Skiing is fun. It’s also very dangerous and easy to sustain injury while participating in the sport. Falls while ‘shredding the gnar’ are inevitable. Even the best skiers will fall sometimes. That’s why it is important that you are aware of the most common injuries and ways you may prevent them (or at least quickly recover). Here are the 3 most common ski injuries and how you may avoid them:
1. Knee tears and sprains
Torn or sprained an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) or medial collateral ligament (MCL), you’ve likely heard horror stories of knee-related ski injuries. Often, such injuries are fatigue or fitness-related and occur with turning, stopping, and falling. To help avoid ACL and MCL tears, strengthen backside muscles including glutes and hamstrings.
2. Lower leg strains and ruptures
Achilles ruptures, tibial fractures, and ankle injuries rank among common skier ailments. To avoid them, triple check your binding settings. Also, work to strengthen your foot, ankle, and anterior tibilais.
3. Upper extremity fractures
Skiers often instinctively stretch out their arms to break a fall, which puts shoulders, arms, and hands at risk of fracture and strains. Skier’s thumb, for example, results from falling on an outstretched arm with a pole-in-hand, which can cause a ligament tear. Tip: Drop your poles when you’re going down. Also, improving overall fitness, core strength, and safe falling skills can help avoid arm-breakers.
Believe it or not, there are proper ways to falls while skiing. Sound ridiculous? Maybe. But, learning this skill will really help to minimize the injuries listed above should you have a crash. For this tutorial (and to see some epic crashes at the same time), listen and watch this humurous professional 'faller' at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS0HCRMbRRA
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