Project Partners
Balgrist University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland.
International Ski Federation (FIS)
Funding
The study is funded PhD Grant from the Andorran Government
Background
The International Ski Federation (FIS) Alpine Ski World Cup is the primary international circuit for alpine skiing competitions. Alpine skiers compete in a performance-driven environment where the aim is to increase sports performance. Such a context is well known for its high risk of injury, directly impacting the athlete’s ability to perform. In 2006, the FIS established an injury surveillance system to provide data on injury trends in international elite skiing and snowboarding to reduce injury risk. Injury rates are still high regardless of all the efforts and changes made throughout the last decade to improve alpine skiers’ safety.
While current literature has only focused on single factors, other components as contextual factors in preventive strategies in elite alpine skiing have not been addressed yet. Thus, the literature regarding injury epidemiology in elite alpine skiing faces many challenges. On the one hand, it has overlooked the wide range of factors influencing injury and involving injury prevention in such context. On the other hand, it is still hampered by small sample sizes, methodological issues and the constant evolution of injury factors with equipment and competitive rules regulations. Consequently, there is a lack of acknowledgement and understanding of the elite alpine skiing context and how it can influence and lead to preventive behaviours.
By using different methodological approaches such as qualitative methods to investigate elite athletes’ and stakeholders’ perspectives, this project can provide greater knowledge and better insight into injury prevention in elite alpine skiing by helping to identify potentially modifiable factors which could improve injury prevention in practice and increasing the level of success on injury prevention programs.
Objectives
The proposed project aims to develop an effective injury prevention program for elite alpine skiers founded on the narrative of elite alpine skiers, coaches, managers, health care providers, official and race organisers and topic-specific experts concerning their perceptions and perspectives of injury and illness prevention.
Based on this narrative, this project aims to explore and understand the practicalities of sports-related injury and illness prevention based on beliefs, attitudes and knowledge from key stakeholders in national teams from different countries.
Thereby, understanding the context and the injury risk factors within elite alpine skiing will set the foundations for further designing and implementing specific injury prevention strategies targeting elite alpine skiing, assessing their effectiveness in their respective settings.
This project will apply a mixed-methods approach. To explore the research questions, both qualitative and quantitative methods will be employed.