The best injury is the one that never happens. A running seasonal series on keeping Wisconsin athletes healthy — from preseason two-a-days to opening day on the slopes.
Fall in Wisconsin means Friday-night lights, club tournaments, and — every year — a wave of preventable knee injuries. Soccer, football, and volleyball seasons bring a spike in ACL tears, especially among young female athletes, and the risk stays elevated right through the busy stretch of the season. The encouraging news: this is one of the few injuries with strong evidence that prevention works — and it's never too late in the season to start.
Structured neuromuscular warm-up programs — like FIFA 11+ and similar routines that combine jumping, landing mechanics, balance, and hamstring strengthening — have been shown in large studies to meaningfully reduce ACL and lower-extremity injury rates when performed consistently before practice and games. Fifteen minutes, no equipment, real protection. Coaches: this is the highest-value change you can make to your preseason.
A large share of early-season injuries trace to a sudden jump in training volume after a quieter summer. Building up over several weeks — rather than going from couch to two-a-days — gives tissue time to adapt. Soreness that changes how an athlete moves is a signal, not a weakness.
Adolescent athletes sleeping fewer than 8 hours have been reported to have substantially higher injury rates, and under-fueling — common in multi-sport and weight-conscious athletes — undermines both performance and tissue resilience. Preseason is a good time for families to protect sleep schedules and regular meals as seriously as practice attendance.
A pop with immediate swelling, a knee that gives way, or an athlete who can't confidently cut or land deserves evaluation before returning to play — "walking it off" on an unstable knee risks converting a repairable injury into a bigger one. Our knee page covers what evaluation looks like.
General education, not individual medical advice. Injury-prevention programs should be appropriate to the athlete's age and health status — questions are welcome at your visit.
Pre-season conditioning for the slopes — perspective from Dr. Mitchell's work as a pool team physician for the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Teams.
The chairlifts don't spin until late November, but the athletes who stay healthy all winter start getting ready in September. Skiing and snowboarding are among the most common sports behind serious knee injuries — and the pattern is remarkably consistent: most happen late in the day, on tired legs, in the first week or two of the season before the body has re-adapted to the mountain. The good news is that the biggest risk factors — deconditioned legs, an aggressive first day, and neglected equipment — are all things you can address before you ever click into a binding.
Skiing is an eccentric-quadriceps sport: your thighs spend the day braking against gravity, absorbing load turn after turn. That's a specific kind of fitness, and general summer cardio doesn't fully cover it. Six to ten weeks of progressive lower-body work before opening day pays off in two ways — stronger tissue, and legs that fatigue later in the afternoon when most injuries occur. A simple, no-gym starting point: squats and split squats, step-downs, wall-sits, and single-leg balance work, built up gradually. Snowboarders should add two-footed jump-and-landing practice, since so much of riding — and every fall — is about controlling a landing.
Strong legs that quit at 2 p.m. still leave you exposed on the last run. Mixing in longer conditioning intervals — cycling, hiking, or circuit work — trains the endurance that keeps mechanics clean when you're tired. Balance and single-leg control work (even just standing on one foot while you brush your teeth) sharpens the reflexes that catch a slip before it becomes a twist. For an on-snow return progression tailored to each sport, see the criteria-gated timelines for snow skiing and snowboarding.
Ski bindings are the one piece of safety equipment that's supposed to let go when you need it to — and their release settings drift, springs wear, and boot soles change over a summer in the garage. Having bindings inspected and the release value (DIN) set by a certified technician, based on your current height, weight, boot sole length, and ability, is one of the highest-value, lowest-effort things you can do before the season. It's worth doing every year, not just the year you buy new gear.
Even well-conditioned athletes should treat opening week as its own progression: warm up before the first run, favor groomed terrain while your legs and timing come back, and — most importantly — quit while you still have good legs. "One more run" on tired legs at last light is the classic setup for a season-ending injury. Hydration, a real lunch, and layering for Wisconsin and Midwest cold all help you keep good mechanics through the afternoon.
A fall with a pop and rapid swelling, a knee that feels unstable or gives way, or an inability to bear weight or ski confidently deserves evaluation rather than a "shake it off and keep skiing" approach — continuing to ride on an unstable knee can turn a treatable injury into a larger one. Our knee page covers what an evaluation involves, and the BioACL page describes the biologically-augmented ACL reconstruction Dr. Mitchell offers when surgery is the right call.
General education, not individual medical advice. Any conditioning program should be appropriate to your age, health, and injury history; if you've had a prior knee injury or surgery, talk with your own care team before ramping up. Questions are always welcome at your visit.
Six to ten weeks of progressive leg work builds the eccentric "braking" strength skiing demands — and pushes back the late-day fatigue that causes most injuries.
Have a certified technician inspect your bindings and set your DIN for this season. It's the cheapest injury-prevention step there is — do it every year.
Warm up, favor groomers early season, and stop before your legs are gone. "One more run" at last light is the classic injury story.