how can skateboarders jump off of high surfaces like buildings and over stairs without breaking their legs?

Question

how can skateboarders jump off of high surfaces like buildings and over stairs without breaking their legs?

In: 4

Answer 1

Hey, I skateboard!

If you land on the board properly, then a lot of the energy is transferred into your continued horizontal momentum. A key thing in skateboarding is to keep your knees bent, which goes a long way to help absorb the impact. If you Ollie a 5 stair and land with your legs straight, I guarantee you will break your legs.

Now if you don’t land on the board properly, you do your best to roll or otherwise dissipate all that energy. There is an art to falling to minimize getting hurt – kind of similar to how in parkour you roll when dropping from a large height. And of course if you don’t fall right, you can absolutely get hurt.