Abstract: This paper analyzed the imaging diagnosis types of lower extremity sports injuries in winter sports athletes and their influence on the rate of returning to competition. The clinical data of 357 patients with lower extremity sports injuries of winter sports athletes were collected, and the general data of the patients, the cause of the injury, the location of the injury, and the imaging examination to diagnose the type of injury were analyzed. The results showed that the main causes of injury were movement technical mistakes (49.86%), collision and fierce confrontation (19.05%), and fatigue (17.09%). The main injury sites were knee joint (53.78%) and ankle joint (31.93%). The main injury types were ligament injury (40.62%) and fracture (37.25%).The incidence of lower limb fractures in male athletes (42.31%) was higher than that in female athletes (30.20%), and the incidence of ligament injury (35.10%) was lower than that of female athletes (48.32%) (P＜0.05). The rate of returning to competition within one year in athletes with lower extremity muscle strain and soft tissue injury was 100.00%, which was higher than that in athletes with fractures (88.72%) and ligament injury (68.97%) (P<0.05). The imaging diagnosis types of lower extremity sports injuries among athletes in winter sports are mainly ligament injuries and fractures. Among them, the rate of return of athletes with lower extremity ligament injuries to the game within 1 year is low, and it is very necessary to strengthen prevention and treatment.

Key words: winter sports, athletes, lower extremity sports injuries, imaging, return to competition