Boone Memorial Hospital Sports Medicine and Physical Therapy Center

How safe is skiing?  According to National Electronic Injury Surveillance data issued by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, there are as many skiing injuries as there are bicycling and baseball injuries.  In fact, the national Ski Safety advisor for the National Ski Patrol System stated that skiing was about as dangerous as junior high school football.  Catastrophic injuries have decreased, but, 85% of all skiing fatalities are males – most in their twenties.

Tearing the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) accounts for 15% of all reported skiing injuries.  This serious injury can have a permanent effect on an active lifestyle. 

Equipment is important 

According to a recent article in The Physician and Sports Medicine, recent advances in equipment have significantly reduced injuries.  As ski boots have improved, injuries moved up the leg.  As technical advances in the binding caught up with the protection the boots afforded as the ankle, the number of tibia fractures decreased.  Multimode release bindings have the safest ratings. It is difficult to recommend specific bindings, boot, skis or poles because they continue to improve. 

A Binding Quandary

Conventional ski bindings include: 1) A twist release at the toe to the right or left; or 2) A forward release from the heel which allows the skier to fall forward.  However, these two release modes won’t accommodate some types of injury-avoiding releases.  For example, if someone stands on your skis and falls back against your knees while you’re waiting for the lift, standard bindings won’t release you.  If you have bindings with an upward release at the toe, you could be released and fall backward without breaking your lower leg.

Some physicians have concluded that backward falls are also the cause of ACL injuries.  With an upward release at the toe these injuries may be reduced or eliminated.  As a result, many physicians strongly prefer skiers use upward toe release bindings.

A few bindings release with a sideward roll, which is uncommon, and a sideward release at the heel. An example of a multimode binding that was very popular in North America is the Spademan binding.  This binding clamped the boot from the side, not at the toe and heel.  This construction allowed the binding to release after a twist at the toe, in a forward lean, a twist at the heel, a backward lean or roll off the top of the ski, and a shear straight ahead fall along the ski.  This binding was technically excellent, but is no longer available in new skis.  Forces between the boot and the ski are quite high, and an aggressive skier might cause premature release of multimode bindings, so they are not that popular.

So What Now?

When renting or buying equipment, look for modern designs which can drastically reduce the chance of breaking a let, spraining an ankle or incurring other injuries below the knee.  Look for equipment suited to your weight, height, ability, skiing style and the terrain on which you will ski.  Also, make sure your equipment is serviced routinely by shops which use procedures proven most effective in preventing injuries.

Preventing Snowboard Injuries:

1.  Using the right equipment is essential. 

2.  Properly fitted boots are a must as is using a proper length board.  If you are going to perform jumps, make sure you know how to land and where you are going to land.

3. Take lessons.  These provide the basic techniques in snowboarding and demonstrate how to fall properly.

4. Always wear a helmet.  Icy conditions can lead to falls and the ice is as hard as concrete.

5. Wear wrist guards, especially beginners. Twenty-five percent of all snowboard injuries are to the wrist and half of those are beginners.

For further information or to learn more about our FREE SPORTS INJURY SCREENING please call: 304-369-5719 (Boone Memorial Hospital Sports Medicine & Physical Therapy Center, Madison, WV).