Increased knee injuries related to higher binding settings?

OK Here's an observation and probable cause.

Over the many, many years I've been skiing, I've noticed a marked increase in the number of injuries requiring stretchers/helicopters that I've seen on the slopes. It used to be about 1 a week in the 80s/90s. This increased to around 1 per day in the 00s/early 10s. Now it seems to be more than 1 per day.

Over the same time period, I have noted that (all other things being equal) the ski hire shops have been setting my bindings at higher settings.

Over several years in the 00s/early 10s I had to return to the hire shop to get the binding settings reduced (from 6 to 5) because the skis did not come off whenever I fell and I sometimes twisted my knee sometimes quite painfully as a result (fortunately no injury ever). I now know what the ideal binding setting should be for me (5) and get them set them at the correct level right from the start. This is always done under protest as they say that the skis will probably come off while skiing at such a low setting - but they never have.

This year (in Les Deux Alpes), the ski hire shop wanted to set them even higher at 7 with some serious protestations at my insistence that they set them at 5 claiming that they will keep popping of during normal skiing at this setting! Well the skis did come off 3 times - once for each time I fell but at no other time during nearly 350 miles of skiing (they have actually never come of unintentionally during the many years I have been having them set at 5). There were, however, probably the most number of injuries I have ever witnessed during this last week.

(BTW I am 6'1"/185cm and weigh just under 90kg)

Now the connection...

Here is a very believable quote from Les Deux Alpes web site...

"Skiers knee ligaments (anterior cruciate ligament in particular) take the most injuries. Make sure your ski bindings are adjusted correctly for your weight and level of skiing. Over 80% of accidents to skiers which result in sprained knee ligaments resulted from skis not coming off during a fall."

I would suggest that the increase in the number of injuries I have noted over the years is as a direct result in the ski hire shops steadily increasing the binding settings for skiers causing the skis not to come off as they should during a fall.

For those people who do not know their own ideal setting for their weight/ski style, the hire shops really should err on the side of caution by setting the bindings at the lower end of the wide scale advised for each weight/ability combination (my suggested range is 3-12 from one website). This can easily be increased if the skis pop off when they shouldn't. I suspect that any aggressive skiers who need their bindings set at the higher level already know their own ideal settings and get them set accordingly. Those that don't know their own settings and have them set too high by the ski hire shop are running the risk of joining the growing numbers of people suffering from knee injuries if their skis don't come off when they fall.

Tip: If you fall and your skis don't come off when you think they should have - get the binding settings adjusted to a lower level - and note down this setting for future years - it could save you a trip to the hospital!

I am going to take on board your advice. I fall every year, at least once, and I can't remember the last time my skis came off as a result. In fact, last year, during one fall, my skis stayed on and the edges dug into the snow and pulled my legs in two different directions :shock: Fortunately due to doing pilates, I'm quite bendy :lol: It never occurred to me to get the bindings reset, but I will think about that next time. In hire shops, I always stress my poor ability and tendency to fall over, but they always smile and do what they want anyway!

Ski bindings were designed to protect the tibia, not the knee. There have been no appreciable changes to the design of the mechanisms since 1980. So reducing the release setting will have little or no effect on protecting your knee, but could lead to serious injury due to inadvertent release.

It's very important to know what your release setting should be and how to check that the forward pressure has been set correctly, as ski shops often make mistakes. It's reckoned that about 50% of skiers ski with incorrectly adjusted or defective bindings.

In France they tend to adjust them in accordance with the AFNOR FD S 52-748 standard, which is a modification of ISO 11088 specifically designed to reduce binding release values particularly for women and for individuals with a body weight of less than 55 kg. http://inpes.santepubliquefrance.fr/CFESBases/catalogue/pdf/Ski-Dep_Fix.pdf as you can see there are lots of permutations so it's easy to make a mistake.
To make the setting easier to work out somebody has produced an online calculator http://www.reglagefixation.fr/index.php?lang=eng

The rest of the skiing world adjusts the release settings in accordance with ISO 11088 (Assembly, adjustment and inspection of an alpine ski/binding/boot (S-B-B) system) and ISO 8061(Alpine ski-bindings - Selection of release torque values) All the manufactures produce charts to assist with the selection of the correct settings http://www.salomoncertification.com/manuals3/EN_ADJ_CHART_17.pdf and guides on how to select the correct skier type http://www.salomoncertification.com/manuals3/EN_SKIER_TYPE_17.pdf Again there are online calculators http://www.dinsetting.com/#

Bear in mind that the release setting indicator is just an indicator and there is an allowable tolerance of 15% and that the only way to check whether the bindings are functioning correctly is to test them on a torque-measuring binding test machine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpyWsocjEEM

I am a dynamic high end skier and my bindings are set at 8. When, occasionally, I fall, they release. In my view, any increase in the recording of knee injuries is related to compensation culture attitudes and nothing else.

SwingBeep wrote:Ski bindings were designed to protect the tibia, not the knee. There have been no appreciable changes to the design of the mechanisms since 1980. So reducing the release setting will have little or no effect on protecting your knee, but could lead to serious injury due to inadvertent release.

It's very important to know what your release setting should be and how to check that the forward pressure has been set correctly, as ski shops often make mistakes. It's reckoned that about 50% of skiers ski with incorrectly adjusted or defective bindings.

In France they tend to adjust them in accordance with the AFNOR FD S 52-748 standard, which is a modification of ISO 11088 specifically designed to reduce binding release values particularly for women and for individuals with a body weight of less than 55 kg. http://inpes.santepubliquefrance.fr/CFESBases/catalogue/pdf/Ski-Dep_Fix.pdf as you can see there are lots of permutations so it's easy to make a mistake.
To make the setting easier to work out somebody has produced an online calculator http://www.reglagefixation.fr/index.php?lang=eng

The rest of the skiing world adjusts the release settings in accordance with ISO 11088 (Assembly, adjustment and inspection of an alpine ski/binding/boot (S-B-B) system) and ISO 8061(Alpine ski-bindings - Selection of release torque values) All the manufactures produce charts to assist with the selection of the correct settings http://www.salomoncertification.com/manuals3/EN_ADJ_CHART_17.pdf and guides on how to select the correct skier type http://www.salomoncertification.com/manuals3/EN_SKIER_TYPE_17.pdf Again there are online calculators http://www.dinsetting.com/#

Bear in mind that the release setting indicator is just an indicator and there is an allowable tolerance of 15% and that the only way to check whether the bindings are functioning correctly is to test them on a torque-measuring binding test machine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpyWsocjEEM

Wow!

Brucie wrote: In my view, any increase in the recording of knee injuries is related to compensation culture attitudes and nothing else.

Whilst I totally agree with your comment on the increase in the number of recorded injuries, it was actually the number of injuries (of all kinds) that I had personally seen that had very notably increased over the time I have been skiing that I was comparing against.

Great posting Kowal. This is an important issue, and one of the least understood, but most important aspects of skiing.

As ever, an informative posting by Swingbeep. Many years back, I used the Marker chart for assessing my Din settings. (6.5) I ski from medium pace up to 110kph. (Yes, I know, I am slowing down!)

I also checked against other binding manufactures with similar results.

However, after 20,000 miles of track, cross country and fell running, plus 50 years of skiing, I have to plan to consider managing my knees. Several years back, at a period of bad knees, I started to set my bindings at 4, thinking I was protecting myself. Bad decision. I eventually found my ski....

Nowadays, I rarely fall, maybe once every 3 or 4 years, and that is 4/6 weeks skiing a year. That is partially experience.... I have a range of desperate fixes that avoid falls!

However, that is all aside from the issue. On the odd occasions that I hire skis, on just about every occasion I have checked, and have agreed the settings. It is also important to check that heel and toe binding settings concur.

Every ski shop I have been with, I mostly use Skiset, through J2ski, have set my bindings correctly. Given that the settings are easy to check, I cannot see any reason why any ski shop would arbitrarily increase the given setting. They would be laying themselves open to an insurance claim.

Going back to my initial comment, it is important that all skiers should know their DIN settings.

Kowal. I, too, have personally seen a rise in the number of people tended to and removed from the slopes on 'blood wagons'.
I don't blame binding release settings for this, as most incidents appear to involve collisions, and are caused by reckless skiers or riders.
This recklessness, in my view, has been caused by ski technology making inexperienced skiers believe they can teach themselves rather than learn proper safety and slope etiquette in ski school.
Another reason, again in my view, and which will be controversial, is the now almost omnipresent use of helmets. These make people feel invincible, restrict peripheral vision, auditory function, and general slope awareness.