Newswise — Snow skiing, ice-skating and ice hockey will be on the minds of millions of Americans as they watch the Winter Olympic games, but Dr. Pietro Tonino, chief, division of sports medicine, Loyola University Health System, said the general public should take precautions to avoid injuries before running to the ski slopes or skating rinks. The news has reported that already two members of the U.S. ski team have sustained knee injuries: Kristina Koznick and Caroline Lalive.
Athletes, youngsters and weekend warriors alike can wind up in hospital emergency rooms for injuries related to these sports. At a cost of $4.5 billion, more than 144,000 injuries related to snow skiing were treated at hospitals, doctors' offices, ambulatory surgery centers, clinics and hospital emergency rooms in the U.S. in 2004, according to Tonino, assistant professor, department of orthopaedic surgery and rehabilitation, Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, Maywood, Ill.
"The Winter Olympic games may inspire people to try a new sport, but before they do, they need proper training and conditioning to reduce their injury risk," said Tonino, who analyzed data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
"More than 143,000 injuries related to snowboarding were treated at a cost of $4.1 billion in 2004," said Tonino. "That year, more than 51,000 medically treated injuries related to ice hockey occurred, costing $977 million. Nearly 50,000 injuries related to ice-skating also occurred. Costs for this exceeded $1.3 billion."
Many injuries can be prevented, according to Tonino, by knowing and playing by the rules of the game, being physically fit and wearing protective gear. "This applies to children as well as to adults," he said, noting that a fatigued athlete is more susceptible to injuries.
"Winter sports can be an enormous amount of fun for the whole family," said Tonino, "but people first should take lessons from a qualified instructor."
Among the four recreational activities—snow skiing, ice hockey, ice-skating and snowboarding—there were 62,660 knee injuries at a cost of $1.07 billion.
Tonino noted that females are two- to eight times more likely than males to sustain one of the most common knee injuries in sports, a non-contact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. The ACL, a rope-like bundle of fibrous tissue in the center of the knee, connects the front of the lower leg (shinbone) with the back of the upper leg (thighbone) and helps stabilize the knee during sports activities.
Tonino said that 70 percent of ACL injuries are non-contact; the other 30 percent result from collision with a person or an object.
"The ACL can be sprained or torn in sports where the athlete jumps, lands, twists, pivots or suddenly stops," said Tonino. "Such sports include skiing."
Reconstructive surgery of the ACL allows skiers to return to competitive skiing at all levels, but recovery and rehabilitation takes the athlete out of the game for six months. Non-surgical treatment is available for mild injuries. "However, preventing ACL sprains and ruptures is worth the time required for training and exercise," said Tonino.
Visit the Loyola University Health System Web site for more information.
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