Three-dimensional knee joint loading in alpine skiing: a comparison between a carved and a skidded turn.

Limited data exists on knee biomechanics in alpine ski turns despite the high rate of injuries associated with this maneuver. The purpose of the current study was to compare knee joint loading between a carved and a skidded ski turn and between the inner and outer leg. Kinetic data were collected using Kistler mobile force plates. Kinematic data were collected with five synchronized, panning, tilting, and zooming cameras. Inertial properties of the segments were calculated using an extended version of the Yeadon model. Knee joint forces and moments were calculated using inverse dynamics analysis. The obtained results indicate that knee joint loading in carving is not consistently greater than knee joint loading in skidding. In addition, knee joint loading at the outer leg is not always greater than at the inner leg. Differentiation is required between forces and moments, the direction of the forces and moments, and the phase of the turn that is considered. Even though the authors believe that the analyzed turns are representative, results have to be interpreted with caution due to the small sample size.