Snow sports are high-impact - the athletes fly high, land hard and travel fast.
When they crash, one of the first people they turn to is Wanaka physiotherapist Ginny Rutledge, who has spent more than 12 years preparing and assisting Olympic athletes to attain their goals.
Wanaka is the hub of New Zealand's snow sports industry and one spin-off is the network of sports medicine practitioners living in the town and specialising in injury prevention and treatment for snow sports athletes.
Rutledge is a member of the Wanaka-based winter sports medical and coaching team working hard to reduce New Zealand's injury rate in high-performance athletes.
They are the first to acknowledge the rate could come down further.
"Our injury rate is too high so our job as a medical team has been to work in the build-up in the past three years. We've worked on injury prevention and risk analysis. We've identified how they land.
"For example, in snowboarding, we've looked at videos with coaches and our strength and conditioning [specialist] Val Burke to break down the movement patterns and look for patterns that can lead to accidents.
"That's particularly pertinent to anterior cruciate ligament injuries in the knee. That is a show-stopper for the athletes," Rutledge said yesterday.
There are 16 snow sports athletes in New Zealand's Olympic team and a similar-sized pool of others who compete at world cup or Winter X Games level in a variety of disciplines.
Three of the five snowboarders who will be competing in Vancouver have had knee reconstructions, including Mitch Brown and Juliane Bray.
Knee injuries have also plagued Paralympic gold medal prospect Adam Hall and members of New Zealand's elite freeski team, including Winter X Games silver medallist Jossi Wells.
Other injuries the Wanaka medics have treated include fractured necks, broken and bruised bones, pelvic fractures, dislocated shoulders and nerve damage.
Rutledge says the main problem areas are wrists, knees and shoulders.
"By the time we get to the games, as far as the medical team is concerned, our job is nearly done. So much of our work has been in the preparation," Rutledge said.
She is proud of the work the athletes have done to rehabilitate their injuries and minimise risks.
It takes a strong personal commitment to be dedicated to all aspects of health, particularly when some of the athletes are young.
The fact the young teenagers have achieved their goals shows maturity beyond their years, she said.
Rutledge is anxious to reassure parents who might be concerned their children's role models go out and hurt themselves without regard to consequences.
"We have very strict protocols before they are allowed back on snow. And when they get back on snow, there's another progression. It is all very calculated. They are not random athletes. What is encouraging about these guys is they have the fortitude to come back after injury.
"That takes an awful lot of mental toughness . . . to come back time after time and come back to the Olympic Games. That shows their calibre," Rutledge said.
Rutledge has attended international conferences where other snow sports nations have been gobsmacked by New Zealand's injury rate and keenly interested in how the Wanaka specialists get their athletes back on snow.
The United States and Germany typically fielded large teams of athletes and if one person was hurt, another person just as good was usually waiting in the wings, she said.
In New Zealand, few met the qualifying standard to replace an injured athlete.
When Rutledge arrives in Vancouver this week, it will be her third Winter Olympics.
She also travelled to Salt Lake City in 2002 and Turin in 2006.
"It has been 12 years of learning and progression for me as well. I am getting happier, though the injury rate seems too high, that we are no longer reacting and are being proactive. And the injury rates have dropped," she said.
This year, Rutledge will look after the skiers and skaters in Vancouver while her Wanaka physiotherapist colleague Sheryl Dickinson will be based at Whistler with the snowboarders.
Another of Rutledge's physiotherapy colleagues, Andy Duff, is travelling with New Zealand's small Paralympic team, which competes in Canada from March 12 to 18.
Both Olympic villages will have medical clinics attached, with full orthopaedic and surgical facilities, which the New Zealand team will be able to use.
One of the most compelling moments at the Olympics will be the opening ceremony, Rutledge said.
The New Zealand team will be officially welcomed to the Winter Olympics on February 11.
The opening ceremony is scheduled for the 12th.
