Prepare your body – get fit! Skiing puts extra stress on your muscles, joints, ligaments and tendons. If your body isn’t conditioned correctly, it can result in pain and injury. Doing preparatory work to strengthen your ski specific muscles including your quadriceps, hips and core muscles will create a more efficient skiing technique and will reduce your chances of injury.
Don’t fight the fall
It is our human instinct to try and stop ourselves from falling. However when skiing, you can tear ligaments by holding yourself up when you feel like you need to fall. If you are falling backwards, rather sit down than resist the fall.
Don’t forget to warm up, cool down, and STRETCH!
Before you reach the rough terrains, it is important to warm up your muscles – such as by doing the easier slopes first. This allows you to gradually rev up your cardiovascular system, increases blood flow to your muscles and raises your body temperature. Cooling down and stretching at the end will allow your body to recover and reduce the chances of injury.
What if you do get injured?
Use the RICE formula – Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. If you find that your problem is not subsiding, seek medical attention. Having sports physiotherapy will speed up your recovery.
Please call Home Physio Group to see how Sports Physiotherapy can help you on 0330 335 1016.