Injury Prevention Strategies in Skiers and Snowboarders

The Simulated Ocular and Whole-Body Distribution of Natural Sunlight to Kiteboarders: A High-Risk Case of UVR Exposure for Athletes Utilizing Water Surfaces in Sport

Kiteboarding is an aquatic sporting discipline that has not yet been considered in the literature to date in terms of solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) measurement. Kiteboarders need to look upward and are placed obliquely relative to the horizon when towed behind an overhead kite over a reflective water surface. This research defines the typical body surface orientation of a kiteboarder in motion through video vector analysis and demonstrates the potential risk to ocular and skin surface damage through practical measurement of solar UVR using a manikin model. Video analysis of 51 kiteboarders was made to construct skeletal wireframes showing the surface orientation of the leg, thigh, spine, humerus, lower arm and head of a typical kiteboarder. Solar UVR dosimeter measurements made using a manikin model demonstrate that the vertex and anterior surfaces of the knee, lower leg and lower humerus received 89%, 90%, 80% and 63% of the available ambient UVR, respectively, for a typical kiteboarder who is tilted back more than 15° from vertical while in motion. Ocular (periorbital) exposures ranged from 56% to 68% of ambient. These new findings show that the anterior skin surfaces of kiteboarders and the eye are at elevated risk of solar UVR damage.

[Incidence of knee injuries : Numbers for outpatient and inpatient care in Germany]

BACKGROUND

Musculoskeletal illnesses and injuries are among the most common ailments in the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2008 they generated costs of nearly 29 billion euros. Figures about their incidence and prevalence are necessary for a demand-oriented planning of future patient-centred care.

METHOD

Pseudonymised data of 3.8 million people insured by AOK Baden-Württemberg between 2008 and 2013 were evaluated. The diagnoses were assigned to nine injury groups. For outpatient care confirmed diagnoses were considered, and for inpatient care both primary and secondary diagnoses were considered. For all patients with structural knee injuries, it was evaluated whether they made use of one of five eligible treatment paradigms either in the quarter in which they were injured or in the following quarter.

RESULTS

418,257 patients were treated in 2013 for at least one new-onset injury (10.9 % of all insurees); 86,783 insurees (2.3 % of all insurees) had a newly occurring knee injury. The vast majority of the patients were treated by specialist doctors. While magnetic resonance imaging clearly increased during the observation period, the incidence of surgical therapy did not change. Striking are the different age distributions regarding the types of injuries, with a high injury incidence amongst young men and a significant increase in injuries between 2008 and 2013, especially amongst women.

CONCLUSION

For the first time, the data quantify the knee injury incidences of a large cohort in Germany. They show which inpatient and outpatient health care services have been claimed and that an age- and gender-adapted prevention and an increased awareness are needed.

The +1245g/t polymorphisms in the collagen type I alpha 1 (col1a1) gene in polish skiers with anterior cruciate ligament injury

Objectives

The aim of this study was to examine the association of +1245G/T polymorphisms in the COL1A1 gene with ACL ruptures in Polish male recreational skiers in a case-control study.

Methods

A total of 138 male recreational skiers with surgically diagnosed primary ACL ruptures, all of whom qualified for ligament reconstruction, were recruited for this study. The control group comprised 183 apparently healthy male skiers with a comparable level of exposure to ACL injury, none of whom had any self-reported history of ligament or tendon injury. DNA samples extracted from the oral epithelial cells were genotyped for the +1245G/T polymorphisms using real-time PCR method.

Results

Genotype distributions among cases and controls conformed to Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (p = 0.2469 and p = 0.33, respectively). There was a significant difference in the genotype distribution between skiers and controls (p = 0.045, Fisher's exact test). There was no statistical difference in allele distribution: OR 1.43 (0.91-2.25), p = 0.101 (two-sided Fisher's exact test).

Conclusions

The risk of ACL ruptures was around 1.43 times lower in carriers of a minor allele G as compared to carriers of the allele T.