Abstract
Snowsport athletes face a high injury risk both during training and in competitions. Reducing injury incidence is crucial for athletes to achieve breakthroughs. This narrative review aimed to summarize and analyze injury data of elite athletes in snowsports and provide references for injury prevention and health security for these athletes and their coaches. A total of 39 studies that investigated snowsport injury were analyzed in the present study. On the basis of injury data of elite athletes in snowsports events, this narrative review focused on four aspects, namely, injury incidence, severity, location and causes. The findings of this review were as follows. (1) The highest injury incidence was recorded in freestyle skiing, followed by alpine skiing and snowboarding, the majority of which were moderate and severe injuries. (2) The proportion of injury in competitions and during training was similar. However, more injuries occurred in official training during the Winter Olympic Games; by contrast, injury proportion was higher in competitions during World Cup/World Championships. (3) The most commonly and severely injured body parts were the knees (29.9%), head and face (12.1%), shoulders and clavicula (10.5%), and lower back (8.9%). The most common injury types were joint and ligament injury (41.5%), fracture and bone stress (24.4%), concussion (11.1%), and muscle/tendon injury (10.7%). (4) The main causes of snowsport injury were collisions, falls, and non-contact injuries. Snowsport injury was also influenced by the skill level of the athletes, gender, course setup and equipment. Future studies should further explore the influence of event characteristics and intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors on snowsport injury. An injury or trauma reconstruction may be developed to predict athletic injuries and provide effective prevention strategies.
Highlights
Professional snowsport racing is characterized by high skiing speed, spectacular jumps and complex skills under cold ambient conditions (Gilgien et al, 2014; Wijdicks et al, 2014; Racinais et al, 2017)
The spectacular falls, crashes, and injuries of athletes that we regularly see during training and in competitions demonstrate that these elite athletes are highly prone to musculoskeletal
Snowsport Injuries in Elite Athletes injury that may even lead to disability or death (Engebretsen et al, 2010; Weber et al, 2016; Supej et al, 2017; Watanabe et al, 2019)
Summary
Professional snowsport racing is characterized by high skiing speed, spectacular jumps and complex skills under cold ambient conditions (Gilgien et al, 2014; Wijdicks et al, 2014; Racinais et al, 2017). Epidemiological studies based on this conceptual model provide information that allows evidence-based decision-making concerning risk levels and the efficacy of preventive and therapeutic interventions (Fuller and Drawer, 2004) These interventions can be described by injury incidence and severity. The FIS has published a series of prospective injury reports and has conducted retrospective interviews to identify and prevent injury among elite athletes in snowsports These studies covered injury epidemiology (Engebretsen et al, 2010; Ruedl et al, 2012; Soligard et al, 2015, 2019; Steffen et al, 2017; Watanabe et al, 2019), mechanism (Bere et al, 2011, 2013; Steenstrup et al, 2018) and causes and factors (Spörri et al, 2012). This review described injury incidence, severity, location and type and identified the factors and causes of these injuries with the longterm goal of preventing injuries
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