SYMPOSIA PAPER Published: 30 December 2014
STP158220140028

Injury Trends in the Past 5 Years at a Skiing Area in Western Japan

Source

In this study, we analyzed the previous five seasons’ injury incident reports at a ski slope in a western Japan area near Hiroshima. Each visitor who suffered an injury filled out a questionnaire, which included the following items: sex, age, home area, equipment (ski or snowboard), cause of injury (fall or collision), piste difficulty, inclination angle, skiing ability level, injury details (i.e., type, body parts injured, and severity), velocity during the incident, snow conditions, presence of a helmet, and insurance contract state. The total number of injuries at the Mizuho Ski Resort was 1390. A total of 1140 injuries (82.0 %) occurred while snowboarding and the others (18.0 %) while skiing. 7.7 % (102 cases) were classified as severe injuries for which participants needed to be transferred to hospitals. No fatal accidents occurred in these five seasons. Only 5.0 % of participants (70 cases) who had accidents wore helmets. In relation to the body parts injured while skiing, they were, in descending order, 42 cases (16.8 %) occurred in knee joints, 32 cases (12.8 %) in shoulder joints, and 27 cases in the lower legs. For snowboarding, in descending order, 235 cases (20.6 %) occurred in shoulder joints, 143 cases (12.5 %) in the trunk, 137 cases (12.0 %) in wrist joints, 130 cases (11.4 %) in the head, 89 cases (7.8 %) in the lumber spine, 80 cases (7.0 %) in elbow joints, and 70 cases (6.1 %) in knee joints. The incidence rates of skiers and snowboarders were 43.5 and 56.7 per 100 000 skiers/snowboarders, respectively. Unlike previous publications, our investigation observed that the prevalence of skiers was much lower than snowboarders and that the incidence of wrist injuries was much lower than previously indicated in snowboarders.

Author Information

Urabe, Yukio
Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima Univ., JP
Moriyama, Nobuaki
Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima Univ., JP
Maeda, Noriaki
Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima Univ., JP
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Details
Developed by Committee: F27
Pages: 1–10
DOI: 10.1520/STP158220140028
ISBN-EB: 978-0-8031-7610-2
ISBN-13: 978-0-8031-7609-6