It’s important
to
stay fit all season
By DICK
DORWORTH
Express Staff Writer
There are
two overriding reasons for skiers of all kinds to maintain a high level of
physical fitness: safety and performance. The fit skier has less chance of
injury, the fit skier performs better while having more fun. Being injured
is not fun.
Every year
in the United States there are more than 500,000 ski injuries. Last year
33 skiers and six snow boarders died, and there were 45
"serious" injuries, which means they were life threatening
and/or resulted in permanent disability (paraplegic, quadriplegic, severe
head injury). The total cost from ski injuries last year, including
medical, legal, liability and work loss expenses, was $5.7 billion.
The good
news is that over the last few decades injuries from skiing have dropped
from 7.5 per 1,000 skier days to 3.0 per 1,000 skier days. Also, the once
feared broken lower leg injury has declined more than 95 percent since the
early 1970s.
The bad
news is that knee injuries continue to account for between 20 to 35
percent of all ski injuries. The chance of a skier suffering anterior
cruciate ligament injury is about the same as that of a college football
player. (The ACL is the ligament that crosses the knee at a diagonal angle
underneath the kneecap.) The University of Vermont Department of
Orthopedics says that injury rate is about 365 times greater than that of
the general public.
The
negotiable news is that every skier can significantly reduce his or her
risk of injury by nothing more complex than being fit. Skiing is a risky
endeavor, so injuries can never be eliminated completely, but being fit
gives the skier better odds.
There are
two overriding realities about physical fitness for skiers that are often
ignored or not known by the general public: one cannot ski oneself into
shape, and skiing alone will not maintain a safe level of fitness. There
are no studies that this writer can find showing the relationship between
physical fitness and the incidence of skiing injury; but common sense,
experienced subjective judgment, as well as the judgment of professionals
who deal with the aftermath of skiing injury agree that the fit skier is a
smart skier.
One of
those professionals, Colleen Coyne, P.T., of Sun Valley Sports
Rehabilitation Clinic in Ketchum, says, "We see that early season ski
injuries tend to be different than those from later in the season. Early
season injuries are often in the lower back and knees, caused by poor
fitness and spending too many hours skiing too soon. Later in the season,
injuries are more the result of aggression, that is, more stress and
strain injuries."
Most ski
injuries occur later in the day, an indication that fatigue is a factor.
When asked what time of day most ski accidents happen, one waggish Sun
Valley ski patrolman replied, "two-thirty-two p.m." Fatigue and
lack of fitness are, of course, as closely related as, say, a binding and
a ski.
A
contributing factor to injuries occurring later in the season is that too
many skiers who begin the season with a good level of fitness from a
regular exercise program quit working out as soon as skiing begins. After
a couple of months of only skiing for exercise, they are no longer as fit
as they should be for safe or high performance skiing.
Coyne also
said the clinic is seeing an increase of knee injuries due to the use of
shape skis which, she says, "…create more force and lots of torque
on the knee." Lifters under modern bindings also create more torque
on the knee. She recommends an exercise program emphasizing strength,
endurance and flexibility.
According
to Coyne, the most effective course of skiing fitness is a year round
regimen of fitness rather than a special skiing fitness crash course in
the fall. This is especially true for what she calls "aging
athletes," a description that fits a significant number of Sun Valley
skiers. "The basics don’t change," she says. "Skiers need
cardio, flexibility, muscle training, and there are many ways to get it.
You don’t have to go to a gym or pump iron to stay fit. Push ups, sit
ups, dips, running, hiking, walking and stretching are things you can do
on your own. Gyms are great and provide more options but you don’t
absolutely need one to stay in great shape."
Enjoying
what one does to keep fit is more important than the particular regimen.
"If
someone doesn’t like what they do, they’ll go nowhere with it. People
underestimate the simple benefits of hiking and walking and they
completely underestimate the value of daily stretching," Coyne says.
She emphasizes, again, that the value of stretching is especially
important for the aging athlete.
"Core
strength" is the current buzz word(s) in the physical
fitness/rehabilitation industry, according to Coyne. If a body’s core
strength is weak, even if the rest of the body is fit, it is at risk. In
layman’s terms, this means that the abdomen and the back need to be
strong. Coyne defined it as "trunk strength, full spinal strength,
how stable and efficient the body is between the shoulders and the
hips." Being fit for skiing is not just a matter of having strong
legs, and core strength is emphasized by all modern ski coaches and
trainers.
All of the
above is just as true for Nordic skiing as for lift serviced alpine
skiing, Coyne says. She deals with many clients who have strained,
sprained or somehow injured their bodies while Nordic skiing. While the
type of injury from Nordic skiing tends to be different than the typical
alpine skiing injury, including shoulder and lower extremity injuries,
many of them could be prevented, avoided or alleviated by a fitness
regimen before and during the ski season.
She
recommends that Nordic skate skiers pay more attention to proper body
position while skiing, not putting undue strain on muscles and joints from
improper alignment and insufficient training. Coyne estimates that about
80 percent of skate skiers only use the one dominant side of their body
instead of switching sides regularly. This results in repetitive injuries
that are completely avoidable.
The
importance of being fit for skiing is that it is safer and more fun. The
unfit skier is akin to the person who drives automobiles at high speeds on
bald tires, except that a new set of tires costs money and a fitness
program does not. All it takes is a bit of time and a bit of effort to be
a lot safer and to have a great deal more fun.