American Medical Society for Sports Medicine
For Immediate Release May 16, 2007

OVERLAND PARK, KANSAS:  Doctors at the Killington Medical Clinic in Killington, Vermont recently found that some knee injuries may be missed if the appropriate x-rays are not performed. Dr. Matthew Gammons recently presented his findings at this month’s Annual Meeting of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine in Miami, Florida. According to Dr. Gammons findings, skiers and snowboarders may not be getting enough of a workup if these rules are used to guide x-ray determination in people injured on the ski hill.

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. Dr. Matthew Gammons and Dr. Jim Russell of the Killington Medical Clinic studied to see if these rules were appropriate to use in skiers and snowboarders. The study involved skiers and snowboarders who visited the ski clinic 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; 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. Dr. Gammons is a member of AMSSM.

The American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) was organized in 1991 by physicians who recognized the need for an organization within the field of sports medicine that approached athletes, exercising individuals, and teams comprehensively with consultative and continuous care of their orthopedic, medical, nutritional, and psychosocial issues. Although sports medicine concepts are often thought of in conjunction with professional and elite athletes, these concepts apply to athletes of all levels including grade school, high school, college and recreational athletes. AMSSM is comprised of over 1000 Sports Medicine Physicians whose goal is to provide a link between the rapidly expanding core of knowledge related to sports medicine and its application to patients in a clinical setting.

NOTE: For more information, please contact the AMSSM, 11639 Earnshaw, Overland Park, KS 66210, (913) 327-1415 or [email protected] .