title: How to Prevent Injuries in Alpine Ski Racing: What Do We Know and Where Do We Go from Here?
abstract: Alpine ski racing is known to be a sport with a high risk of injury and a high proportion of time-loss injuries. In recent years, substantial research efforts with regard to injury epidemiology, injury etiology, potential prevention measures, and measures' evaluation have been undertaken. Therefore, the aims of this review of the literature were (i) to provide a comprehensive overview of what is known about the aforementioned four steps of injury prevention research in the context of alpine ski racing; and (ii) to derive potential perspectives for future research. In total, 38 injury risk factors were previously reported in literature; however, a direct relation to injury risk was proven for only five factors: insufficient core strength/core strength imbalance, sex (depending on type of injury), high skill level, unfavorable genetic predisposition, and the combination of highly shaped, short and wide skis. Moreover, only one prevention measure (i.e. the combination of less-shaped and longer skis with reduced profile width) has demonstrated a positive impact on injury risk. Thus, current knowledge deficits are mainly related to verifying the evidence of widely discussed injury risk factors and assessing the effectiveness of reasonable prevention ideas. Nevertheless, the existing knowledge should be proactively communicated and systematically implemented by sport federations and sport practitioners.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sport Science and Kinesiology, University of Salzburg, Schlossallee 49, 5400, Hallein-Rif, Austria. joerg.spoerri@sbg.ac.at.
authors.forename: Jörg
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0353-1021
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Spörri
authors.affiliation: Department of Sport Science and Kinesiology, University of Salzburg, Schlossallee 49, 5400, Hallein-Rif, Austria.
authors.forename: Josef
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kröll
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Performance, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, PO Box 4014, Ullevål Stadion, 0806, Oslo, Norway.|Center of Alpine Sports Biomechanics, St. Moritz Health and Innovation Foundation, Via Somplaz 1, 7500, St. Moritz, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gilgien
authors.affiliation: Department of Sport Science and Kinesiology, University of Salzburg, Schlossallee 49, 5400, Hallein-Rif, Austria.
authors.forename: Erich
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Müller
mesh_terms: D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control*; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D007718:Knee Injuries; D012865:Skiing / Q000293:injuries*; D019876:Sports Equipment / Q000009:adverse effects