Self-Release of Ski Bindings: A Sex Comparison

Background: Among recreational skiers, ACL injury risk is about three times greater in females compared to males and female skiers suffering from ACL injury reported about 20% points more frequently a failure of binding to release compared to male skiers with an ACL injury. Performing a daily self-release test of ski bindings, however, can prevent skiing-related injuries of the lower extremity. Aim: To evaluate to what extent uninjured male and female skiers are able to self-release their ski bindings which were recently adjusted to the ISO 11088 standard. Methods: A total of 15 male and 15 female healthy and physically active young adults with a mean age of 23.0 +/- 1.7 years and without any previous injury of the lower extremities participated in this study. Subjects had to perform an isometric leg test and the self-release test of ski bindings with both legs on a Kistler force plate. For each attempt to release the binding, torques calculated via the force plate were normalized to torques calculated by a binding adjustment system (Relative Release Torques-RRT) and represented by percentage values. Results: Sexes significantly differ regarding body mass and BMI, but not regarding relative maximum isometric leg strength. Eleven out of the 15 male subjects (73%) and three out of the 15 female (20%) subjects released their ski bindings at least once with both legs. Regarding a total of 90 self-release trials among each sex (3 trials 2 legs 15 subjects), failure of binding release was significantly higher among female compared to male trials (84 vs. 54%, p < 0.01). The mean relative release torques (RRT) of the 76 female trials of failure of binding release were significantly lower compared to the 49 male trials of failure of binding release (40.9 +/- 20.2 vs. 50.6 +/- 20.1%, p = 0.009). Conclusion: Three times more females than males were unable to self-release their ski bindings although their bindings were correctly adjusted according to the ISO 11088 standard for binding setting values. In addition, females reached about 20% lower RRT values within failure of binding release trials although males and females did not differ with regard to relative isometric leg strength.(VLID)3080974Version of recor