Don’t let injury spoil your winter fun…..
As most of you well know, the winter sports season will be quickly upon us with many of you already having planned to go away for your first ski break of the winter period. It can be a great retreat for the family after a busy Christmas period, or it can be your yearly holiday you look forward to most. You might spend time skiing, snowboarding, sledging, celebrating, relaxing and last but most certainly not least partying!
So how much of a nightmare holiday would it be if you were to get injured whilst you were there? How annoyed would you feel to find out afterwards you could have prevented it from happening with a little preventive work before you go?
The majority of skiing injuries occur at the knee, with 47% of injuries sustained in U.S. winter sports in 2015 being ACL injuries. The Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) in the knee is arguably the most important as it prevents something called anterior tibial translation from occurring; it prevents the shin bone from sliding forwards when you weight bear. The most common mechanism of injuring your ACL is twisting or a sudden change in direction on top of a fixed foot. Some of you may have already caught on, but if not, when you are skiing or boarding your feet are fixed into position in your boots; therefore it only takes one sharp change in direction to injure your ACL.
Snowboarders however are slightly different; the most frequent injuries in snowboarding occur at the wrist, as the majority of snowboarders have a tendency to use their outstretched arms to prevent themselves from falling. A little too much weight whilst moving can mean you end up placing too much of your body weight and the force generated by your momentum through your wrists, causing you to fracture bones or sprain ligaments. This type of problem is easily prevented if you had the strength in the first place to control your balance, had fantastic proprioceptive skills and completed a little exercise preparation beforehand.
At Kinetic, we prefer to be proactive in our approach to injuries as it is much easier to prevent an injury from occurring than it is to treat and rehabilitate an injury once it has happened..
This year we are launching a brand new winter sports service called a Ski and Board MOT. It consists of a postural alignment check, neuromuscular activation checks & treatment and an individual exercise programme to help you prevent and avoid those holiday ruining injuries you can sustain on the slopes.
Written by Tom Pinder 5th December 2018
To find out more or book your first ski & board MOT
