Heading straight toward an injury?

PROVO — Sam Parkinson thinks he was going down a hill, but he's not sure.

He might have been making a sharp turn, but that, too, is just a guess.

Parkinson, 17, can't recall many details from the longboarding accident in California more than a month ago that left him with brain damage.

He does, however, remember that he wasn't wearing a helmet.

Today, as he resides in the inpatient rehabilitation unit at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center, the Provo teenager wishes he hadn't made that mistake.

"Then I could be (longboarding) now instead of being here," he said.

Parkinson is one of a growing number of Utahns who have fallen for the longboard — a longer, more stable and faster version of the skateboard.

And it's the falling part that has medical professionals concerned.

Longboarders often reach speeds of 20 mph or higher when riding at popular downhill locations such as the biking trail from Nunn's Park down to Mt. Timpanogos Park in Provo Canyon or the hilly roads in Cedar Hills.

But unlike in-line skates, longboards have no mechanism for slowing down other than the rider dragging his or her foot, which at 20 mph is not a good idea, said Dr. James Snyder, director of clinical neural psychology and rehab psychology at UVRMC's rehab unit.

"Once you start down the hill, if you try to stop by putting your foot down, you'll end up unbalancing yourself," Snyder said, "and then you're off into the bushes."

So far this year, UVRMC has reported three fatal longboarding accidents. The most recent of those happened in June when a 21-year-old Brigham Young University-Idaho student crashed after hitting some loose gravel while riding downhill on North Temple Drive in Provo.

Doctors at UVRMC also have treated two patients with broken necks from longboarding accidents, and emergency-room personnel say they've seen an increasing number of minor injuries — broken bones, sprained ankles and abrasions — among longboard- ers.

Then there are those who, like Parkinson, end up as patients of Dr. David Hilmo in the inpatient rehabilitation unit.

Hilmo runs the unit, which treats patients who have been injured severely enough to be admitted to the hospital but do not function well enough to go home after a few days.