Wrist Savers For Soccer

by Tom
(Canada)

Are there any injury statistics for young keepers? In particular wrist distal radial fractures which is the growth plate between the hand and the arm. (My 12 year old son has this type of fracture)It is caused by the ball bending the hand over backwards while making a save.

There have been a couple articles written in the British Medical Journal which suggest the use size 4 balls for young players and not a size 5 ball which should be used for adults only. They indicate that this would help reduce this type of injury. We are having custom hinged "wrist savers" made to prevent the hands from rotating past the point of fracture. Do you know of any commercially made wrist savers?

THE ANSWER

Hello Tom, well, I’ve never heard of any injury statistics for young goalkeepers, especially not for the wrist distal radial fractures. I have also done some research on Google but I didn’t found anything related to this issue. However, if I found something on this I will let you know that.

I agree that you should use a size 4 ball instead of size 5 for players younger than twelve. I am sure that they have done some tests which prove these assumptions. I’ve found few wrist savers that you may want to check out. However, I have not tried any of these as I do not have any personal experiences about this injury.

Here are 2 that seem to be popular and that you may want to check the out:

• Triple Eight Wristsaver


• Pro-Tec Wrist Stabilizer

I hope that your son will get better soon. Please keep me updated about the results.

/Mirsad.