[25 years of Alpine skiing. In retrospect--the development and management of tibial fractures].

Due to the advancement in the development of ski, technique, equipment and improvement of the slopes in the last decades, there has been a change in the type, form and location of fractures of the lower leg. In a 25 year follow-up at the department of traumatology of the University of Innsbruck we analysed the winter months of the year 1960/61, 1970/71, 1980/81 and the year 1984/85. A shifting of the localization of injuries towards the upper part of the body has been found. There is no doubt that because of the development of modern ski-bindings lower-leg fractures have decreased significantly with adults. At the age between 11 and 15 years there has been no proportional change in the frequency of injuries. The operative treatment has increased in number in comparison with the conservatively treated fractures.