Ski Injuries

On any given day injuries significant enough to require a visit to a doctor occur to about one in every 400 skiers.
Improved bindings have reduced the rate of broken legs and ankles by nearly 90% since the late 60's, but ACL injuries have tripled since 1980.

Types of Injuries

ACL - Anterior cruciate ligament
The ACL prevents your tibia (lower leg bone) from sliding forward relative to the femur (upper leg bone). The number of ACL injuries increased by a factor of three since 1980. Stiff high backed boots and better carving skis (greater torsional rigidity) are a significant factor in this increase. Analysis of injuries show many caused by landing on the back your skis after a jump of falling back during a turn which pushes the lower leg forward. Front upward release bindings introduced in the late 90's didn't help because the force required to tear the ACL were lower than those required to keep the binding from releasing during normal skiing.

Sources: Research at a Vermont Ski Area conducted by a group including Carl Ettlinger, president of Vermont Ski Safety, Robert Johnson MD, professor at U. of Vermont, and Jasper Shealy, professor of Industrial Engineering, at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
See Knee-Friendly Advice at Vermont Saftey Research (VSR)

Jump Training
Women have a higher rate of knee injuries than men. Another Skiing article suggests that jump training can reduce the risk of knee injuries.

A 1999 study by Timothy Hewett published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine showed that women who jump trained for six weeks lowered the incidence of knee injury by a whopping 75 percent.

To practice jumping (and landing): Always keep the knees facing straight ahead, not knock-kneed. With knees and hips slightly bent, jump up. Then, as you land, bend at the knees again, giving slowly to reduce the impact. Keep your body in a "controlled position of hips over knees over feet," explains Ireland. Concentrate on making the landing soft and quiet. "Light as a feather," she says.

See jump training at: GirlsCanJump, Hoops U., the Ultimate Handbook.

Snowboarders
Have higher incidence of lower-leg injury (fractured tibia, etc.) but much lower incidence of ACL injury.

Binding Maintenance

Bindings and boots should be inspected at least once per year and after every 15 to 30 days of use. Ski shops that display "Check It Out" and "Performance Plus" signs, issued by Vermont Safety Research (VSR), have mechanics who are certified.

See Vermont Safety Research.

Helmets

90% of fatal injuries occur on intermediate slopes, where typical skiing speed is 25-40 MPH.
60% of fatal injuries involve the head.
Most of these seem to be the result of direct impacts not glancing blows.
Source: Jasper Shealy at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
A helmet will not be much protection in a direct blow for a skier who is going faster than 12-15 MPH. In the 1998-99 season (last with data) 35% of skiers who died were wearing helmets. They propose two explanations as to why this percentage was so high when only 5% of skiers were wearing helmets at the time: 1. People take more risks when they have protection (i.e. helmets) (e.g. cars with anti-lock are involved in more accidents than those without, needle pricks among medical practitioners became move common after they were required to wear gloves.) 2. High risk skiers are more likely to wear helmets.

Former pro racer, Kate McBride, who did not wear a helmet while recreational skiing, suffered partial paralysis and permanent blindness and deafness on the left side after being hit from behind by another skier. She is sure a helmet would have prevented this.

They make sense for racers and people who ski at high speeds where even a glancing blow can cause serious injury.

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