Physiotherapist / Masseur-Kinésithérapeute

Working within ski resorts you see alot of cruciate injuries, perhaps less than before with the modern bindings as the foot can release forwards, sideways and backwards, with various combinations of falls. 

However, since I started skiing the skis have changed also to much wider, shorter and curvy, i.e parabolic.  I have seen a change on the pistes, people ski much faster now, there is some debate as to why, perhaps this type of ski is easier to learn on and people progress very quickly.

As far as injuries I often see cruciate problems, usually as a result of the ski being caught in some deep or heavy snow or tree root! and the skier continues going, this usually results in the Anterior Cruciate Ligament being partially or completly ruptured often.

The problem after that is for the doctor or physio to diagnose the problem, I have seen knees hugely swollen with no damage to cruciate and with damage and have seen knees with no swelling with damage and no damage.

The current tests such as the “Lachman’s Test” have been shown not to be not completely reliable.  Happily here in Les Gets/Morzine we can send people for MRI tests which usually show the degree of injury. 

After that, what to do, some people ski well with complete ruptured cruciates, some opt for an operation and some use knee braces.  It often depends on the anatomy of the person, if they have really tight hamstrings, their knee may be quite stable and just need to rehab well.

In France if the operation option is proposed, the surgeons tend to use the Patella Tendon, part of it and attach it to the inside of the knee, thus giving stability, I think in Britain the surgeons are still using one of the Hamstrings and attaching to the front of the inner knee.