The final injury we will discuss in this series is concussion. A concussion is a type of traumatic brain injury (TBI) that causes a temporary disturbance in the function of the brain, and leads to symptoms such as dizziness/balance issues, headache, nausea, confusion, memory loss, grogginess and even psychological symptoms such as depression, anger, frustration, etc. Those in contact with a concussed individual may note delayed response time, memory loss in inconsistency, a d

Less commonly seen in winter sports are injuries to the neck. Similar to lower back injuries, acute onset of pain in the neck may follow a long day of unaccustomed activity, an odd or unexpected movement, or even a night’s sleep on a different sleeping surface. As with lower back injuries, provided there are no neural signs such as weakness or numbness in the hands or arms, then these problems can be managed conservatively and should settle in a number of weeks.  High-velocit

As with any sports, there is the risk of acute muscle strains with skiing and snowboarding.  Some of the common sights of muscle injury are:  The hamstring: often when a ski becomes stuck and the body is flung forwards, placing excessive stress on the back of the thigh. The quadriceps: often caused by a fall when the knees are bent under and the body bent back, placing the front of the thigh under excessive stretch. The adductors: the two skis move away from each other causin

Our last post discussed rotator cuff injuries. Due to the violent nature of skiing and snowboarding related falls, it is also not uncommon for us to see dislocations of the shoulder. A shoulder dislocation is where the head of the humerus (top of the arm bone), moves out of the normal confines of the shoulder joint socket (glenoid). The most common direction of dislocation is anterior (to the front), and the typical mechanism of injury is a combination of outwards rotation wi