Clinical features of winter sports injuries: A prospective single center study

Introduction: This study aimed to present the epidemiological and clinical effects of skiing training and use of protective equipment on skiing, sledding and snowboarding injuries.

Methods: The patients were evaluated in two groups according to both their skiing experience and use of protective equipment. The characteristics of the patients, such as age, gender, injury area, and injury type were statistically evaluated according to the groups.

Results: A total of 191 patients, 68 (35.6%) female and 123 (64.4%) male, were evaluated. There was a significant difference between the patients with and without skiing experience (P=0.001). When the patients were evaluated according to the presence of protective equipment, 25 (59.5%) patients who had no experience did not wear protective equipment, and this rate was statistically significant compared to the experienced group (P=0.001). Concerning the diagnoses of the patients according to injury areas, joint dislocation and soft tissue trauma were mostly detected in the upper extremities, bone fractures in the lower extremities and organ injury in the thorax.

Conclusion: Shoulder and wrist traumas were the most common injuries among the patients with previous skiing experience while tibial fractures were mostly seen in those without such experience. Tibia fractures were mostly observed in the patients using protective equipment, and skin incisions in those that did not use protective equipment. Therefore, in winter sports injuries, patients’ skiing experience and protective equipment use should be questioned and more attention should be paid to the above-mentioned injuries.