How common are knee injuries in skiing? Have you had one?

Question

I'd love to learn skiing but I'm a runner and I'm afraid of messing up my knees. A friend I knew tore his ACL and couldn't play soccer for a year. Would being in shape or lifting weights help? I squat 235 lbs for 10 reps with good form so I probably have decent leg strength.

Answer 1

Knee injuries are common in skiing, for all level of skiers.  It can happen in a big crash, or it can be something silly.

I tore my ACL and medial meniscus when I lost my balance and tipped over on a flat slope.  

That said, there is no reason you shouldn't learn to ski.  And yes, you are right, the best way to avoid knee injuries is to have good strength in your legs.  

The other good way to protect yourself is to take a lesson and learn correct technique from the beginning.  It will also make your experience a lot more fun!

By the way, John Elway played football for years without and ACL in either knee.  Sometimes they happen, but a knee injury isn't the end of sport either.

Answer 2

I have aggravated some old football knee problems a bit while skiing, but never actually injured myself.  Good conditioning (squats are helpful), properly adjusted bindings, balance and a reasonable non-kamikaze skiing style should serve you well. Oh, and don't forget to stretch.

Answer 3

it depends on the strength of the muscles in your knees. i have no idea how to work those out though.

basically, myy advice is to take your chances.

Answer 4

Ripped my ACL in April 2006 on my last day at Killington. I walked off the hill. I thought it was a bad sprain.

My doctor said the reason I could still walk was because of my muscle mass around my knee. He did not recommend surgery for me. Just PT. Being in good shape definitely mattered.

I skied all last year without any problems and I hike and ride mountain bikes very regularly. I might need surgery in a few years, but the doctor wasn't pushing me to do it.

Knee injuries are more common nowadays than broken legs. It is because the boots are higher and the shaped skis have something to do with it as well. (I went to a ski clinic last year and this was one of the focus points.) However, major ski accidents are not that common. Your risk increases if you do tricks, ski bumps, backcountry, or race. The average everyday cruiser won't have to worry about serious damage.

Take some lessons and have a good time!

Answer 5

Its unfortunate how many bad knees there are in skiing.  I work w/ the Adaptive Sports Foundations as an instructor and all the older instructors either have had knee surgery or pop pills to keep the pain down.  I'm only 19 and my knees crack a little bit more than normal I think because of the 50 days a year of skiing I've logged since I just started learning to walk.  

Skiing does put a tremendous amount of pressure on your knees but what all these bad knee stricken old people had in common was a lot of cliff skiing and moguls in their early years.  Normal skiing and even aggressive skiing shouldn't do much damage to the knees.  I assume your friend tore his ACL falling.  As with all sports, there comes a risk.  However, I think the risk can be minimized in skiing.  Don't go too crazy doing big air jumps and limit the amount of hardcore mogul skiing you do in your "career".  Playing Football and Baseball in high school, I think the risk of knee injuries is far higher in other sports.  I played Strong Safety and even those doing the tackling can get caught in a pile and snap a knee.  

Weight training will make all the difference.  People in their 40-50s now didn't have much weight training when they were young skiers.  The extra strength squats and leg press give you are imperative to longevity now.  Just don't go crazy and squat enough there it starts to grind down your knee.  235 is great for general strength.

Answer 6

Well, they are common. And having "muscle" isn't necessarily a fix-it to the chance of injuring a knee either. In fact, having extra muscle, your body may end up "fighting" a situation, where if you just went down, there would be no injury. Lots of injuries occur when someone actually fights the fall. That's usually how the ACL is torn actually. When someone is leaning back (falling backwards), they attempt to recover by powering back up...and then SPROING, pops the ligament.

If you can get over the mentality that it's "evil" to fall...just tip over, let gravity work, get back up again, you will probably never tear an ACL just skiing as a beginner or an intermediate level skier.

There are always freak accidents...but I've been skiing relatively hard now for 30+ years, and have only suffered two fat lips (once accidentally flipped over a fence...the other doing something kind of stupid), and an ankle that may or may not have been broken...but it sure hurt like h**l.

Answer 7

Knee injuries do occur with skiing but aren't particularly common. I think if you are in good shape and don't go crazy on the mountain it is unlikely you will have this injury. I am a runner as well and ski about 30 times per year. I have always felt my biggest risk for an injury was driving to the mountain.

Answer 8

I tore my Meniscus skiing, but i ski race, so its more common than just regular skiing