Anterior crucial ligament injury in skiers --Using a large-scale website-based questionnaire survey--.

The mechanisms of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury while skiing and methods to prevent it have recently been elucidated. However, the rate of ACL injuries has not changed much over the past 10 years, remaining at approximately 10%. A total of 1,429 skiers responded to this questionnaire survey. Two hundred sixty-six skiers (14.4%) answered that they had undergone ACL reconstruction after a ski injury. It was found that 71.3% of skiers experienced injury once on one side, 17% on both sides and 7.3% twice on the same side. The self-recognized posture at the time of the ski injury was backward bending and the slip-catch mechanism in approximately 20%. Concerning the most common perceived injury in skiers the response was ACL injury in 90%, MCL injury in approximately 50% and shoulder dislocation or fracture in approximately 30%. Significantly more skiers who had experienced ACL injury than those who had not (non-injured skiers) answered that (i) ACL injury can be prevented, (ii) stretching, trunk exercises, and knee-strength and balance exercises serve as preparatory exercises before skiing, and (iii) the ham-strings and trunk are important exercise areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]