Are you tired of mixing up skateboarding and rollerblading with each other? Or are you trying to understand how the two activities compare? Well, to make things easy, here is a complete comparison of skateboarding vs rollerblading!

The Difference Between Skateboarding VS Rollerblading

Are you completely confused between roller skating and skateboarding? Well, the two are extremely similar activities since they both involve balance and wheels. It’s completely normal for there to be confusion between roller skating and skateboarding, so let’s what makes those two activities so different!

The Wheels

When you think of skateboard wheels, they are actually quite different from rollerblade wheels. Instead, skateboard wheels are attached from one side to the same axle. The other wheels on your skateboard tend to be connected to two different axles, with one wheel on each side. The wheels on your skateboard will be much larger wheels, and will typically even be narrower. On the other hand, the wheels on roller skates are wider and smaller in size.

Despite this difference in the shape and size of the wheels, roller skates and skateboards do have wheels that are made up of the same kind of materials. They are also typically using the same bearings in each wheel. One of the interesting things about a wheel on a skateboard is that there are size adjustments on the wheel. You can choose a size that works for you, unlike on roller skates, where there are predetermined sizes.

Another noticeable difference between the two is the hardness of the wheel. In roller skating and skateboarding, this can differ according to the surfaces that they are used on in general.

How To Balance

When it comes to the riding tricks you can use with either of these activities, it is important to consider how they measure up against each other. For example, roller skating involves more of a gliding or walking motion, whereas skateboarding involves a pushing method. This is also reflected in how you balance either of these techniques. The riding tricks you can use are therefore very different depending on the activity you are carrying out.

Safety Measures

Because roller skating is so hard to master, a lot of the time we think of it as a more dangerous activity. However, according to studies, there are greater chances of getting severe injuries from skateboarding than from roller skating. However, that is not to say that skating-related injuries cannot happen if you are roller skating.

The interesting result of this study indicates that when there are skating-related injuries, 50% of the time these are skateboarding injuries. In contrast, around 33.1% are due to inline skating, whereas in 18.8% of cases the person affected is a roller skater. There is no doubt however that the skateboarding injuries in most cases constituted the more severe injuries that the experts studied.

This all indicates that if you want to avoid severe injuries, there are some measures you need to take. Here are some safety tips to avoid skating-related injuries:

• Wear protective gear: by wearing protective gear, you can avoid the issue of skating-related injuries should you fall. Some examples of protective gear include helmets and knee pads.
• Wear the right shoes: while you are skateboarding, always wear sturdy shoes that can catch onto the skateboard and avoid a fall.
• Avoid the traffic: never try roller skating or skateboarding near traffic or on city streets. This can place you at severe risk of skating-related injuries.
• Use the right roller blades: Never use rollerblades that are the wrong size. This will affect your ability to balance and can lead to serious injuries.
• Take lessons: you can go to roller skating parks or roller rinks to learn about roller skating from a professional.

Difficulty

In terms of ease of learning, roller skating is a skill that you can pick up on faster than skateboarding. This is because roller skating gives you a lot more flexibility when it comes to learning. If we are thinking roller skating vs skateboarding when it comes to ease for beginners, there is no doubt that the former is the big winner.