Knee injuries in skiing and snowboarding athletes

Knee injuries in snow sports are common, occurring in both professional and amateur athletes. The anatomic distribution of injuries varies significantly between alpine skiing and snowboarding, reflecting not only technical variation, but also the inherent differences in equipment between the two pastimes, including ski morphology, boots and bindings. While knee injuries, particularly to the ACL, predominate in skiing, they are relatively less common in snowboarding. Nevertheless, as snowboarding becomes increasingly popular, with more challenging terrain and jumps of higher magnitude, knee injuries including ACL tears will likely continue to increase in prevalence.