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Beginners' Bad Luck on the Ski Slopes
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Posted on: 03/15/2004
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Injuries on the slopes are less common than most people think. These authors report that, on average, downhill skiers and snowboarders only get injured once every 300 days of hitting the slopes. Still, there are a lot of ski injuries. And most of these injuries happen to beginning skiers.
The authors looked at injury patterns at three ski areas in Scotland. Injuries were divided up between skiers, snowboarders, and skiboarders. Skiboarding (often called snowblading) is a new sport. Snowbladers use short skis with bindings that can't detach. The short skis are easy to maneuver, but the bindings make injuries more likely.
The authors collected information on injured skiers and a control group who did not get injured. As expected, the authors found that first-day skiers, snowboarders, and snowbladers were much more likely to be injured than the more experienced people on the slopes. The authors found some interesting facts about the injuries:
For all the injuries taken together, falls were the most common cause.
Snowboarding was related with a higher rate of injuries.
Experienced snowboarders and snowbladers were more likely to be hurt in a jump than those who were less experienced.
First-day snowbladers were more likely to be hurt in a collision than more experienced snowbladers. First-day skiers were more likely to injure the legs and suffer sprains.
First-day snowboarders tended to injure their arms, probably from putting their hands out when they fell.
All together, snowbladers broke more bones than any other group. Of the injuries to first-time snowbladers, 40 percent were fractures.
Injuries were more common among people 26 and older than among people between 17 and 25.
Alarmingly, kids were much more likely to be injured. People under 17 had three times the injury rate of people between 17 and 25.
The authors note that first-timers were less likely to be wearing helmets. Very few snowboarders were wearing wrist guards. And first-timers were more likely to have rented or borrowed their gear. This means their gear was less likely to fit well and be in good shape. Using borrowed gear was related with an injury risk eight times higher.
In a final interesting observation, the authors note that first-timers who had taken a lesson were almost three times more likely to be injured than those who hadn't. The authors don't know why this would be true. They suggest first-timers who take a lesson might be too confident and so try to push their limits.
The authors feel that these findings should make ski areas rethink their programs for first-time skiers, snowboarders, and snowbladers. They recommend that ski programs need to focus on good gear selection and safety gear. The authors also suggest that ski programs should stress that first-timers need to take it slow and easy for awhile.
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References:
Mike Langran, BM, and Sivasubramaniam Selvaraj. Increased Injury Risk among First-Day Skiers, Snowboarders, and Skiboarders. In The American Journal of Sports Medicine. January/February 2004. Vol. 32. No. 1. Pp. 96-103.
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