The risk of ACL injury was greater in female athletes. The findings suggest that core strength is a predominant critical factor for ACL injuries in young ski racers.

In recreational alpine skiing, ACL injury risk is 3 times greater in females. However, since the introduction of carving skis ACL injury risk seems to have decreased. No study has yet investigated the distribution of ACL injury mechanisms in male and female carving skiers. Therefore, the aim of the study was to investigate potential gender specific differences of ACL injury mechanisms and related factors among carving skiers. In total, 220 recreational carving skiers (59 males and 161 females) suffering from an ACL injury volunteered for this study. Demographic data, skiing ability, equipment related and environmental factors, circumstances and causes for the fall, and type of fall (injury mechanisms) were collected by questionnaire. The forward twisting fall is the most reported ACL injury mechanism in both gender (p=0.672) accounting for 54% of all injuries, although male and female skiers differed significantly with regard to circumstances of fall (p=0.001) and actions when ACL injury occurred (p=0.04). Bindings not releasing at the time point of accident occurred 2.6 times more with females than with males (p=0.005). The forward twisting fall seems to have become the dominant ACL injury mechanism both in male and female recreational skiers since the introduction of carving skis.

There are little scientific data regarding snowboarding and the physiological demands on snowboarders. The aim of this study was to assemble and evaluate a battery of tests for the snowboard disciplines parallel, snowboard cross (SBX), big air, and half-pipe (HP). Thirty-seven competitive snowboarders participated in the study and completed a test battery that comprised tests for aerobic capacity, balance, jumping, isokinetic core power, isokinetic leg power, isometric bench press, isometric bench pull, and a snowboard start simulator. The results showed that the battery of tests explained between 61 and 98% of variance when predicting snowboard performance. The test battery predicts better for women than for men and better for SBX, HP, and overall World Cup ranking than for the other disciplines. The results indicate that starting speed, leg power, core power, and aerobic capacity are important in different snowboarding events.

The aim of this study was to investigate the interaction of potential intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors in ACL injured recreational female skiers. 93 female recreational skiers who had suffered a non-contact ACL injury and 93 age-matched controls completed a self-reported questionnaire relating to intrinsic risk factors (menstrual history, BMI, previous knee injuries, self reported weekly sports participation) and extrinsic risk factors (type of ski used, time of last binding adjustment, snow condition, weather and slope difficulty). A logistic regression model revealed the following independent ACL injury risk factors for female recreational skiers: icy snow conditions (odds ratio, 24.33; 95% confidence interval, 6.8-86.5, P<0.001), skiing during snowfall (odds ratio, 16.63; 95% confidence interval, 1.8-152.1, P=0.013), use of traditional skis (odds ratio, 10.49; 95% confidence interval, 2.0-54.5, P=0.005), and preovulatory phase of menstrual cycle (odds ratio, 2.59; 95% confidence interval, 1.2-5.5, P=0.013). In conclusion, ACL injuries in female recreational skiers are the result of a complex interaction of intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors.

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