While the development of release binding has been very useful in reducing the incidence of fractures to a person's lower leg bones, knee injuries are still common for skiers. The knee joint and its associated ligaments, menisci, and bony structures has been cited as causing 30-40 % of all alpine ski injuries.
While most knee injuries have a good prognosis (prognosis : probable course and outcome of a disease), some knee injuries can lead to significant functional impairment and may unfortunately terminate a person's skiing career. Appropriate treatment of such an injury is essential for the best recovery possible.
The majority of knee injuries that happen to alpine skiers involves one or more of the knee's ligaments. The MCL (medial collateral ligament) and the ACL (Anterior cruciate ligament) are the most common ligaments injured among this skiers. If you feel like you have injured your knee and are curious as to what your physician will test for, read through our list of sprain "Grades"... Below is a list of "Grades" that your physician may give to such a knee injury, each grade has a specific meaning based on a numerical scale.
Grade 1 : No laxity (ie. give) in the ligament when stressed. This essentially means that few if any ligament fibres are torn.
Grade 2 : Moderate laxity in the ligament, but there is a definite endpoint present. This means that some but not all of the ligament fibers may be torn.
Grade 3 : A complete give in the ligament occurs. All ligament fibres are torn.
If you notice any of the following symptoms after you have injured your knee get to a physician asap!
1.) Obvious deformity occurs at the knee
2.) Absolute inability to weight bear on the involved limb.
3.) A large degree of edema (swelling) in the knee joint within a couple of hours of injury
4.) An inability to bring your knee into full extension - ie to make it straight. This is sometimes referred to as "locked knee"
5.) Lastly, there is a severe tenderness when you press on a specific area of the knee.
As a result of such an knee injury, knee braces can help protect your knee from further injury. Not only can they protect your knee, they can provide meaningful support that to your knee if you suffer from knee pain in general, or even knee arthritis.
In conclusion, we hope that you never have a knee injury, but our goal is to teach you about knee injuries and how to help treat them if you have suffered one.
