Winter sports injuries: the rules to follow to avoid them

By Cristiano Antonino On Jan 18, 2023

In Italy, an ISS survey showed that in 2018, 30,000 people suffered accidents or injuries while practising winter sports: skiing, snowboarding, skating, but also simple walks in the snow can hide pitfalls with consequent traumatic damage, especially to the limbs

For this reason, it is important to have adequate physical preparation, to know the sport one is practising, to start gradually, and to pay attention to weather conditions.

Which winter sports are at greatest risk of injury

In general, the sports with the highest risk of injury are downhill skiing and snowboarding, but also sledging, ice skating and cross-country skiing.

Sometimes, however, even a simple walk in the snow, if not done with due care, can hide pitfalls with consequent traumatic damage.

It is important to emphasise that injuries from amateur winter sports depend on several factors, the most important of which is the person’s physical condition.

There are also environmental risk factors such as weather conditions, visibility, overcrowding and the quality of the snowpack, which condition the practice of the sport and make it more or less safe.

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Winter sports, what are the most frequent injuries

According to data from the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (Italian National Institute of Health), those who practice alpine skiing are more prone to injuries to the lower limbs (over 50% of cases) and especially the knee, while injuries to the upper limbs are rarer.

The most frequent knee injuries are

those of the anterior cruciate ligament
meniscal injuries and their association;
tibial plateau fractures.

Snowboarders, on the other hand, are more prone to injuries of the upper limbs, especially shoulder dislocation and wrist fracture, while the lower limbs are affected in fewer cases.

The craniofacial massif is involved in just over 10% of cases, but these are among the most life-threatening injuries, which is why helmets are always recommended in all circumstances and at all ages.

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What are the main causes of sports accidents in winter

10% of accidents are caused by collisions between skiers.

For cross-country skiers, an endurance sport with a low rate of acute injuries, the main cause is overloading of knees and ankles, which become susceptible to acute or chronic tendinopathies.

In Italy, the National System for the Surveillance of Mountain Accidents (SIMON), coordinated by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, found that one of the causes of accidents occurring on ski slopes is fatigue.

The most frequent injuries among skiers, especially those involving the knee, in fact, occur more frequently at the end of a day spent on the slopes or at the end of a holiday.

Much attention must also be paid to the lack of snow, a condition in which practising sports such as skiing and snowboarding becomes even more dangerous.

If there is a shortage, in fact, the snowpack tends to melt in the hottest hours and then freeze over at night, creating sheets of ice that facilitate ruinous falls with consequent injuries.

The basic rules for preventing injuries

take a few hours’ rest when feeling physically and mentally tired, to let muscles and ligaments recover from the stress;
perform adequate pre-skiing muscle training: those who do not practice sports regularly throughout the year are not trained for the acute and prolonged exertion that continuous practice of these sports requires. Continuous and intense skiing during the ski week requires a physical and muscular performance of the lower limbs that most skiers do not have;
know the sport you are practising and its characteristics, so that you are ready in case you are faced with unforeseen events;
not neglecting nutrition and good hydration before, after and during training and exertion.

The importance of muscle preparation and stretching

Physical activity helps strengthen muscles and bones, helping to withstand the physical stresses and strains of hours on skis, snowboards or skates, but it must be combined with muscle strengthening to give dynamic and active stability to joints.

The main muscles to be strengthened for winter sports activities are:

quadriceps;
abdominal muscles;
shoulder muscles.

Specifically, proprioceptive reinforcement is the most important because it activates the stereotaxic peripheral receptors of the sense of position, which allow our central nervous system to control the most peripheral structures, in particular the feet and ankles, which are very important in winter sports, activating the dynamic coordination between the agonist and antagonist muscles.

Stretching, on the other hand, is a stretching of the muscle-tendon and capsular ligament structures that allows for greater elasticity in order to be ready for any eventuality of impact or loss of balance, which should be practised both before and after sporting activity.

Winter sports, resuming physical activity after an injury: how?

Resuming physical-sporting activity after an injury resulting in a period of inactivity is not easy: when it comes to starting again, the problems to be faced, both physically and psychologically, are not few.

This is especially true for winter sports, which are characterised by a high number of variables, such as equipment, poor visibility, crowded slopes, cold temperatures, snow conditions, bad or unstable weather conditions that can create states of anxiety and apprehension, especially after an accident has occurred.

In order to plan the resumption of such sports after an injury, all the more so after necessary surgery, it is essential to consult specialists in the field