Background: Limited knowledge exists on injuries among professional alpine skiers. Objective: To describe the risk of injury and the injury pattern among competitive World Cup alpine skiers during the competitive season. Methods: Retrospective interviews were performed with all World Cup athletes from 10 nations at the end of the 2006-7 and 2007-8 winter seasons, and all acute injuries occurring during the 4.5-month competitive season were recorded. If the athlete was not present, their coaches or medical personnel were interviewed. Results: A total of 191 acute injuries were recorded among 521 World Cup alpine skiers. As many as 86 injuries (45%) occurred during World Cup/World Ski Championship competitions, corresponding to an injury rate of 9.8 injuries per 1000 runs (95% CI 7.8 to 11.9). The injury rate was found to increase with increasing speed (slalom 4.9 injuries per 1000 runs, 95% CI 2.5 to 7.4-giant slalom 9.2, 5.1 to 13.3-super-G 11.0, 5.2 to 16.8-downhill 17.2, 11.6 to 22.7). The most frequently injured body part was the knee, with 68 injuries (36%), and 37 of these were severe. The overall injury rate was higher in males than in females, but not for knee injuries. Conclusions : The risk of injury among World Cup athletes in alpine skiing is even higher than previously reported. The knee is the most commonly injured body part and with many severe injuries. Injury rate increased with a higher speed and was higher among males than in females. While the injury risk for recreational skiers has been well documented based on prospective injury recording systems since the early 1970s, 1-3 there are almost no data published on the injury pattern and injury risk for competitive alpine skiers. Recent data on professional skiers competing in diverse disciplines from downhill with high speed, long jumps and minimal protection to slalom with technical demands are limited to two single-event studies (Olympic Games 1994 and Junior World Championships 1995).4 5 However, several crosssectional studies among active skiers have shown that 72-83% of world class skiers have sustained at least one previous serious injury. [6][7][8][9] Although these studies are decades old, they indicate that the risk of injuries is high.The aim of this study was therefore to describe the risk of injury and the injury pattern among competitive World Cup alpine skiers during the competitive season. METHODS Study design and populationWe conducted retrospective interviews with World Cup alpine skiers from 10 nations at the end of the 2006-7 and the 2007-8 winter seasons because a methodological study 10 found this to be the best method available to record injuries among World Cup ski and snowboard athletes. We defined the winter season as starting on 1 November or, if earlier, the first World Cup race of the season, lasting until the interviews took place. For the 2006-7 season, the first World Cup alpine event was in Levi, Finland on 11-12 November. The first races scheduled in Sölden, Austria 28-29 October were cancelled because o...

Eleven percent of all knee arthroscopies show cartilage defects that may be suitable for cartilage repair procedures. However, the natural history of these lesions and the number of patients that will benefit from a cartilage repair procedure are so far unknown.

There is little information available on injuries to World Cup skiers and snowboarders. The aim of this study was to describe and compare the injury risk to World Cup athletes in alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, snowboarding, ski jumping, Nordic combined and cross country skiing. We performed retrospective interviews with the International Ski Federation (FIS) World Cup athletes from selected nations during the 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 winter seasons and recorded all acute injuries occurring during the seasons. We interviewed 2121 athletes and recorded 705 injuries. There were 520 (72%) time-loss injuries and 196 (28%) severe injuries (absence >28 days). In freestyle skiing, alpine skiing and snowboarding, there were 27.6, 29.8 and 37.8 time-loss and 14.4, 11.3 and 13.8 severe injuries per 100 athletes per season, respectively. In Nordic combined, ski jumping and cross country skiing, there were 15.8, 13.6 and 6.3 time-loss and 3.3, 5.6 and 0.7 severe injuries per 100 athletes per season, respectively. In conclusion about 1/3 of the World Cup alpine, freestyle and snowboard athletes sustain a time-loss injury each season, while the risk is low in the Nordic disciplines. A particular concern was the high proportion of severe injuries observed among alpine, freestyle and snowboard athletes, which is in contrast to most other sports.