Injuries in Alpine Skiing, Telemarking, and Snowboarding

A central ski patrol-based registration of skiing and snowboarding injuries was performed by the Norwegian Ski Lift Association during the winter seasons 1996/1997 and 1997/1998. At total of 3915 injuries and 32.894 million lift transports were recorded during the two seasons, giving an injury rate of 1.2 injuries per 1000 skier days or per 10 000 lift transports. Most of the injuries occurred during alpine skiing (57%) and snowboarding (34%), whereas telemark skiing accounted for 9% of the injuries. Many injured snowboarders suffered wrist injuries (29%), compared to only 4% for alpine and 3% for telemark skiers. Knee injuries were more common among injured alpine skiers (26%) than among telemarkers (13%) and snowboarders (6%), but the percentage of knee injuries was double as high for females as for males in all three disciplines. The injured telemark skiers suffered three times as many ankle injuries (13%) as alpine skiers (4%) and snowboarders (4%). Injured snowboarders suffered more fractures (33%) than alpine (22%) and telemark (20%) skiers. Lower leg fractures were recorded for only 3.6% of the injured alpine skiers 20 years and older, whereas this injury accounted for 20% of the injuries among alpine skiers 12 years and younger. Injured alpine beginners suffered more knee injuries than experts. Almost half of the injured snowboarder beginners (44%) suffered wrist injuries compared to only 14% of the experts, but injured experts suffered more head, shoulder, and ankle injuries than beginners. In conclusion, injured alpine skiers are most prone to knee injuries. Lower leg fractures have become uncommon among adult skiers but are still a common injury in children. Injured snowboarders are prone to wrist injuries and injured telemark skiers to ankle injuries. The percentage of knee injuries among females is twice that of males in all three disciplines.