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Doctors find 1 in 10 knee fractures from ski injury missed
Jun 22, 2006
Killington, VT – Doctors at the Killington Medical Clinic have discovered that some ski related knee injuries are missed when using certain rules for X-ray determination.
Dr. Matthew Gammons and Dr. Jim Russell of the Killington Medical Clinic studied to see if the “Ottawa Knee Rules” were appropriate to use in skiers and snowboarders. “It’s the nature of the sport, there is more force applied to the knee while skiing or snowboarding than in other sports” said Dr. Matthew Gammons.
The “Ottawa Knee Rules” is a list of symptoms and physical exam findings that doctors may use to determine if a patient needs knee x-rays after an acute injury. “It’s basically used worldwide by physicians in Sports Medicine” said Gammons.
The study involved skiers and snowboarders who visited the ski clinic in Killington with an acute knee injury during the winter of 2004-2005. If the “Ottawa Knee Rules” were applied, about 1 in 10 fractures in this group of people would have been missed. This is significantly high compared to research involving other athletes and non-athletes, which the “Ottawa Knee Rules” found nearly every patient with a fracture.
Dr. Gammons was awarded the Harry L. Galanty, MD Young Investigator's Award for outstanding research at the 2006 American Medical Society for Sports Medicine Annual Meeting for this research. Dr. Gammons and Dr. Russell caution the use of the “Ottawa Knee Rules” in people injured on the ski hill until further research can be completed.
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