Injury rate and injury pattern among elite World Cup snowboarders: A 6-year cohort study

Background: There is limited knowledge on injury rate and injury pattern in the different disciplines among elite snowboarders Objective: The aim of this study was to describe and compare the injury rate and injury pattern among the different International Ski Federation (FIS) World Cup (WC) snowboard disciplines with a precise calculation of exposure. Methods: We conducted retrospective interviews with FIS WC snowboard athletes at the end of each season in the period 2007-2012, to register injuries sustained during the competitive season. To calculate the exposure we obtained information from result lists from FIS’ competition database for all WC competitions for each of the interviewed athletes. Results: We registered a total of 574 injuries among 1432 athletes. Of these, 171 occurred during FIS WC competitions. The total relative and absolute injury rate were 6.4 injuries per 1000 runs and 40.1 injuries per 100 athletes per season, respectively. The relative injury rate was 11.9 per 1000 runs in snowboard cross, 6.3 in halfpipe, 3.6 in big air, and 2.8 in parallel giant slalom/parallel slalom (PGS/PSL). Conclusion: The absolute and the relative injury rate were significantly higher in snowboard cross than in halfpipe, big air and PGS/PSL. Snowboard cross had also the highest risk of severe injuries (> 28 days absence). The risk of knee injury (the most common injury type) and head injury was significant higher in snowboard cross and halfpipe compared to PGS/PSL. No differences in the relative or absolute injury rate between male and female snowboarders were detected