None of us wants to think about knee pain, especially while we are skiing. So what if a knee injury happens to you in the future? You will wonder how you could have prevented it from happening. Knee injury prevention tips are included here, so that you will not have to look back in vain, if you read them now.

When you are snowboarding or skiing, you will most likely have twisting forces that can occur at your knee joints. As you know your feet are usually locked (more or less) into the ski or snowboard, but you still need to adapt to the snowy terrain as you go over bumps in the mountain side. This sets up a situation were you might hurt your knee due to a twisting or otherwise awkward movement. Let's hope this doesn't happen, but we suggest you read on to get some useful prevention tips.

Even if you are a great skier, chances are that you can fall at some point during a ski trip. Or, for those of us that "do not fall" you can tell some who "does" the following information :

1.) Don't fully straighten your legs when you fall. Keep your knees flexed. This helps avoid hyperextension of your legs, which can contribute to a knee injury.

2.) Don't try to get up until you have stopped sliding. Many knee injuries happen as a result of trying to get up to quickly when your balance is not good, and this is when your real injury might happen.

3.) Don't land on your hands (if you can help it) Keep your arms up and forward. This is more of a general point of safety.

4.) Do not jump unless you know where and how to land. Sounds simple enough, right? It is best to land on both skis and keep your knees flexed.

If you have a pre-existing knee injury or knee pain the use of a well designed knee brace can help reduce your pain, and can also help prevent future knee injuries from occuring. The United States ski team uses knee braces to help promote knee stability and to promote the future protection of their knees.

(reference: Ettlinger CF, Johnson RJ and Shealy JE, American Journal of Sports Medicine 1995; 23(5): 531-537)