Newsletter

Winter Sports and Injury Prevention

The winter season is upon us, and soon most of us are enjoying the snow sport we love best. We’d all like to stay healthy as we are flying down the mountain, jumping off cliffs, sliding down the rails, catching big air in the terrain park, gliding on the cross country trails, or snowshoeing in the woods. The trick to injury prevention, of course, is to have trained for that winter activity during the autumn months. But for most of us it is difficult to find the time to spend on our skies, boards or snowshoes, let alone do any dry-land training for it. Some of us are active on a daily basis, but many are “weekend warriors”. That is, we do the activity only a couple of times a week.

Here are a few tricks one can do to try to avoid injury this winter:

1.) A gentle warm up prior to activity:

This consists of 5 minutes of moderate (60-75%) intensity level of the activity that you are about to engage in. A technique called dynamic stretching has been shown to be an effective method of warming up. Essentially, dynamic stretching incorporates movements similar to the activity you are about to engage in. For example, to warm up for alpine skiing, gentle squats or sit to stand transfers from a chair may be sufficient warm up. For Nordic skiing, walking lunges or taking very large strides will warm up the appropriate muscle groups. Warm up should be followed by gentle stretching of hamstrings, quads, calf muscles, low back, and shoulders. Hold each stretch for 30 seconds making sure that you do not overstretch the muscle.

2.) Stay Within Your Abilities:

This is fairly self explanatory. Basically, don’t start out the season with something you’ve never tried before.… Inverting in the half pipe if you have never even tried the half pipe, skiing down the Bruce trail if you can’t ski black diamonds, speed skating if you just learned to skate, etc, etc. As the season progresses, you’ll be more capable of pushing your body toward new skills and abilities.

3.) Make Sure You Are Strong Enough To Do The Activity:

Hopefully, many of you already participated in some sort of strength and conditioning class, so you are well on your way to injury prevention. But if you haven’t, here are a few strengthening exercises you can do at home:

Squats: Stand in front of a chair with feet hip width apart and squat down, then return to a standing position. At first, you may need to rest on the chair briefly as you squat down before returning to standing. But as you grow stronger, the objective should be to lightly touch your hips to the chair, then stand. We recommend 10-15 repetitions, 2-3 times per week.

Lunges: Lunge forward with one foot creating a 90 degree angle at your hips and knees, then return to standing. Then lunge forward with the other foot. To make this more sports-specific for Nordic skiing, you can do Traveling Lunges, meaning you progressively step forward with each step versus returning to the same starting position. To make the exercise more difficult, you can hold hand weights. We recommend 8-10 repetitions, 2-3 times per week.

Single leg standing: One of the most neglected aspects of training is balance or “proprioception”. Balance is such a key component of your training program because it amplifies your body’s ability to tell your brain its position in space. Translation: once your muscles, tendons, or ligaments have reached their limit, you can quickly correct your position or compensate, thereby preventing an injury such as an ACL tear or ankle sprain. Therefore, single leg standing is a simple way to work on your balance at home. If single leg standing seems to simple, increase the difficulty by standing on a pillow and closing your eyes. Try to work up to 30 seconds without losing your balance and do this exercise 2-3 times per week.

Upper body strengthening: An easy way to address the upper body at home is with the use of soup cans for light resistance. For rotator cuff strengthening, lie on one side with the elbow of the upper arm bent to 90 degrees and rotate the hand up toward the ceiling. Repeat 10 times. For the muscles of the upper back and shoulder blades, lie face down on the floor or bed with the arm out to the side, making a “t” with your body. Lift the arms up off the floor toward the ceiling and repeat 10 times. Start this one without any weight, then add soup cans as you get stronger. For generalized arm and shoulder strengthening, lift the arms to shoulder height in front of your chest, then lower the arms and lift out to the side. Repeat 10 times. Upper body strength comes into play when using poles, carrying gear, and pushing yourself up off the ground after a spill and can be done 2-3 times per week.

Core: It’s impossible to read anything about fitness these days without seeing attention paid to the core muscles of the abdomen and back extensors…….and for good reason. The body’s core muscles are the foundation for all other movement. The muscles of the torso stabilize the spine and provide a solid foundation for movement in the extremities. The main concepts of core strengthening programs involve using many muscles in a coordinated movement by working the deep muscles of the entire torso at once. Abdominal bracing is a technique used during core training which refers to the contraction of the abdominal muscles by attempting to pull your navel back in toward your spine. Breathe evenly taking care not to hold your breath. Other exercises that are beneficial for the core are exercises on stability balls, work with medicine balls, Pilate’s exercise programs and yoga. For simple core strengthening you can begin with push-ups and crunches.

4.) Rest:

If you are tired, take a break. Sometimes 5-10 minutes of rest will allow your muscles enough recovery time to enable you to continue on. Stay in tune with your body when it comes to fatigue. A lot of skiers know that most injuries occur at the end of the day when muscles are fatigued. This common knowledge can apply to all winter sports.

Hopefully with the appropriate pre-activity preparation you can avoid injuries while participating in your favorite snow sports this winter. Proper warm-up and choosing a pace that suits you are key aspects in remaining injury-free.