Tuesday, February 24, 2009

How to Treat Injuries from Skiing

By Andrew Mitchell

No matter how careful you are accidents happen. Even the most experienced skiers will come across bumps or other things that they do not anticipate. It is important to understand how skiing injuries are treated. When not taken care of, even the mildest injury can become a major catastrophe. This article contains a short list of the most common skiing injuries and the recommended treatments to each of them.

Sprained Knees

Even the strongest knees can get sprained or strained on the ski slopes. There are several different ways in which a knee can get strained or sprained so if you hurt your knee while you are skiing, you want to make sure that an experienced medical professional thoroughly examines your knee. You need to know exactly which ligaments have been sprained or strained and how the injury occurred. If a doctor does not find out exactly how your knee has been injured then you could end up doing more harm than good when you try to treat it. Typically the treatment for a sprained or strained knee is an over the counter anti-inflammatory medicine and the application of ice to the injured area. Ask your doctor before you attempt to treat yourself otherwise you could end up injuring yourself even further.

Broken Bone

As with knee strains and sprains, broken bones can happen to even the most experienced skier. Legs and writes are the most common bones that get broken on the ski slopes. Broken bones are not to be treated without medical help. Seek a doctor's help immediately to get your broken leg or broken wrist re-set and casted. To ensure that you have the smoothest healing period possible it is important that you make sure that your broken bone gets treated quickly and correctly by a professional.

Injuries to the Face

Most people think that because of the goggles and other padding a skier wears around his face and skull that injuries to the face are rare. It might surprise you that skiers can suffer from facial injuries as well and that, more often than not, those injuries come from getting hit in the face by the t-bar. When your face or skull take a serious blow, it is important to see the doctor on call at the slopes to make sure that nothing is broken and that you are concussion free. Typical treatments of less serious injuries involves bandaging and over the counter pain medication. Sometimes an ice pack is in order as well.

These are just three of the most common types of injuries that a person can obtain while skiing the slopes. There are plenty of other ways to get injured while you are out there this winter, so be careful and always err on the side of caution! - 16083

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