Most Common Roller Derby Injuries

Because the sport of roller derby super badass, you can expect to see more than just bumps and bruises as a result of rough play. Even with the best in safety equipment, injuries can, and do happen to the best of us, even the queens of the roller rink.

The first obvious risk of injury in this sport is falling or another skater flailing and injuring you. Accidents happen, and it doesn’t take much! Helmets, elbow and knee pads can only protect so much, so scrapes and cuts will happen or worse, broken noses, teeth or concussions from hitting the wooden, concrete or sport court floors.

Another potential danger is overworked or stressed out muscles, tendons and ligaments. This sport requires its players to be very flexible and fast, so their muscles can be overworked through too much play or practice. The possibility of strained quadriceps and hamstrings is the most commonplace minor-ish injury. But torn ACLs and broken, twisted or sprained ankles coming in a close second.

The upper half of the body is not spared either, because elbows and shoulders are "used" constantly during play. Repetitive stress injuries of the muscles and tendons from the wrist to the shoulder are always possible, especially the rotator cuff and the carpal tunnel of the wrist. Because some plays require one member to be propelled ahead of the rest, the arm that is grabbed by teammates to whip that player forward is always at risk of muscle strain or even dislocation if too much force is used.

posted by Derby News Bot on March 19, 2011