Comparison of Ski and Snowboard Injuries that Occur Inside Versus Outside Terrain Parks

Henrie, Michael; Petron, David J.; Pepper, Michelle; Kirkham, Jared R.; Chen, Qing; Willick, Stuart

doi:10.1249/01.mss.0000385054.56383.47

Cited by 11 publications

(14 citation statements)

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“…Numerous studies have been made concerning this trauma, including those focusing on serious head and spinal cord injuries (SCIs) [1][2][3][4][5][6]. According to Jackson et al [5], snow skiing in 2004 replaced football as the second leading cause of SCIs in the US, and these injuries continue [7][8][9][10][11][12]. Serious SCIs are permanently debilitating and the associated medical and other costs are exorbitant [13,14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A design rationale for safer terrain park jumps that limit equivalent fall height

et al. 2015

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Ski jump landing surface shapes can be created to cushion jumper landing by specifying a value of equivalent fall height (EFH) but, because the shape is calculated by integrating a differential equation, an infinite number of solutions results from the arbitrary boundary conditions. This paper provides a natural rationale for selection of the least expensive (minimum snow budget) one of these that nevertheless satisfies other design constraints, mainly limited normal acceleration and jerk during approach and landing transitions. Choosing the maximum allowable normal acceleration during the approach transition brings the entire infinite family of landing surfaces as close as possible to the parent slope. Limiting the rate of change of normal acceleration (jerk) decreases the likelihood of loss of balance at takeoff and consequent catastrophic spinal cord injuries on landing. An analogous choice, satisfying limited normal acceleration during the landing transition, selects the single member of the infinite family (providing the desired EFH) that lies closest to the parent slope and is therefore least costly to build. Software in the form of a graphical user interface is described that implements these algorithms and is appropriate for inexperienced users to calculate design details before actual fabrication of landing surfaces at a specific jump site.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A design rationale for safer terrain park jumps that limit equivalent fall height

et al. 2015

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“…A recent study of snowboard injury rates specifically in terrain parks found that the risk of injury on jumps was highest of all terrain park features [8], [9]. Another study comparing ski and snowboard injuries inside and outside terrain parks found that the percentage of spine and head injuries inside the terrain park was double that outside [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design of Terrain Park Jump Landing Surfaces for Constant Equivalent Fall Height Is Robust to “Uncontrollable” Factors

Hubbard

Swedberg

2012

Skiing Trauma and Safety: 19th Volume

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Epidemiological studies of ski resort injuries have found that terrain parks, and especially jumps, present a significantly greater injury risk to skiers and snowboarders than other more typical skiing activities. It has also been shown that the severity of impact risk can be characterized by equivalent fall height (EFH), a measure of jumper impact velocity normal to the slope, and that design algorithms exist to calculate landing surface shapes that limit EFH to arbitrarily low values. Although proposals have been made recently to introduce design, the skiing industry and other authors have objected that analysis, design, and standards are impossible because of various "uncontrollable" factors that allegedly make the problem intractable to analytical design techniques. We consider the list of uncontrollable factors one by one and show that, to the contrary, each is either 1) irrelevant to design, 2) has negligible effect, if any, on designed EFH, or 3) can be directly incorporated into the design process.

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“…In a review of 24 articles between 1990-2004 from 10 countries Ackery, et al [6] found evidence of an increasing incidence of traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury in alpine skiing and snowboarding worldwide and noted that this increase coincided with "development and acceptance of acrobatic and high-speed activities on the mountain". Henrie, et al [3] have reported that one is twice as likely to suffer a head or spinal injury in a terrain park than outside the terrain park. Perhaps more disturbing however are the occasional catastrophic injuries in recreational terrain park jumps which since 2000 have included at least a dozen paralyzing or fatal events.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Inverting Effect of Curvature in Winter Terrain Park Jump Takeoffs

2012

Skiing Trauma and Safety: 19th Volume

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Epidemiological studies of injuries at ski resorts have found that terrain parks, and jumps especially, pose a significantly greater head/neck injury risk to resort patrons than normal skiing activities [1-4]. One especially hazardous situation is when the jumper lands in an inverted position which can lead to catastrophic injury or death from spinal cord trauma. While jumpers can execute inverted maneuvers intentionally, curvature in the takeoff can lead to involuntary inversion. In this work we lay out the basic physics of this phenomenon assuming a rigid body model which simulates a stiff-legged jumper. I include an estimate of the partially compensating (forward) rotation due to the ground reaction force. I apply the results to an actual jump having a curved takeoff. For a jump trajectory with a landing just past the "knuckle", the resulting net angle of inverting rotation is found to be about 60 • , large enough to pose a potential injury risk. A mitigating takeoff design criterion adopted by the US Terrain Park Council based on human response times is also discussed and compared to the FIS standard for Nordic jumps.

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Comparison of Ski and Snowboard Injuries that Occur Inside Versus Outside Terrain Parks

Cited by 11 publications

References 0 publications

A design rationale for safer terrain park jumps that limit equivalent fall height

A design rationale for safer terrain park jumps that limit equivalent fall height

Design of Terrain Park Jump Landing Surfaces for Constant Equivalent Fall Height Is Robust to “Uncontrollable” Factors

The Inverting Effect of Curvature in Winter Terrain Park Jump Takeoffs

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