Skiing safety in children: a prospective study of downhill skiing injuries and their relation to the skier and his equipment.

A prospective analysis was made of 31 children who sustained an injury of the lower extremity during downhill skiing. They were compared with a control population of 183 skiers. The injured children were to a large extent less skillful skiers and tended to be injured at the start of their skiing season. In general, the risk of having an injury did not seem to be influenced by the question of where or by whom the bindings were adjusted. Nevertheless, beginners predominantly had had their bindings adjusted in ski shops. The heel mechanism functioned well in most cases, while the function of the toe mechanism was poor in the control population and even poorer in the injury group. The results indicate that many of the present release bindings used by children are of poor quality and should be improved. At present, a reasonable recommendation for children should be to set the heel mechanism according to the standard scale and the toe mechanism as loosely as possible without having a release during ordinary skiing. Increased use of testing devices is advocated. In Sweden, improved education of personnel in ski shops, with the children in focus, seems important, and training and supervision of the beginners should be intensified.