SNOW SKIING COMBINED ANTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT MEDIAL COLLATERAL LIGAMENT DISRUPTIONS

Recent reports indicate that combined anterior cruciate ligament/media l collateral ligament (ACL/MCL) knee injuries are usually associated w ith a lateral meniscus tear. In our center, snow skiing is the athleti c activity most frequently associated with this double-ligament injury complex. A sports-specific analysis was undertaken to evaluate the hy pothesis that the snow skiing ligament injury is different from simila r injuries caused by other athletic activities. Of a total of 64 acute arthroscopically confirmed tears of both the MCL and ACL, 23 were cau sed by snow skiing and 41 by nonskiing activities. There were fewer la teral meniscus tears in skiers (43%) when compared with the nonskiers (88%). Skiers also had fewer medial meniscus tears (13%) than did nons kiers (37%). No medial meniscus tears occurred in the absence of a lat eral meniscus tear. Although 78% of the skiers were women, only 12% of the nonskiers were women. Skiers were older (average age 35 years) th an the nonskiers (average age 28 years). The right knee was injured al most twice as frequently as the left. These data suggest that the doub le (ACL/MCL) ligament injury in skiers might be distinctly different f rom that in nonskiers.