Injury Prevention for Skiing - is there anything that humans are consistently less prepared for?
Gus (not pictured) from Kaizen Physiotherapy & Performance loves skiing and all things related to the mountain. So much so he’s even worked out in Courchevel for a season, providing ski physiotherapy to all sorts of injuries. In this first in a series of five blogs, Gus will give his thoughts about (the lack of) injury prevention in skiing.
Interested to hear some more? Check out my thoughts about injury prevention and how we can help on the Seek Professional Help podcast below.
If the only reason you’ve clicked on this blog page is because of the dog, keep reading and you may find some more pictures as the blogs go on…
“Just picture it, 20,000 people braving the glacial conditions just to see your very best over 90 seconds…”
Obviously, I’m talking about the ever impressive professional slalom skiers. The lucky few in this world who get to spend their winters touring the world doing what most of us consider is just a fun little holiday with our friends or family. Now, when considering how short a World Cup ski race lasts you could be forgiven for thinking that they don’t need to train too hard. But when you consider the speeds that people can reach when skiing (100kph isn’t out of the question), it quickly becomes apparent that my slightly inflammatory title isn’t actually that inaccurate.
I’d recommend watching this training video of Alexis Pinterault, a French skier who’s one of the better performers on the World Cup circuit. It really puts into perspective what kind of work needs to be done to make it as a professional skier!
“I went searching for some stats and figures that will either reassure you or confirm that skiing isn’t for you. There’s quite significant variation from different studies. But, on the whole, skiing is no more dangerous than other common sports”.
Of course, I’m well aware that 99% of skiers who go on their yearly holiday have absolutely no interest in working that hard, or skiing that intensely. You could say the same thing about your casual tennis player. Having said that, spending a lovely afternoon at the tennis club enjoying a game or two of tennis is unlikely to put anywhere as much stress on your body compared to a chilled day of skiing. Unless you decided to do some (or all) of the following:
Keep yourself warm and merry by sipping from your hip flask between every point. Don’t forget to stop for 2 hours for lunch to drink at least half a bottle of red with your fondue.
Race everyone from the clubhouse to the courts whilst desperately taking avoiding action of the children learning to play tennis.
Being taken out from behind by a complete novice playing on a different court who swears at you in French before going off on their way.
So even recreational skiing involves some very challenging conditions that people are often not prepared to face. Having said that, skiing has comparable injury rates to other sports. So I should probably just write a blog ranting that very few people do any injury prevention work regardless of the sports. But then again, if they did I would be out of work very quickly!
That’s also a slightly unfair statement, as plenty of people do try and get “ski fit” before they go away on their holiday. These people are absolutely doing the right thing and I will always encourage them to carry on with this. In the Seek Professional Help ski episode, we cover some more around the recurrent training errors I come across, and what you can do to help.
Some examples of useful exercises you may want to add to your usual gym routine can also be found here. Compared to what the professional skier is going through, you’ll see that my suggestions are slightly more realistic (although if you’re coming for a rehab session, I can’t promise I won’t make you go through some of those exercises).
The overriding aim of this blog is to highlight how tough skiing can be. Even if you’re fit and active, there’s a chance that the type of training you regularly do won’t prepare you optimally for skiing. Having dealt with the (often long and arduous) rehab of people after shoulder dislocations and knee operations. It’s become clear to me that prevention is better than the cure!
To help reduce our clients’ risk of injury, we’ve developed a ski screening programme at Kaizen Physiotherapy & Performance. This screen has been developed to help objectify certain traits that are important for good ski technique. Examples include ankle mobility, core stability and amount of hip rotation on each side. By accurately screening an individual, we can then provide a tailored exercise programme that will help improve on any restrictions. Ensuring the individual is as physically prepared as possible before they hit the slopes.
Fatigue can accumulate over the ski holiday, particularly if you’re at a large resort like the Three Valleys and you intend to ski as much of it as possible! Recovery is key with the main bit of advice being to stay as hydrated as possible. This can be quite challenging but really does go a long way. Making sure you’ve warmed up before heading out, and cooled down with some stretching and mobility each day will also help. Massage can also be helpful with your recovery, especially if you’re doing the other essential bits. We’ve teamed up with Massage Me, a mobile massage company that provides expert care all across the French Alps. By teaming up with them, we’re ensuring our clients are at the very top of their abilities all the way through their holiday.
If you want more guidance to make sure you are ski fit, book access the ski screening service at Kaizen Physiotherapy & Performance.
Think you’ll benefit from some recovery whilst on your holiday? Contact Massage Me to arrange a recovery massage.
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