature dorks, we decided to dive off. But Whistler is kind of like Waikiki to Surfing. So might be sample bias. Most people don&#x27;t take doing bike tricks that far. So its a thrill seeker place down there, that attracts a certain type of personality. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;@riseandalpine" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;@riseandalpine</a>

To add my 2c here. Been riding mountain bikes for at least 20 years, and from 2014 more intensively. The latter on so called enduro, and a little bit of downhill bikes. Had some crashes, both low and high speed. Nothing that I couldn&#x27;t immediately get up, brush off, and continue on my merry way. Maybe that day and day after I would be a bit sore&#x2F;stiff, but nothing to write home about.<p>But almost 3 years ago, I got a back pain which wasn&#x27;t passing and to make long story short, got into two spinal surgeries for herniated disc, the second being a fusion of two vertebras. I&#x27;m still recovering to this day, and unfortunately not riding my bikes, only a bike on a trainer.<p>My little pet theory is that people are still not aware that the sport is actually very dangerous. I&#x27;m not talking here about some extremes&#x2F;professionals, I&#x27;m talking here about average Joe or his kid, who get a mountain bike and go ride (its a cool sport after all), crash here and there and don&#x27;t end up in hospital necessarily. I think that the human body is quite resistant to impacts which are at low speed, as in =&lt; running speed, and beyond that things start to break. Or at least break slowly (like a herniated disc). But mountain bikes of today very fast because they are made to be comfortable and stable, which makes crashing on the rough terrain much more dangerous than going slowly on a bike of even 10 years go as others noted in this thread.<p>So as the years go by, we start getting these kind of reports which may be flawed, but from my anecdata (and from the riding club I&#x27;m in), those injuries are certainly with us and making me seriously reconsider recommending faster mountain biking disciplines at all (enduro and downhill).

This title is so bad it&#x27;s basically a lie. Better title: spinal cord injuries from mountain biking in BC exceed other high risk sports.<p>The terrain in that area and parks include things like a lot of 30 foot tall one foot wide wood walkways.<p>And as a MTB destination this terrain is often attempted by basically tourists.<p>This is like saying &quot;hiking injuries exceed other high risk sports&quot; on Mt Everest.

I remember talking to a mountain biker who seemed proud of his injuries including concussions, breaking his shoulder twice, etc.

I recall hearing in the past that equestrianism had the greatest risk of head trauma of any mainstream sport. If I recall correctly, even more than boxing. It&#x27;s interesting that mountain biking is in many ways a similar activity (e.g. riding a &quot;vehicle&quot; that you straddle and which doesn&#x27;t have the inherent stability of a car).<p>It might be interesting to compare rates in equestrianism and biking to other sports where falls are a significant risk such as Judo or balance beam. Are falls a particularly dangerous part of sports or might there be something specific to falling from something you are straddling? Might it make a difference that Judo and gymnastics include specific training to develop balance and safe falling but biking and horseback riding do not?

I do a lot of road cycling, but this is essentially why I refuse to participate in mountain biking (in my area). I&#x27;ve heard so many horror stories from friends of mine who ride and it sounds like accidents are only a matter of time. Even if someone rides as safe as they can, you can&#x27;t account for others on the trails or the conditions 100% of the time.

This is interesting and I don&#x27;t doubt the problem exists, but just considering the physics of a person riding a bike, it seems tough to envision an effective safety system.<p>Maybe expanded use of those &quot;bike airbag helmets&quot;? I can&#x27;t imagine a mountain biker wearing a bunch of bulky padding and still being able to participate in the sport.

Would love to see this normalized across the country (or world). Mountain bike trails in the Pacific Northwest are very different than, say, Central Pennsylvania. Riding loamy downhills on a full suspension bike might as well be a different sport than a low-speed rocky&#x2F;rooty technical trails on a hardtail.

My kids race GP motorcycles (Ohvale, Honda NSF250&#x2F;Moto3) and it’s interesting how many well meaning but ignorant parents tell me how dangerous that is, yet they’ll gladly let their kids play soccer, do gymnastics, or (in the U.S.,) play tackle [American] football. Track racing injuries at the semi-pro and pro levels are a lot more rare than in traditional ball sports. Injuries do happen, but the safety gear is so advanced that it’s relatively rare. Far more dangerous riding a bicycle to school than racing at 200+mph on closed course racetracks.<p>4 kids racing for the past year in Spain and our only injury was a broken wrist while practicing on a supermoto in a parking lot. Countless crashes, but injuries have been rare. The soccer kids at their school though — seems like there is always one on crutches.<p>Anecdotal, sure, but actual safety and perception of safety aren’t always the same. I think last year in racing there were maybe two fatalities in the entire world in organized motorcycle racing. In just August in the USA, 7 kids died playing American football. [1] In MotoGP, only 8 in the history of the sport have died while racing, with Marco Simoncelli being the most recent in 2011. The list of pro soccer players who have died after infield incidents is extensive.[2]<p>My point is that “high risk” in my opinion, isn’t well defined.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.npr.org&#x2F;2024&#x2F;08&#x2F;28&#x2F;nx-s1-5091883&#x2F;middle-high-school-football-players-deaths-august" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.npr.org&#x2F;2024&#x2F;08&#x2F;28&#x2F;nx-s1-5091883&#x2F;middle-high-sch...</a> [2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_association_footballers_who_died_after_on-field_incidents" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_association_football...</a>

I follow some mountain bike youtube channels, not professional riders but content creators, and literally every one of them has a yearly major injury. Broken bones are just normal.

Tangential, but it would make sense that areas with more variable terrain (i.e. BC) would likely see more or more severe injuries than flat areas (i.e. Saskatchewan).

Don&#x27;t know about spinal injuries but almost everyone I know who mountain bikes, has broken a bone, mostly collar bones.

I’m shocked — shocked! — that this sport would have a higher injury rate than hockey.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;PCvrdZOk_kk?si=AwaCHd05eM-XYfV-" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;PCvrdZOk_kk?si=AwaCHd05eM-XYfV-</a><p>Or running your spine through a tree shredder, for that matter.

Mountain Biking and Trail-Building Destroy Wildlife Habitat!<p>The major harm that mountain biking does is that it greatly extends the human footprint (distance that one can travel) in wildlife habitat. E-bikes multiply that footprint even more. Neither should be allowed on any unpaved trail. Wildlife, if they are to survive, MUST receive top priority!<p>What were you thinking??? Mountain biking and trail-building destroy wildlife habitat! Mountain biking is environmentally, socially, and medically destructive! There is no good reason to allow bicycles on any unpaved trail!<p>Bicycles should not be allowed in any natural area. They are inanimate objects and have no rights. There is also no right to mountain bike. That was settled in federal court in 1996: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;mjvande.info&#x2F;mtb10.htm" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;mjvande.info&#x2F;mtb10.htm</a> . It&#x27;s dishonest of mountain bikers to say that they don&#x27;t have access to trails closed to bikes. They have EXACTLY the same access as everyone else -- ON FOOT! Why isn&#x27;t that good enough for mountain bikers? They are all capable of walking....<p>Why do mountain bikers always insist on creating illegal trails? It&#x27;s simple: they ride so fast that they see almost nothing of what they are passing. Therefore, they quickly get bored with any given trail and want another and another, endlessly! (In other words, mountain biking is inherently boring!)<p>A favorite myth of mountain bikers is that mountain biking is no more harmful to wildlife, people, and the environment than hiking, and that science supports that view. Of course, it&#x27;s not true. To settle the matter once and for all, I read all of the research they cited, and wrote a review of the research on mountain biking impacts (see <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;mjvande.info&#x2F;scb7.htm" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;mjvande.info&#x2F;scb7.htm</a> ). I found that of the seven studies they cited, (1) all were written by mountain bikers, and (2) in every case, the authors misinterpreted their own data, in order to come to the conclusion that they favored. They also studiously avoided mentioning another scientific study (Wisdom et al) which did not favor mountain biking, and came to the opposite conclusions.<p>Mountain bikers also love to build new trails - legally or illegally. Of course, trail-building destroys wildlife habitat - not just in the trail bed, but in a wide swath to both sides of the trail! E.g. grizzlies can hear a human from one mile away, and smell us from 5 miles away. Thus, a 10-mile trail represents 100 square miles of destroyed or degraded habitat, that animals are inhibited from using. Mountain biking, trail building, and trail maintenance all increase the number of people in the park, thereby preventing the animals&#x27; full use of their habitat. See <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;mjvande.info&#x2F;scb9.htm" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;mjvande.info&#x2F;scb9.htm</a> for details.<p>Mountain biking accelerates erosion, creates V-shaped ruts, kills small animals and plants on and next to the trail, drives wildlife and other trail users out of the area, and, worst of all, teaches kids that the rough treatment of nature is okay (it&#x27;s NOT!). What&#x27;s good about THAT?<p>To see exactly what harm mountain biking does to the land, watch this 5-minute video: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;vimeo.com&#x2F;48784297" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;vimeo.com&#x2F;48784297</a>.<p>In addition to all of this, it is extremely dangerous: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;mjvande.info&#x2F;mtb_dangerous.htm" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;mjvande.info&#x2F;mtb_dangerous.htm</a> .<p>The latest craze among mountain bikers is the creation of &quot;pump tracks&quot; (bike parks). They are alleged to teach bicycling skills, but what they actually teach are &quot;skills&quot; (skidding, jumping (&quot;getting air&quot;), racing, etc.) that are appropriate nowhere! If you believe that these &quot;skills&quot; won&#x27;t be practiced throughout the rest of the park and in all other parks, I have a bridge I&#x27;d like to sell you! ...<p>For more information: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;mjvande.info&#x2F;mtbfaq.htm" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;mjvande.info&#x2F;mtbfaq.htm</a> .<p>The common thread among those who want more recreation in our parks is total ignorance about and disinterest in the wildlife whose homes these parks are. Yes, if humans are the only beings that matter, it is simply a conflict among humans (but even then, allowing bikes on trails harms the MAJORITY of park users -- hikers and equestrians -- who can no longer safely and peacefully enjoy their parks).<p>The parks aren&#x27;t gymnasiums or racetracks or even human playgrounds. They are WILDLIFE HABITAT, which is precisely why they are attractive to humans. Activities such as mountain biking, that destroy habitat, violate the charter of the parks.<p>Even kayaking and rafting, which give humans access to the entirety of a water body, prevent the wildlife that live there from making full use of their habitat, and should not be allowed. Of course those who think that only humans matter won&#x27;t understand what I am talking about -- an indication of the sad state of our culture and educational system.<p>Mike Vandeman, Ph.D.