ArticleEuropean journal of trauma and emergency surgery : official publication of the European Trauma Society2025
Impact of back protectors on spinal injuries in alpine winter sports: a retrospective cohort study.
Article in European journal of trauma and emergency surgery : official publication of the European Trauma Society, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Response to the letter to the editor to discuss "Factors to consider when selecting an injured control group in case-control studies on skiing injuries".European journal of trauma and emergency surgery : official publication of the European Trauma Society · 2026Article
- Factors to consider when selecting an injured control group in case-control studies on skiing injuries.European journal of trauma and emergency surgery : official publication of the European Trauma Society · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
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Abstract
purposeThis retrospective cohort study investigated whether back protectors reduce the incidence and severity of spinal injuries in alpine winter sports, hypothesizing they may affect the type, location, and severity rather than fully prevent them.
methodsWe retrospectively identified patients with alpine winter sports-related injuries admitted to our Level-1 trauma center (2017-2023). Patient and accident data were gathered via phone survey and chart review. Injuries were classified using the AO Spine system, and the impact of back protectors was analyzed using univariate and multivariate analysis in R.
resultsOut of 1160 identified patients, 232 (81 spinal injuries, 151 non-spinal injuries) completed telephone follow-up (mean 52 months post-injury, SD 19.8). The presence of a spinal injury was not significantly associated with back protector use, but spinal injuries in protector users were more frequently treated conservatively, while non-users required operative treatment slightly more frequently (p = 0.13) and presented with neurological deficits (p = 0.008). After adjusting for confounders, there was no significant reduction in ISS scores. Moreover, wearing a back protector did not significantly impact the overall occurrence of polytrauma.
conclusionBack protectors neither prevented spinal injuries nor provided beneficial protection in polytrauma cases among patients presenting to our level I trauma center.
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