More about this technology…..

Improving ski gear technology to reduce injuries has been a topic of interest for many in the engineering and medical field for more than two decade. In June, 2004 in the medical journal, Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, an article was written about the “Effect of Ski Binding Parameters on Knee Biomechanics”. This journal is the official publication of the American College of Sports Medicine. The authors are at the top of their field in knee science – totally respected worldwide by the ski injury research community. (300+ research orthopedic surgeons, and biomechanical engineers, many of who meet for a week at the ISSS conference that's held in different parts of the world every second year at major ski resorts.  This abstract won "Highest Honors" at the ISSS conference in Pontresina, Switzerland (St. Moritz) in 2003.  As a result of these reports, both the biomechanics and engineering information pointed towards this new binding technology which could mitigate or lessen knee injuries.  

“It has been long-understood that most knee injuries in skiing are caused during rearward-twisting falls,” said John Springer-Miller, Chairman of KneeBinding, Inc. in Stowe, Vermont.  “But falling backwards isn’t what hurts you, nor is twisting.  In the injury’s simplest form, the skier gets into a position where his hips and knees are bent, and then catches an edge, forcing his foot directly sideways to the outside.  Unfortunately, when your hips and knees are bent, the hip locks, and does not allow the femur (thigh) to rotate in this direction.  In this situation, the knee is the weakest part of the system, and takes the hit.  KneeBindings have an additional release that will take the hit instead.  This third dimension of release – that no other brand offers – is specifically designed to release before the torque can cause a knee injury.”

Interestingly, KneeBinding’s additional heel release mechanism allows the heel of the boot to come out sideways, just like the toe.  But the heel only allows it to come out in one direction.  “Because these knee injuries only occur in one direction - when your foot is pulled to the outside,” said Springer-Miller, “we only have to release in one direction to mitigate the injury.”

All alpine bindings offer the traditional features of lateral toe and forward heel releases to help protect against broken legs, but all the other binding companies specifically disclaim that their bindings offer knee protection.  

Mr. Springer-Miller recently said on EpicSki.com, “People are buying [KneeBindings] because they are so much safer than ordinary bindings, and (also) because they ski better than most.  There are 70,000 ACL injuries A YEAR on skis now, and KneeBinding is the only binding on the planet that mitigates this type of injury. Many people compare our additional release mechanism to airbags - you hope you never need it, but you wouldn't buy a car without one.  Since KneeBindings offer better edge-leverage than other bindings, and have virtually none of the pre-release issues most ordinary bindings are known to have, skiers get the best of both worlds - a better performing binding with dramatically lower injury rates.”

KneeBinding has been winning  most of the top awards in the industry - including "Brand New Award" - ISPO,  "Best Innovation in SnowSports" - SnowPress, "Best Alpine Binding" - Women's Adventure, "Skier's Choice" - Powder, and just recently - "Gear of the Year" from SKI Magazine