To add my 2c here. Been riding mountain bikes for at least 20 years, and from 2014 more intensively. The latter on so called enduro, and a little bit of downhill bikes. Had some crashes, both low and high speed. Nothing that I couldn't immediately get up, brush off, and continue on my merry way. Maybe that day and day after I would be a bit sore/stiff, but nothing to write home about.
But almost 3 years ago, I got a back pain which wasn't passing and to make long story short, got into two spinal surgeries for herniated disc, the second being a fusion of two vertebras. I'm still recovering to this day, and unfortunately not riding my bikes, only a bike on a trainer.
My little pet theory is that people are still not aware that the sport is actually very dangerous. I'm not talking here about some extremes/professionals, I'm talking here about average Joe or his kid, who get a mountain bike and go ride (its a cool sport after all), crash here and there and don't end up in hospital necessarily. I think that the human body is quite resistant to impacts which are at low speed, as in =< running speed, and beyond that things start to break. Or at least break slowly (like a herniated disc). But mountain bikes of today very fast because they are made to be comfortable and stable, which makes crashing on the rough terrain much more dangerous than going slowly on a bike of even 10 years go as others noted in this thread.
So as the years go by, we start getting these kind of reports which may be flawed, but from my anecdata (and from the riding club I'm in), those injuries are certainly with us and making me seriously reconsider recommending faster mountain biking disciplines at all (enduro and downhill).
But almost 3 years ago, I got a back pain which wasn't passing and to make long story short, got into two spinal surgeries for herniated disc, the second being a fusion of two vertebras. I'm still recovering to this day, and unfortunately not riding my bikes, only a bike on a trainer.
My little pet theory is that people are still not aware that the sport is actually very dangerous. I'm not talking here about some extremes/professionals, I'm talking here about average Joe or his kid, who get a mountain bike and go ride (its a cool sport after all), crash here and there and don't end up in hospital necessarily. I think that the human body is quite resistant to impacts which are at low speed, as in =< running speed, and beyond that things start to break. Or at least break slowly (like a herniated disc). But mountain bikes of today very fast because they are made to be comfortable and stable, which makes crashing on the rough terrain much more dangerous than going slowly on a bike of even 10 years go as others noted in this thread.
So as the years go by, we start getting these kind of reports which may be flawed, but from my anecdata (and from the riding club I'm in), those injuries are certainly with us and making me seriously reconsider recommending faster mountain biking disciplines at all (enduro and downhill).