The Wall Street Journal-20080123-Ski Injuries Go Downhill- Better Equipment Helps
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Ski Injuries Go Downhill, Better Equipment Helps
The "Informed Patient" column "Winter-Sports Injuries Spur Emphasis on Safety Resorts" (Jan. 2) was informative, but may perpetuate some old myths. The risk of injury in alpine skiing does continue to decline, down 55% since 1972 to about one injury in 500 skier visits. So-called equipment-related injuries to the lower leg have declined the most, down 83% from 1973 to 1990 to about one injury in 4,000 skier visits. Yet only twist-related injuries have improved in the last seven years, down 32%. That improvement would be greater if non- release bindings were removed from the analysis. Such bindings, usually mounted on very short skis, increase the risk of lower-leg injuries eightfold. Very short skis may make serious knee sprains unlikely, but non-release bindings are a potential hazard on all alpine skis.
Inadvertent binding release rarely causes injury. Tampering with the binding by the skier following the event is the real problem. Skiers lack the tools and training to correctly test and adjust bindings. Most inadvertent releases are from the heel piece, which doesn't have enough information to "know" whether to release or retain and may be "confused" by poor skiing technique.
The risk of lower-leg injury can be reduced by an annual visit to a well-equipped ski shop that employs properly trained technicians. The risk of a sprain to the anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, can be substantially reduced by following a few simple rules that can be found in "Tips for Knee-Friendly Skiing," available for free at ski shops or online.
Carl Ettlinger
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Department of Orthopeadics
University of Vermont
Underhill, Vt.
(Mr. Ettlinger is president of Vermont Safety Research and has participated in the study of snow-sport injuries at a northern Vermont ski area for more than three decades.)
