Skiing and Snowboarding Injuries

If you have sustained an acute injury we will do a thorough assessment and advise if we believe you need further investigations such as an x-ray or MRI. We will provide you with any required braces or strapping to manage the swelling and minimise your pain. We will begin hands-on treatment immediately to manage any muscle spasm and start your rehabilitation as soon as we are able to minimise your recovery time.

If you have pain or tightness that seems to have started for no reason (e.g. there was no crash), we will do a thorough assessment of your injury and skiing/ snowboarding technique to identify the biomechanical issue that is causing the pain. We will provide hands-on treatment and education and guide you through rehabilitation focused on retraining your movements, muscles and skiing/ snowboarding technique problems which are causing the pain.

There are definitely things that you can do at home to speed up your injury recovery. See our top tips for treating your skiing or snowboarding injury at home.

Depending on the injury it is possibly still a good idea to book an appointment to get it seen to professionally.

First and foremost we suggest learning and respecting the Alpine Responsibility Code. Australian ski resorts can be very crowded and many of the injuries we see are unfortunately a result of patrons not being aware enough of those around them.

We also highly recommend you get some professional skiing or snowboarding lessons even if it’s just to get you started. At the very least, your instructor will teach you how to use your equipment safely and give you a few basic ideas about how you ideally want to be skiing or snowboarding around the mountain.

We also recommend always skiing or snowboarding to the conditions and your skill level. Don’t hit the park or go off-piste unless you know what you’re doing.

Finally, we suggest a short warm-up of both upper and lower body stretches before you hit the slopes (yes, being tight through your upper body will negatively effect your skiing or snowboarding). Take a look at our page… for warm-up stretches and idea or book in for an appointment and we will assess your skiing or snowboarding set-up, technique and come up with the best routine for your body.

Both skiing and snowboarding come with their risk of injury, the main difference is in the kinds of injuries we see as opposed to how frequently we see skiers or snowboarders getting injured.

Traumatic skiing injuries often involve the knees (e.g. a torn ACL or MCL) and thumb, whilst broken wrists, concussions and whiplash are the most common injuries for snowboarders.

Both skiing and snowboarding can cause injuries such as back pain or knee pain which seem to have appeared out of nowhere. This kind of pain is always due to movement or technique errors and will not go away until you change the way that you ski or snowboard, although a period of rest may make it feel better.

If this is you, make an appointment as identifying and retraining movement errors is one of our specialities.

Skiing has a higher risk of traumatic skiing injuries such as ACL or MCL sprains as feet are separate but have long levers attached to them (the skis) which increase the torsional forces through your knees should you crash.

That said, frequently see bruised and battered knees from snowboarders landing on them.

Both skiing and snowboarding can equally cause overload knee issues such as kneecap maltracking if you have poor technique and aren’t using your hips and pelvis to protect your knees. If this is you, make an appointment as treatment is often simple and will make a significant difference to your enjoyment on the hill.

There’s lots to consider when deciding if you should ski or snowboard. They say skiing is often easier to pick up initially but more difficult to get good at.

If you’ve spent much timing skateboarding or surfing, you may find snowboarding easier however roller bladers and skaters often prefer skiing.

From a crash and injury perspective a good thing to remember is that when snowboarding you only have one edge to turn on whereas skiiers have two edges. This is particularly relevant in Australian ski fields which can often be icy as it is harder to turn on ice which means the two available edges of skiing can make it easier to turn.

Finally, you may choose to make your decision based on your own body. If you have a history of knee injuries such as a torn ACL, you may prefer the idea of having your feet connected together whilst snowboarding as your knees are somewhat more protected. If you rely on your hands and wrists for work or have any kind of upper body rotation stiffness snowboarding may be less preferable due to the higher risk of wrist injury and standard position of rotation that is required.

We highly recommend all skiers and snowboarders wear helmets at all times as head injuries and whiplash can be severe and life changing.