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SunSurfer

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Everything posted by SunSurfer

  1. When the Canadians are competing this season there's this pesky European who keeeps appearing on the podium with them. Benjamin Karl. He has over a seasons experience riding his own decoupling plate. Barring accidents, I expect the medals in the male PGS to include at least 1 Canadian and Karl. SunSurfer
  2. http://www.princeton.edu/~oa/safety/altitude.html http://www.traveldoctor.co.uk/altitude.htm A couple of short, succinct, and given the sources likely to be accurate accounts of acclimatisation to altitude, altitude sickness and its treatment. SunSurfer
  3. A fool and his money are soon parted. Speaking as an "anesthesiologist" ( where I come from I'm a specialist anaesthetist), your body's ability to store oxygen for later use is minimal, and as soon as you take a breath of air after breathing the pure oxygen most of the extra oxygen in your lungs will be breathed out. Even if I get a patient to breathe pure oxygen for several minutes, within a minute as they breathe the surrounding air again, the oxygen concentration in their blood and tissues will return to normal. Sorry guys, all the hangover stuff and "oxygen bars" are just wishful thinking and gullible fools. SunSurfer
  4. SunSurfer

    mouth guards

    Evaluation of protective equipment for prevention of injuries in rugby union. Marshall SW, Loomis DP, Waller AE, Chalmers DJ, Bird YN, Quarrie KL, Feehan M. Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7435, USA. SMarshall@unc.edu Comment in: Int J Epidemiol. 2005 Feb;34(1):119-20. BACKGROUND: Rugby union has a high rate of injury. The increased use of protective equipment may help mitigate these injuries. This study investigated the injury prevention effectiveness of the protective equipment used in rugby union. METHODS: A cohort of 304 rugby players in Dunedin, New Zealand was followed weekly during the 1993 club season to assess protective equipment use, participation in rugby, and injury outcomes. Generalized Poisson regression was used to model the rate of injury while adjusting for covariates such as level of competition, playing position, and injury history. RESULTS: The use of mouthguards appeared to lower the risk of orofacial injury [rate ratio (RR) = 0.56, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.07-4.63], and padded headgear tended to prevent damage to the scalp and ears (RR = 0.59, 95% CI: 0.19-1.86). Support sleeves tended to reduce the risk of sprains and strains (RR = 0.58, 95% CI: 0.26-1.27). The risk of concussion was not lessened by the use of padded headgear (RR = 1.13, 95% CI: 0.40-3.16) or mouthguards (RR = 1.62, 95% CI: 0.51-5.11). There was no evidence of protective effects for any other equipment item (taping, shinguards, and grease). CONCLUSIONS: The protective equipment used in rugby union has limited effectiveness in preventing injuries. The results are supportive, however, of a role for mouthguards and padded headgear in preventing orofacial and scalp injuries, respectively, and for support sleeves in preventing sprains and strains. __________________________ from PubMed website - a database of essentially all biomedical research.
  5. http://fis.smugmug.com/ Gallery: LG Snowboard FIS World Cup 2010 Currently 1155 hi def photos of this seasons FIS events. On the preview photo move your pointer into the top right corner and select Original. Then right click and save as you like. SunSurfer
  6. Age 50, up until a year ago increasingly frequent intermittent back muscle spasm and spine pulled out of alignment when this happens. Other people, even my wife, can see the "step" in the line of the spinous processes (the bits you can feel on your back) when it happens. Ride 65 front and 60 rear, no cant and only rear heel lift. Referral to physiotherapist who works as part of a combined sports/spinal problem multi-disciplinary team inc. specialist spinal surgeons. As part of diagnostic process, nerve root compression by disc was considered. This type of problem has its' own specific set of exercises. Prescribed a series of exercises, for me to increase my abdominal core muscle strength and stretches to increase hamstring flexibility. Transformed!! Since beginning the exercises attacks much less common, and when occur much shorter in duration. Able to surf again without getting spasm, previously would be getting it just about every time after 30 min or so. Boarding not a problem, just keep doing the exercises!! As I get older I just need more maintenance. SunSurfer
  7. This photo and blow up from Getty Images from an "FIS snowboard" search. JJ's plate at Telluride now clearly extended front and rear, and at the rear the plate profile and its' shadow suggest there's nothing between plate and board. Snowfun4you's vid on blip.tv clearly shows JJ using only a forward extension at RTTC in Nov 2009. Again, a close look at that vid suggests nothing between board and plate extensions. Things start to stack up for the damping nose & tail motion hypothesis. SunSurfer
  8. All the photos/vids of the Canadian team in action have the masking materials over the plate. Hard to know if what we're seeing between plate and board is functional or camouflage. SunSurfer
  9. Watching the Tyler Jewell race & training videos, I see that the Tinkler plate he is using also has a forward extension. That argues against my billboard hypothesis. It is unlikely that the feature would be there in two independent designs, and from what I've seen of other Tinkler designs, function overrides form. I still think that the length of the extensions is probably too short to act as an effective damper for all but the most extreme nose burying scenarios. The snowboard would still bend in a curve initially and for the snowboard top surface to engage the plate tip, the tip of the board would need to have risen an extraordinary distance. Evidence to support the snowboard nose damping hypothesis would only be found in photos showing the board plate relationship deep in a hard turn. Either that, or evidence of scuff marks on the board topsheet just under the tip of the plate extension. SunSurfer
  10. Attached photos of Benjamin Karl's plate/hinge system. Does anyone have anything with more detail? I've taken an interest in this because over our off-season I'm working on a home made decoupling plate which would attach to the conventional mount points on a snowboard. At present I'm working on a plate design similar to Karl's but using different materials. One option I had wondered about was making a one piece, cambered, relatively stiff, flexible plate to add a component of shock absorption to system, a little like a slalom skateboard deck in construction. I'm still looking at hinge options, in either marine stainless steel or aluminium, while the parts that attach to the snowboard are UHMWPE for strength, flexibility and low friction. SunSurfer
  11. It has always puzzled me why there has been little discussion of Benjamin Karl's plate system on the Bomber site. He has been using it with considerable success yet people seem fixated on the Vist & Hangl systems. He appears to be using a fairly hefty aluminium plates and rails combination to create a rigid binding plate. From screenshots of the flv. file from the newspaper site, the Apex Composites plate appears to be a close to rigid carbon fibre plate. Any kind of plate of this type (B Karl, Apex Comp) needs a hinge mechanism at both front and rear attachment points to the board to allow the board to flex underneath. It also needs at least one of those attachment points to be able to slide back and forth approx. 0.5 - 1cm to complete the process of decoupling the plate from the board. As the Apex guys say in their Daily Planet appearance, the linkage to the snowboard is the key to the success (and strength and durability) of the design. I haven't been able to find really detailed photos of the hinge/slide linkage on Benjamin Karl's board. Some detail from what I've been able to find is in the next post. However, the Apex screen shots provide some interesting hints. Firstly, whereas Karl has his heel & toe pieces directly fixed to the plate, Apex appears to have standard snowboard binding fixation points in it's plate, obscured by tape the pattern can be seen in the group shot around the board. Secondly, the hinge and slide is likely to be in the sole of the carbon fibre plate, given the silhouette of the rear aluminium attachment point and plate. Thirdly, I suspect that the plate is attached to the board by two long bolts running across the full width of the hinge mechanism. This would allow easy assembly/removal of the plate/hinge mechanism from the board. Fourth, that the main adjustment required for different riders is appropriate placement of the hinge mechanism in relation to riders stance distance and binding angles. I'm guessing now, but I suspect that the part of the Apex plate ahead of the front binding is primarily a billboard for the manufacturer. I can see no purpose for it to be there. If there was a functional purpose, why not a similar extension at the rear. SunSurfer
  12. or look for photos here on the first search result page http://www.gettyimages.com/Search/Search.aspx?contractUrl=2&language=en-US&family=editorial&assetType=image&p=Snowboard%20FIS%20World%20Cup%20Parallel%20Giant%20Slalom
  13. http://api.ning.com/files/dnBjATQEGGF0B3pwIcgjwmwdQGnNc6h6sxwbeMfgZgNDKePAJ2SCmI6KN9rSzVRjW3ouH1dNXul8bSf7lV4bc97NSq2tvXcq/landgraafpodiummens.jpg Larger view of new Canadian plate system here. SunSurfer
  14. Benjamin Karl's name is not on the current team list. ??? SunSurfer
  15. New Zealand was hit by H1N1 during our winter, the U.S. summer just past. We had no vaccine available at the time it came through. I work as an "anesthesiologist", so saw its impact on our major city tertiary hospital. Quarantine measures i.e. if you had flu like symptoms you stayed away from work/school/whatever until you were either cleared of having the H1N1 virus or got better, limited the spread of the virus to a level below that expected for a virus that had not been around before. Even healthy people who had it, noted the common symptom of a really nasty chest symptoms, phlegmy cough etc and were unwell for a week or more. Most people who ended up in ICU had significant other medical problems before they got H1N1. However, the virus seemed to hit particularly hard those who were significantly overweight, or pregnant. And there were a small but significant number of young, fit healthy people who got it and ended up in ICU. The virus and the quarantine measures hit our hospital staffing hard. Services were reduced due to lack of staff at the peak of the outbreak. ICUs around the country came close to being overwhelmed by the number of patients with H1N1 needing ventilator treatment. A significant number of patients needed extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation to get them through. Although most people who get it will get by without hospital admission, a percentage of the total infected population will need hospital and or ICU care to survive. Vaccination will reduce the total number of people in your country who get the virus. As a result the absolute number of people needing hospital care will be reduced and the overall impact on your health system and the number of deaths will be reduced. Vaccination programmes work best when a high percentage of the population are covered. No effective medical treatment is completely safe. Effective treatments help far more people than they harm. But if you treat enough people then there will be someone who is harmed. By the time next winter comes to NZ I'll be lining up for my H1N1 shot. SunSurfer
  16. Not sure how many people are aware of this site. http://www.fissnowboardworldcup.com/ Hosts race results, and even full race videos of World Cup events. Watching 2009 World Championships PSL at Gangwon as I write this.
  17. As a 50yr old ex-skier, & learner carver (Aug 2008 at the beginning of the season I was struggling to get down gentle slopes without falling) I was faced with the same kind of decision. I had a 167cm all mountain board, which was relatively wide vs. a 180cm long, 19cm waist, Riot Supercarve (stiff) which I had bought but never ridden. I struggled for a few days on the all mountain board then screwed up my courage to try the Riot. It was a revelation, so quick from edge to edge, and my riding just took off. IMHO try the Volkl. SunSurfer
  18. Source photo & S Grabner board detail. Grabner seems to have some kind of grooved damping material under his plates but its colour makes it hard to see detail.
  19. These photos of Benjamin Karl from last season show more detail. Looks like the front and rear plates are linked by the aluminimum extrusion bar running above the board surface. Compare with the Vist, where the linkage is by plastic plates sliding on the board surface. As far as I can see, it seems to be a system used only by the SG team. The source photo for the detail of the plate shows Grabner using a similar top plate, but without the linking arms between front & rear. See next post. SunSurfer
  20. Thanks for posting this. It cleared up a lot of questions I had about how a Vist Plate is constructed and works. SunSurfer
  21. Found this video browsing about. Linked by permission. Shot just 2 weeks ago on Turoa (too-rower) ski field on Mt Ruapehu (roo-a-pay-who) in New Zealand and posted on YouTube. Just a frisson of excitement here. Ruapehu erupted in 1995, without warning, just after the skifields had closed for the day. A skier at Turoa took this photo of the eruption as it began. http://www.sisson.co.nz/ArticlesBlog/blog/Mt+Ruapehu+Eruption+Tongariro+National+Park.html (and on the next page it gets more exciting. SunSurfer
  22. Sounds like Paul's having a typical Kiwi experience. NZers are forever having to sit by politicians on planes, after a while it almost spoils the trip! August was the warmest it has ever been since records began, so while normally August is the best month for a snow trip, this year the snow was all slushy and soft when I was in Queenstown 10 days ago. Glad the Furious Fifties are turning on a good southerly blast for you to dump more snow. NZ is not the good old US of A. It is a place of very different values. Our gun laws, amongst other things, make it a relatively safe place to be a politician, hence you get to sit beside them on planes (a mixed blessing). Apropos the healthcare debate in the States at present, in NZ "socialised" health care and a healthy private healthcare sector exist side by side. Public hospitals are our best hospitals, where our sickest and most complex patients are treated. The private hospitals have better "hotel" services, and if you can afford it, non urgent surgical treatment can be bought more quickly, but the quality is not significantly better, or worse. NZers can't sue for personal injury compensation. A government administered system (not perfect) provides medical care and is aimed at rehabilitation and return to participation in society. There is no incentive to maximise the extent of your injury to maximise your payout. The lawyers hated it when it first came in!! If Paul was injured on a ski field while he was here, no matter how seriously, the scheme would automatically cover his medical care in NZ's "public" hospital system. To quote from the Accident Compensation Corporation website - Why does ACC help tourists? ACC’s legislation covers the medical treatment of overseas visitors who are injured while in New Zealand. However, they cannot get compensation for lost overseas income and their cover does not continue once they leave New Zealand. In the case of serious injuries, ACC will assist them only to the point where they are able to safely return home. There are other exclusions as well. It is important to note that tourists often pay some form of ACC levy. For example, those who hire rental vehicles pay an ACC levy when they buy petrol, so they do pay towards any road-accident related treatment. Those who legally worked while in New Zealand paid levies through their wages. It is important to appreciate that in return for this cover, overseas visitors – like New Zealanders – forgo the right to sue if they are injured here. If they were allowed to sue, the cost to New Zealand would be significantly more than what ACC pay to cover their treatment. Individual New Zealanders could also have been sued; something that with ACC cover, cannot happen. Finally, it is most likely that recovering the cost of tourists’ medical treatment from the visitors themselves, or their insurance companies, would be expensive. Have a great time while you're here, pinot noir is Central Otago's best grape, and a midwinter river dunk bungy jump from the Kawarau Gorge site is probably the best way to clear your head! SunSurfer
  23. When you know the real answer when a skier calls out "What the f... is that!!?" as you walk past on the way to lunch. When you spot only one other person on hard boots & carver at a ski resort on your latest trip, and immediately go up to him, shake his hand and start comparing boards etc. (Riot vs. Prior WCR) as if you were long lost friends, to the complete bemusement of his wife! (Both from last week in NZ) SunSurfer
  24. Don't get many gun shot wounds in NZ so ballistics knowledge is not a strong point in our medical training. My thanks to those who've increased my knowledge, and kept this thread polite and thoughtful despite the diversity of views expressed. SunSurfer
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