What can you do to prepare physically for your upcoming skiing holiday?
Every year around this time in the clinic we are asked ‘what can I can do to prepare for my ski trip?’ or ‘what are the best exercises for skiing?’ Learn more about how to get the most out of your time in the mountains to help improve performance and reduce injury risk.
Due to the high velocity nature of the sport, when things go wrong they tend to go very wrong. The knee is by far the most commonly injured area of the body. This is partly explained by the fact that the movement of the foot and ankle is significantly limited by the structure of the ski boot therefore when forces on the lower limb become too great for us to handle it is usually the joint with the least support that is affected.
A QUICK BIT OF ANATOMY…
Keeping things simple here, the knee is a hinge joint designed to only flex and extend. It is held together by four ligaments connecting the femur (upper leg) to the tibia and fibula (lower leg). The quadriceps and hamstrings act on the knee to generate force and create movement. The knee is further stabilised by 2 rings of cartilage (meniscus) that sit on top of the tibia helping to deepen the articulation between femur and tibia, absorb impact and lubricate the joint. The knee is usually injured in skiing either traumatically, when it is forced into an extreme position, often in sudden twisting movement or impact, or due to prolonged over load (above and beyond what the knee is used to). If the traumatic force is strong enough one or more ligaments may be torn (sprained) and the cartilage may be damaged.
