Injuries in skiing

Skiing, the sport that causes numerous injuries

The most frequent injuries in skiing are mainly bruises and injuries to the knee, shoulder and hand. Injuries to the wrist and collarbone have increased with the practice of snowboarding especially among amateurs.

Frequent injuries

In particular among the frequent injuries we find the lesion of the anterior cruciate ligament and the internal lateral ligament caused by both trauma and biomechanics of the knee.

Also frequent shoulder injuries such as dislocations. The shoulder joint is the most mobile and therefore also the most unstable joint of the whole body. To weld it needs strong ligaments and tendons, but if these from a trauma suffered should break, the shoulder loses its stability. The so-called “misplaced bone ” occurs: deformity of the shoulder and inability to move it.

Treatment consists in immediate reduction and immobilization of the limb.

In injuries of the anterior cruciate ligament, a sharp rotation of the body on the tibia occurs, producing a forced rotational movement in the knee. This occurs in the falls of the skier backwards, when the knee is in a hyperflective position while undergoing the rotation of the tibia.

Hand injury known as “skier’s thumb”. It is produced by falls in which the finger undergoes sudden lateral movement. Rupture of the internal ligament that stabilizes the joint of the metacarpal with the first phalanx occurs. Immediate symptoms: pain and swelling. In severe and acute injuries treatment is surgical before certain gripping movements are impaired.

Gender, skier ability or age can affect sports activity as well as fitness, muscle balance and external factors such as boots, skis, attacks or the type of snow.

The phantom foot mechanism and the front drawer mechanism induced by ski boots for example lead to damage to the anterior cruciate ligament.

Women suffer from a higher percentage of anterior cruciate ligament injuries than men.

The immediate symptoms of an anterior cruciate ligament injury are pain and inability to walk.

Treatments and remedies

Care: reduce inflammation and immobilize the part involved; in the case of a slight distortion, a compressive bandage should be applied. If the pain persists it is good to consult a specialist to make an exact diagnosis of the possible pathology and identify the correct treatment and therapy to follow.