Snow sports are exhilarating and fun, but as we know only too well, they come with a safety warning: injuries can happen. A recent study titled New Zealand Snow Sports Injury Trends Over Five Winter Seasons 2010\u20132014 found that over a five-year period, more than 18,000 skiers and snowboarders suffered injuries on the slopes. Falls accounted for 74.3% of all injuries, followed by collisions (9.6%), jumps (7.3%), man-made terrain features (5.3%) and lifts (2%). The most common injuries were to the knee (36%), followed by the back (18%), wrist (14%), head (11.2%), shoulder (11%), lower leg (6.4%), and collar bone (3.4%).<\/p>\n
At Queenstown Physio we see hundreds of knee injuries every season, mostly from skiing. \u00a0They are typically ligament injuries, most commonly MCLs. They tend to be twisting-type injuries where the knee becomes the pivot point. Skiers can also have more serious knee injuries such as ACLs, and again, that\u2019s when a person’s ski doesn\u2019t release from their boot. Another injury specific to skiers is \u201cskier\u2019s thumb\u201d \u2013 when skiers fall and the pole forces their thumb backwards injuring the ligament.<\/p>\n
Snowboarders, on the other hand, come to our clinic with mostly upper limb injuries because both their feet are attached to the board, so they don\u2019t have the same twisting force to the lower limbs. Snowboarding injuries are commonly fractured wrists or collarbones, or shoulder and elbow dislocations. However, snowboarders can also rupture their ACL following a \u201cbig air, flat landing\u201d, where they overshoot a jump and miss the angled slope, and land on the flat with their quad muscles absorbing the full force of the landing. Then there is \u201csnowboarder\u2019s ankle\u201d or a talus fracture, also from landing hard after a jump. This injury has become more common since snowboarding increased in popularity.<\/p>\n
Injuries are usually the result of the force of a fall, but sometimes it is purely bad luck and the way the person happens to fall. However, clients often blame fatigue. Our physio Deborah’s advice?
\n\u201cWe always say, don\u2019t call last run.\u201d As the name implies, \u201clast run\u201d is the last run before heading to lunch or home for the day, and this can often be when an injury occurs. She says that \u201cweekend
\nwarriors\u201d like herself are most at risk from fatigue-related injuries. These are people who work Monday to Friday and go to the mountain only on weekends. \u201cWe\u2019re likely to think we\u2019ve only got the weekend, and then we go too hard and too fast.\u201d Another common cause of injury is people exceeding their technical ability. People go too fast for their skill level, use the chairlift before
\nthey can get off safely, or progress to the more challenging slopes or the terrain park \u2013 where the jumps and other man-made obstacles are \u2013 before they are ready. There are other factors that can play a part, such as poor gear setup, particularly if the boot binding is too tight and doesn\u2019t release; and icy conditions, which make falling injuries more severe. That\u2019s when we see whiplash and concussion, which we see in both skiers and snowboarders. Or it can be breaks and fractures.<\/p>\n
There are ways to mitigate the risk of injury, and Deborah’s advice to clients is simple and easy to follow: \u201cObviously the stronger and fitter you are, the less likely fatigue will play a part in any injury. But I always tell my clients to walk from the car park and not to take the shuttle, because the walk is a nice, gentle warmup, especially for lower limbs. And then to ease into it on the
\nslopes, start gently.\u201d Deborah recommends protective gear, including helmets for everyone and wrist guards for snowboarders, particularly for beginners and those progressing to the terrain park where there\u2019s further to fall and, therefore, more force in the landing. After a day on the slopes, Deborah would encourage stretching, particularly the lower limbs \u2013 quads, hamstring, glutes and hips. For pre-season preparation, Deborah prescribes squats, particularly done on an uneven surface to challenge balance as well as build strength.<\/p>\n
The most common question Deborah gets asked is: \u201cWhen can I get back on the snow?\u201d For clients on holiday from Australia, the question becomes more loaded. \u201cIn the more serious injuries,
\nthat\u2019s really easy to answer: they won\u2019t be back. But in a grade one sprain in any ligament \u2013 and the majority is knees \u2013 it can be a bit more challenging because they\u2019ve got a limited time and a small injury, and they don\u2019t want it to affect their whole holiday.\u201d Deborah stresses the need to respect healing timeframes, but knows that this can fall on deaf ears. \u201cOften, I recommend that they don\u2019t ski, but I know that a lot of them will. I explain to my patients that they won\u2019t ski to their full ability if they\u2019ve got a little niggle, and that puts them at risk of
\nother injuries.\u201d When assessing whether a client is fit for return to the ski field, Deborah uses a checklist to assess strength, ability and balance. For an injured knee, she will get clients to hop, jump and lunge. \u201cWith a hop, I\u2019m looking more at their power up. When they\u2019re jumping, I\u2019d look at how they land comparing left and right. And with skiers, you need that sideways agility so that\u2019s the lunging or jumping out on one leg to the side.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Deborah\u2019s opinion, the risk of injury is small and shouldn\u2019t stop people enjoying the snow. She has worked in a first aid clinic on Coronet Peak and says the statistics tell the story: \u201cOn a busy day, we might see 30 patients, but there would be 3,000 or 4,000 people up the mountain. Obviously, some come straight down the mountain, but overall injuries are a very small proportion of the number of people up there having a great time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Snow sports are exhilarating and fun, but as we know only too well, they come with a safety warning: injuries can happen. A recent study titled New Zealand Snow Sports Injury Trends Over Five Winter Seasons 2010\u20132014 found that over a five-year period, more than 18,000 skiers and snowboarders suffered injuries on the slopes. Falls […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1783,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n