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Favourable Changes of the Risk-Benefit Ratio in Alpine Skiing

During the past five decades recreational alpine skiing has become increasingly safer. The numerous annual media reports on ski injuries have to be interpreted on the basis of the tremendous numbers of skiers. These favourable changes seem primarily be due to the introduction of short carving skis,...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Burtscher, Martin, Ruedl, Gerhard
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4483689/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26035659
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120606092
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author Burtscher, Martin
Ruedl, Gerhard
author_facet Burtscher, Martin
Ruedl, Gerhard
author_sort Burtscher, Martin
collection PubMed
description During the past five decades recreational alpine skiing has become increasingly safer. The numerous annual media reports on ski injuries have to be interpreted on the basis of the tremendous numbers of skiers. These favourable changes seem primarily be due to the introduction of short carving skis, more rigid and comfortable ski boots, the use of protective gear like helmets, and the optimized preparation of ski slopes. The associated health benefits from skiing, especially arising from its association with a healthier life style, and possibly also from effects related to hypoxia preconditioning and increasing subjective vitality by natural elements clearly outweigh the health hazards. Technical improvements will likely help further reducing the injury risk. At least hypothetically, each individual skier could help to prevent injuries by the development of an appropriate physical fitness and responsible behaviour on ski slopes thereby optimizing the risk-benefit ratio of alpine skiing.
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spelling pubmed-44836892015-06-30 Favourable Changes of the Risk-Benefit Ratio in Alpine Skiing Burtscher, Martin Ruedl, Gerhard Int J Environ Res Public Health Commentary During the past five decades recreational alpine skiing has become increasingly safer. The numerous annual media reports on ski injuries have to be interpreted on the basis of the tremendous numbers of skiers. These favourable changes seem primarily be due to the introduction of short carving skis, more rigid and comfortable ski boots, the use of protective gear like helmets, and the optimized preparation of ski slopes. The associated health benefits from skiing, especially arising from its association with a healthier life style, and possibly also from effects related to hypoxia preconditioning and increasing subjective vitality by natural elements clearly outweigh the health hazards. Technical improvements will likely help further reducing the injury risk. At least hypothetically, each individual skier could help to prevent injuries by the development of an appropriate physical fitness and responsible behaviour on ski slopes thereby optimizing the risk-benefit ratio of alpine skiing. MDPI 2015-05-29 2015-06 /pmc/articles/PMC4483689/ /pubmed/26035659 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120606092 Text en © 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Commentary
Burtscher, Martin
Ruedl, Gerhard
Favourable Changes of the Risk-Benefit Ratio in Alpine Skiing
title Favourable Changes of the Risk-Benefit Ratio in Alpine Skiing
title_full Favourable Changes of the Risk-Benefit Ratio in Alpine Skiing
title_fullStr Favourable Changes of the Risk-Benefit Ratio in Alpine Skiing
title_full_unstemmed Favourable Changes of the Risk-Benefit Ratio in Alpine Skiing
title_short Favourable Changes of the Risk-Benefit Ratio in Alpine Skiing
title_sort favourable changes of the risk-benefit ratio in alpine skiing
topic Commentary
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4483689/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26035659
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120606092
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