SUMMIT COUNTY — Not counting bicycling accidents, snowboarding injuries accounted for a quarter of all emergency-room visits related to outdoor sports injuries in 2005-2005, according to a new federal report. In a study by the Centers for Disease Control, researchers calculated that about 213,000 people were treated for outdoor sports-related injuries nationwide, with 26 percent of those injuries related to snowboarding. They compiled emergency-room data from 63 hospitals in 2004 and 2005 to get a snapshot of injury numbers for those years. Sledding was second on the list at 10.6 percent, then hiking (6.3 percent), personal watercraft or tubing (3.7 percent) and mountain biking (3.6 percent). Fractures and sprains accounted for half the injuries studied by the researchers. “It's a great attempt. It's a precedent-setter for looking at injury data bases,” said Dr. Paul Auerbach, a Stanford University wilderness-medicine expert.

Study omitted bicycling

The study did not include data on how many people participate in various activities.

“Some of the headlines made it look like snowboarding is the kiss of death,” said ski and snowboard injury researcher Dr. Jasper Shealy. “The primary thing that bothers me is, if you dig into it, it doesn't include all outdoor injuries.”

The net result of the way the research was structured is that it makes snowboarding injuries appear more significant than they are, he explained.

“There are close to 600,000 biking accidents annually. Context is everything,” Shealy said.

National Safety Council figures show there are about 1,000 bicycling fatalities and 3,600 swimming fatalities annually, compared to an average of 38 ski- and snowboard-related deaths each year.

If biking were included as an outdoor recreational activity in the study, snowboarding would only account for about 7 percent of emergency-room visits. Biking would account for about 75 percent of all emergency-room visits stemming from outdoor recreation.

“The results (of the CDC study) are not necessarily indicative of the risks that snowboarders face at a ski area, since the focus is on wilderness injuries that may presumably occur inside or outside resort boundaries in the backcountry,” said Geraldine Link, policy director for the National Ski Areas Association.

Ski-industry officials note that skiers and snowboarders statistically face a much lower rate of injuries than swimming or biking when considering the overall number of participants.

Local statistics follow overall pattern

Officials at St. Anthony Summit Medical Center wouldn't release specific percentages of injuries from the county’s four ski areas, but trauma-program manager Shelly Almroth confirmed that the medical center's emergency room sees a high number of trauma cases related to skiing and snowboarding each season. Almroth, who tracks injury statistics for the hospital, also said that statewide numbers also reflect the injury risks associated with snowboarding. According to medical statistics tracked by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, 17 percent of all injuries between 2001 and 2003 (the latest figures available) requiring hospitalization resulted from ski and snowboard accidents. Snowboarders are injuring themselves at a rate four times greater than skiers. About half the injured people in the CDC study were between the ages of 10 and 24, and half the injuries are caused by falls. Males were injured at twice the rate of females, although the researcher weren't sure if that difference was a behavioral pattern or the result of participation rates. Shealy noted that snowboarding accounts for about 30 percent of annual ski-resort visits, yet the total number of snowboard injuries is slightly higher than those resulting from skiing accidents. The injury rate for snowboarders is twice that of the injury rate for skiers, and the rate of snowboarding injuries doubled between 1990 and 2000, Shealy said. But Link pointed out that the number of serious injuries — defined as potentially life-altering head and neck injuries — in the 2007-2008 season dropped 55 percent from the 2005-2006 season.

Injury prevention

The numbers seem to suggest that snowboarding is among the most dangerous outdoor activities with regard to injury risk.

But that conclusion is an over-simplification of the study results, Auerbach said.

The idea was to look at patterns of injuries with an eye toward prevention, said Auerbach, who, as a ski patroller, has some first-hand experience with ski resort injuries.

“As a skier or snowboarder, what steps can you take for prevention,” Auerbach said.

The overall look at injury stats is a first step in that direction, he added.

“You can't take all the risk out of these activities, but maybe you can take out the unnecessary risk,” he said.

More in-depth studies would look at those patterns to see if behavioral changes, equipment or regulatory factors could reduce the risk of injuries, Auerbach said.

The focus on prevention fits well with industry efforts to reduce snowboarding injuries, said the NSAA’s Link.

“We applaud the study’s focus on planning, preparation and problem anticipation as a way of reducing outdoor injuries,” she said. “Resorts invest a great deal in guest education and in particular have reached out to resort guests using freestyle terrain in an effort to reduce injuries and make their experience more enjoyable.”

For information on the National Ski Areas Association's preventional education message, go to: http://www.nsaa.org/nsaa/safety/get-smart.asp.

<i>Bob Berwyn can be reached at (970) 331-5996, or at bberwyn@summitdaily.com</i>