Introduction:
As much as 13% of Poles declare active skiing or snowboarding. Literature has identified many risk and protective factors for winter sports injuries. However, their significance is not fully defined and due to the authors knowledge, literature concerning winter sports injuries in Poland is lacking.

Aim:
To examine the characteristics of practicing winter sports, injuries related to them and analyze potential risk and protective factors.

Material and methods:
This was a survey study. Inclusion criteria were: age 18–60, exclusion criteria were: injury of the same body part not related with winter sports in last three years and chronic musculoskeletal diseases. The statistical method was Chi-square, ANOVA with post-hoc tests and logistic regression for multivariable analysis of potential risk and protective factors. All p-values were two-tailed and significancy threshold was < 0.05.

Results:
523 persons completed the questionnaire. After implementing study criteria, 416 people (271 men and 145 women) were included in the study. 315 people were skiing, 154 people were snowboarding, 85 people were ski touring. 199 people were injured during practicing winter sports. Most often were knee injuries (n = 76), shoulder injuries (n = 52) and wrist injuries (n = 36). Risk factors were: more experience (OR = 1.04, 95%CI = 1.01–1.07) and skiing (OR = 1.93, 95%CI = 1.10–3.40), while strength training in off-season was a protective risk (OR = 0.44, 95%CI = 0.22–0.87).

Conclusions:
In Polish winter sports participants the most commonly injured sites were the knee, shoulder and wrist. More experience and skiing were associated with higher risk of injury, while strength training in off-season was associated with lower risk of injury.