Analysis of Injury Mechanisms in Head Injuries in Skiers and Snowboarders.

Purpose: Mechanisms of injury and description of head impacts leading to traumatic brain injury (TBI) in skiers and snowboarders have not been extensively documented. We investigate snow-sport crashes leading to TBI in order to (1) Identify typical mechanisms leading to TBI to better target prevention measures and (2) Identify the injury mechanisms and the head impact conditions. Methods: The subjects were skiers and snowboarders diagnosed of TBI and admitted between 2013 and 2015 to one of the 15 medical offices and 3 hospital centers involved in the study. The survey includes the description of the patients (age, sex, practice, skill-level, and helmet use), of the crash (type, location, estimated speed, causes, and fall description) and of the injuries sustained (symptoms, head trauma scores, other injuries). Sketches were used to describe the crash and impact locations. Clustering methods were used to distinguish profiles of injured participants. Results: 295 skiers and 71 snowboarders were interviewed. The most frequent type of mechanism was falls (54%), followed by collision between users (18%), and jumps (15%). Collision with obstacle (13%) caused the most serious TBI. 3 categories of patients were identified. First, men aged 16-25 years are more involved in crash at high speed or in connection with a jump. Second, women, children (

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