{"id":802619,"date":"2019-12-27T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-27T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=376413"},"modified":"2019-12-27T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-12-27T15:00:00","slug":"7-of-the-most-common-winter-sports-injuries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/7-of-the-most-common-winter-sports-injuries\/","title":{"rendered":"7 of the most common winter sports injuries"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Conditioning your body before the ski season to improve fitness is one way to reduce your risk for winter injuries. Another tip: don\u2019t push yourself too hard at the end of the day when your body is fatigued.<\/strong>
Getty Images<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Editor\u2019s Note: Sponsored content brought to you by Vail-Summit Orthopaedics and Neurosurgery <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

While we aim to get through every winter season injury-free, winter sports injuries are inevitable in mountain towns. If you haven\u2019t been injured, chances are you know someone who has.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, most winter sports injuries heal predictably and patients can get back to their beloved activities by the next season, regardless of whether the injury required surgery, said Dr. Terrell Joseph, an orthopaedic surgeon specializing in ski and snowboard trauma at Vail-Summit Orthopaedics and Neurosurgery.<\/p>\n

While the orthopaedic doctors at VSON are trained to deal with every sports injury imaginable, here are the most common winter sports injuries they see each year in Summit and Eagle counties.<\/p>\n

Wrist fractures <\/strong><\/p>\n

Any snowboarder knows that learning this sport wasn\u2019t easy. Beginner snowboarders often spend the majority of their time falling down, instinctively trying to break the fall with their hands. This leads to distal radius (wrist) fractures, Dr. Joseph said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy advice is to wear wrist guards, especially if you\u2019re learning to snowboard, and when the conditions are really hard and icy,\u201d Dr. Joseph said.<\/p>\n

If you think you\u2019ve only sprained your wrist and choose not to see a doctor, Dr. Joseph said a fracture could be underlying if the pain lasts more than 1 to 2 weeks. Swelling and bruising are other indicators of a fracture and not just a sprain.<\/p>\n

MCL sprain\/tear <\/strong><\/p>\n

The medial collateral ligament (MCL) in the knee is one of the most common skiing injuries each season. This is due to the rotary torque on the ski, which tends to affect the knees because they\u2019re the first mobile joints above the thick construct above a ski boot, Dr. Joseph said.<\/p>\n

Patients describe an MCL injury as a tweak to the inside of the knee. You may feel a tearing sensation or pain on the inside of the knee. There might be some pain with weight-bearing, but people can typically walk after an MCL injury. If there\u2019s pain on the inside when you straighten the knee, that\u2019s a clue that it might be the MCL.<\/p>\n

\u201cMCL sprains and tears are very predictable healers and typically don\u2019t need surgery,\u201d Dr. Joseph said. \u201cUsually, patients can wear a brace and they\u2019ll heal in 3 to 6 weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

ACL tear<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Dr. Terrell Joseph is an orthopaedic surgeon specializing in ski and snowboard trauma at Vail-Summit Orthopaedics and Neurosurgery.<\/strong>
Courtesy Photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is a more severe injury than an MCL injury. Dr. Joseph said the ACL tears due to a twisting motion. Skiers usually describe a rotary torque after falling into their back seat, which can even happen at slow speeds. Swelling occurs almost immediately.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the knee swells up and turns into the size of an orange or canteloupe, that\u2019s a big red flag,\u201d Dr. Joseph said. \u201cMost MCLs don\u2019t swell very much.\u201d
Dr. Joseph suggests trying to avoid skiing in a back-seat stance, and he strongly recommends taking it easy at the end of the ski day.<\/p>\n

\u201cAvoid pushing it at the end of the day \u2014 we see a lot more ACL injuries at the end of the day, when you\u2019re tired and your quads are less protective.\u201d<\/p>\n

Any active person that tears an ACL will likely require surgery if they intend on returning to any activities that require twisting and pivoting, since those are the motions the ACL controls. Surgeons will either use a patient\u2019s own anatomy to reconstruct a new ligament, or they\u2019ll use cadaver tissue.<\/p>\n

Recovery time is about 6 months for the new ACL graft to grow into the bone. Physical therapy, while demanding, plays an important role in regaining function and returning to sport. That being said, ACL surgeries are about 95 percent successful.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good surgery and it works,\u201d Dr. Joseph said.<\/p>\n

Meniscus tear (often happen in conjunction with ACL)<\/strong><\/p>\n

The meniscus is a C-shaped piece of cartilage that functions as a shock absorber between the shin and thigh. A meniscus tear occurs simultaneously with an ACL tear in at least half of ACL injury patients, Dr. Joseph said. Meniscus tear symptoms include joint pain on the inside of the knee, or laterally on the outside of the knee. <\/p>\n

About 10 percent of meniscus tears can be repaired. In the other 90 percent, surgeons will trim out the torn flap.<\/p>\n

Tibial plateau fracture<\/strong><\/p>\n

A tibial plateau fracture occurs after trauma to the top of the tibia (shinbone). Because this area of the body is critical in weight-bearing, a fracture means you won\u2019t be able to bear any weight on that leg.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have an injury on the mountain and you go to put weight on it and your brain says \u2018no way,\u2019 listen to your brain,\u201d Dr. Joseph said.<\/p>\n

Most tibial plateau fractures will need to be fixed with surgery, but the good news is that surgery is successful and recovery is quick \u2014 they heal in about 8 weeks.<\/p>\n

AC separation (shoulder)<\/strong><\/p>\n

The acromioclavicular (AC) joint separation is equally as common in skiers as it is in snowboarders, Dr. Joseph said. The injury an a ligament injury that usually happens after a direct blow to the shoulder.<\/p>\n

The good news is this injury doesn\u2019t usually need surgery and patients usually heal on their own after about 6 to 8 weeks of rest.<\/p>\n

Clavicle fracture (broken collarbone)<\/strong><\/p>\n

A clavicle fracture often happens when a fall onto the shoulder or an outstretched arm puts so much pressure on the collarbone that it snaps or breaks. A badly displaced clavicle fracture will need to be surgically fixed with a plate and screws, but these patients do exceptionally well with about a 100 percent healing rate, Dr. Joseph said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd they\u2019re usually very happy with the fix and can immediately return to light use of the shoulder,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Conditioning your body before the ski season to improve fitness is one way to reduce your risk for winter injuries. Another tip: don\u2019t push yourself too hard at the end of the day when your body is fatigued.Getty Images Editor\u2019s Note: Sponsored content brought to you by Vail-Summit Orthopaedics and Neurosurgery While we aim to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-802619","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-29 18:46:39","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=802619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802619\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}