Winter sports & knee injuries

Of all winter sports injuries, over 20% can be attributed to the knee! Today, then, we take you through something that goes hand in hand, winter sports and knee injuries. We explain to you which injuries we see come back every year after winter sports, but most importantly, how you can lower your risk of them.

Knee injuries in winter sports can be divided into two groups. We have the traumatic ones (after an accident or fall) and the non-traumatic ones, where we see a difference in the occurrence between novice and advanced winter sportsmen. To keep things sober for now, we will start with the non-traumatic ones.

With non-traumatic winter sports injuries, we are actually mainly talking about overuse injuries. Think mainly of overuse complaints of muscles and tendons. These structures are very heavily loaded during winter sports. We require a lot of shock absorption, a lot of tension and a lot of tensile forces are put on these tissues. If we then consider that the average Dutch person spends +-1 week a year on skis or a snowboard, it is not surprising to think that our tissues are not at all accustomed to this specific sports load. You can compare the occurrence of these injuries to the occurrence of knee injuries when we suddenly start running fanatically from nowhere. The tissue is not used to the load, a lot is asked of it and it is given little time to recover.

Before we start on the traumatic injuries, it is good to identify what are actually risk factors for sustaining knee injuries in winter sports.

• Fatigue; causes reduced control of the body and is a huge risk factor for knee injury during sports. Therefore, take it easy at the end of the day and get enough sleep.
• Untrained; little skill in the sport makes you less able to respond to different situations.
• Alcohol; we don't need to explain that one I guess....
• Poor equipment; reduces performance and compromises quality of movement.
• Piste quality; you don't have much influence on this, but a poorer quality piste increases the risk of injury.

When it comes to traumatic knee injuries, we can point to several causes causing knee injuries. In this, we do see a difference between the practised winter athlete and the beginner. When it comes to ligaments, the anterior cruciate ligament and the inner ligament of the knee are the most frequent causes. In addition, we see knee injuries more often in skiers than in snowboarders.

A trauma moment in skiing can occur when, for example, your ski shoots out, gets stuck in the snow or during a fall. It is then the inward rotation of the upper leg relative to the lower leg that makes these structures come under tension and break down.

In advanced winter athletes, the cause is more often high impact on the knee, for example landing from a jump or a hard fall. It is mainly injuries to ligaments and/or meniscus that we then see occur because the impact can be so high that it cannot be processed. Such an injury can also occur if you land with (over)stretched knees, for example. The impact to the back is then so great that you anterior cruciate ligament it may fail.

When it comes to knee injuries, it is often clear right away in all cases that something is not right. With anterior cruciate ligament injuries, for example, the knee often becomes thick in no time due to blood flowing into the knee. In addition, a pop/pop can be heard and it is often not possible to stand on the knee anymore due to instability and pain. The symptom picture in inner ligament injuries is more or less similar. With other injuries such as bone fractures, we also often know pretty quickly that something is not quite right.

An accident is in a small corner.... So we cannot completely prevent knee injuries in winter sports. But we can do all sorts of things to reduce the chances that you will be the unlucky one.

So take a good look at the tips below and travel well prepared!

• A large proportion of knee injuries stem from inefficient use of equipment. Therefore, make sure you have properly adjusted bindings (DIN) and well-fitting shoes. Not sure how to do this yourself? Then have this done for you at a winter sports shop near you.
• Maintenance of your equipment is also very important. Make sure your bindings and boots are in good condition and make sure your skis glide well.
• Hit the slopes well prepared and take lessons. A big risk factor for injuries is thinking 'it won't be that difficult, I'll give it a try'. Good technique really benefits your winter sports experience but also your injury risk!
• If you have been skiing for a long time, or are already 'a bit older', be realistic. After all, we simply cannot put in the same effort when we are 50 years old as when we were 18. Consider your age and the limits of your physical capacity.
• Drink enough. Our bodies function better when we are sufficiently hydrated. Winter sports are so intensive that we quickly run out of fluid reserves. So take regular breaks and drink enough. Of course we do not mean alcohol :).
• Leave alcohol alone, at least until you are really done on the slopes. Under the influence of alcohol, we are a lot less sharp, greatly increasing the risk of injury.
• Travel trained. As mentioned earlier, we in the Netherlands are simply not on the slopes that often. This ensures that we have little to no sports-specific training for the strain ahead. Use a period before your winter sports to prepare yourself sport-specifically for winter sports. This will lower your injury risk.

Still injured during your winter sports ? Then contact Fysio Fitaal in Tilburg. We are a modern Physiotherapy practice with a focus on sports physiotherapy and physiotherapy after surgery. Besides our commitment to your rehabilitation and recovery, we use innovative and measurable physiotherapy.