Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center

Intoduction

FIS is pleased to announce that thanks to generous financial support from DJO (www.djo.eu), a global specialist in rehabilitation and regeneration products for the non-operative orthopaedic, spine and vascular markets, the ground-breaking surveillance project called FIS ISS will continue for at least another two years, until the end of 2009.

FIS ISS was initiated in 2006 to analyze injuries among elite skiers and is managed by the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Centre (OSTRC).

“We remain concerned by the number of injuries to both our top athletes and too many young talents. The initial findings of the Injury Surveillance System project have already provided us with great insight into the prevalence and types of injuries suffered. We thank DJO for its continuing support and look forward to obtaining an even more in-depth understanding through additional data and analysis during the coming two years so that we can begin to address the causes and implement prevention problems,” comments FIS President Gian Franco Kasper.

“We are delighted by the announcement of the continued support of DJO to this project. Their involvement in the FIS ISS is a reflection of DJO’s unrelenting commitment to protect the health of the athletes. This project continues to inspire us and also other research groups to search for methods to prevent skiing and snowboarding injuries,” says Professor Roald Bahr, chair of OSTRC.

The ISS project is the first time that information on all injuries from official training and competitions in World Cup events and World Ski Championships has been collated to create a picture of the overall injury frequency to World Cup athletes, notably during the winter season. The research during the project’s first two years has concentrated on finding out what types of injuries occur. During last season, a total of 902 World Cup athletes were interviewed and 296 injuries reported. As a next step, further data will be collected while work will also begin to identify the injury mechanisms and to suggest possible prevention tactics.

The long-term objective of the FIS ISS is to reduce the number of injuries sustained by elite skiers and snowboarders. On the basis of current and reliable data on injury trends in international skiing and snowboarding at the elite level, FIS ISS hopes to impact the injury rates through suggested changes for example in rules and regulations, equipment or coaching techniques.