08/02/2026
🏔️ Lindsey Vonn’s fracture opens an important conversation in elite sport
There has been discussion around whether, in an ACL-deficient knee, a brace might alter how forces are transmitted—potentially shifting load away from the missing ligament and onto bony structures.
In extreme, high-speed sports like alpine skiing, even small biomechanical changes can matter.
👉 This is not a conclusion, but a reflection worth having.
Elite sport exists at the edge of human capacity.
Athletes live with risk. Performance, identity, pressure, legacy 🏆
The psychological drive to return and compete—especially at the highest level—can outweigh pain, fear, and long-term consequences.
🧠 As physiotherapists, we stand in a difficult space:
between performance and protection,
between competition timelines and tissue biology,
between what is desired and what is defensible.
Sometimes our role is to enable return to play.
Other times, it is to slow things down—even when that decision is unpopular.
📚 Research exists for a reason.
Yes, it has limitations and bias—but ignoring evidence altogether is far riskier than interpreting it critically.
⚠️ This should be a lesson for sporting associations, coaches, and athletes:
Having an experienced, independent physiotherapist within the team is not optional.
Our responsibility is to guide objectively—and occasionally to say no, even when the athlete desperately wants to say yes.
High-performance sport will always involve risk.
Our job is to make sure those risks are understood, justified, and not avoidable ones.
