Really and truly not trying to start a fight. Just saying that using the hands to break a fall is intuitive. In a rational sense the hands and elbows have a spring like effect to absorb some of the shock of the fall. It is hard for me to understand why you would let the next higher up body parts that have no give at all (shoulder, head) take the punishment when the arms can reach down and reduce the distance of the fall. Especially when the hands can be (referring to my other active post) somewhat padded with gloves. I have always used my hands to break bike falls and have never damaged my shoulder nor even touched my helmet to the road. The clavicle is incredibly brittle and fractured clavicles are so identified with cycling that I wonder why you would even chance landing on your shoulder. I should mention that I am such a klutz that the idea of some rolling maneuver is totally beyond me.

Okay, so discounting my own practice and experience, the established wisdom seems to be not to use the hands. Please explain to me why and what is the recommended procedure instead.