Perceived key injury risk factors in World Cup alpine ski racing—an explorative qualitative study with expert stakeholders

Abstract

BackgroundThere is limited knowledge about key injury risk factors in alpine ski racing, particularly for World Cup (WC) athletes.ObjectiveThis study was undertaken to compile and explore perceived intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors for severe injuries in WC alpine ski racing.MethodsQualitative study. Interviews were conducted with 61 expert stakeholders of the WC ski racing community. Experts’ statements were collected, paraphrased and loaded into a database with inductively derived risk factor categories (Risk Factor Analysis). At the end of the interviews, experts were asked to name those risk factors they believed to have a high potential impact on injury risk and to rank them according to their priority of impact (Risk Factor Rating).ResultsIn total, 32 perceived risk factors categories were derived from the interviews within the basic categories Athlete, Course, Equipment and Snow. Regarding their perceived impact on injury risk, the experts’ top five categories were: system ski, binding, plate and boot; changing snow conditions; physical aspects of the athletes; speed and course setting aspects and speed in general.ConclusionsSevere injuries in WC alpine ski racing can have various causes. This study compiled a list of perceived intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors and explored those factors with the highest believed impact on injury risk. Hence, by using more detailed hypotheses derived from this explorative study, further studies should verify the plausibility of these factors as true risk factors for severe injuries in WC alpine ski racing.

Heart Rate Variability in an Elite Female Alpine Skier: a Case Study

“…Over the study period, the athlete's mean hours of sleep per night was (±SD; range) 8.8 ±1.3 (5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14), and mean RPE was 3.4 ±1.3 (1-8).…”

“…Additionally, elite alpine ski racers participate in rigorous off-snow physical training programs and display high levels of physical fitness (12,13). Fitness level is perceived as important modifiable factor for the prevention of injuries amongst athletes and coaches (14). Given that physical fitness and the importance of monitoring fatigue for injury prevention strategies, investigating the utility of objectively determined metrics such as HRV may be extremely useful to sports science practitioners training elite athletes.…”

Long-Term Effects of Knee Injuries in Former Ski Racers

“…In order to prevent ACL ruptures in alpine skiers the literature recommends that ACL and knee injury prevention programs should be developed for each sport and the intervention must be based on the sport specific injury mechanism and specific risk factors [21][22][23][24]. For these 275 formers ski racers it is already too late but to prevent injuries in current and future ski racers is utterly important.…”

Snowsport Instructors: Their Actual Maximum Speeds, Their Estimation of Maximum Speed and Speed in Slow Zones, and Their Knowledge of Helmet Effectiveness

“…Further, speed has been associated with the enjoyment of snowsports such as skiing and snowboarding (e.g., [19][20][21]), but also as a contributing factor to injury (e.g., [22][23][24]); yet there are only a few studies that have explored actual speeds in snowsport resorts (e.g., [1,2,[25][26][27][28][29][30][31]). Most of this research, as summarized in Table 1, has focused on recreational participants with speeds typically recorded on limited terrain, or a single run, using static radar guns or speed cameras [25,[29][30][31].…”