Injuries of the knee joint in chosen winter sports disciplines.

Aim: The purpose of the study was to assess the occurrence of knee joint injuries in sportsmen practicing the following three winter sports: ice hockey, ski jumping, downhill skiing and the impact of rehabilitation on return to active sport practice. Methods: The research material was a group of 100 people (86 men and 14 women) aged 16 to 39. All those persons practiced selected sport disciplines professionally or semi-professionally. From the original group of 100 persons, 76 persons who have previously suffered knee injury while practicing sport were selected for the purpose of final analysis. A question- naire was constructed for the purposes of the research in order to assess the frequency of knee joint injuries in winter sport disciplines and for the purpose of assessment of the post-injury treatment. The questionnaire included closed questions and TSK scales (Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia). Results: Following the analysis of the research carried out among sportsmen practicing winter sports one may conclude that downhill skiing and ice hockey were characterized by the highest rate of knee injuries (skiers - 75% of the respondents, hockey players - 82%). In the case of ski jumping, the rate of injuries was slightly lower (53% of respondents). The research results show that in most cases the sportsmen suffered a knee joint injury during competitions but also show that the most frequent cause of injury in all of the discussed disciplines is the lack of warm-up or inappropriate warm-up. Conclusions: The knee joint injury results in damage of anatomic structures of the joint. The main type of knee injury suffered by the sportsmen representing all three sport disciplines was the joint sprain.