UMEM Educational Pearls

Title: Epidemiology of Alpine Skiing Injuries

Category: Orthopedics

Keywords: Skiing, gamekeeper (PubMed Search)

Posted: 1/12/2019 by Brian Corwell, MD (Updated: 11/13/2024)
Click here to contact Brian Corwell, MD

Epidemiology of Alpine Skiing Injuries

 

Mean age of injury 30.3 (range 24 to 35.4 years)

Populations at greatest risk are children and adolescents and possibly adults over 50 (increased risk of tibial plateau fractures)

Sex: Males> females

              Knee injuries, esp to ACL, are higher among females

              Fractures greater in males

Injury location greatest at lower extremity (primarily to knee)

              Primarily sprains to MCL and ACL (increasing incidence)

14% occur to upper extremity and primarily involve the thumb and shoulder

              Skiers thumb – FOOSH with thumb Abducted gripping pole

              Pole is implicated as this injury is rare among snowboarders

The pole acts as a lever to amplify the forced Abduction of the thumb as the outstretched hand hits the ground.

Let go before you hit the ground!!

13% occur to head and neck

The number of all type injuries has decreased over time with advances in equipment and helmet use

Proportion of skiers wearing a helmet exceeds 80%        

However, the number of traumatic fatalities has remained constant

              Accidents involving fatalities exceed the protective capacity of helmets

              Helmets likely decrease risk of mild and moderate head injury

 

 

References

Ekeland et al., 2018. Epidemiology of Alpine Skiing Injuries. J Sci Med Sport

Davey et al., 2018. Alpine Skiing Injuries. Sports Health