Injuries and pain can happen with any sport. Skiing is known for knee pain and injuries. There is a way to combat knee pain and do as much as possible to reduce risk of injuries to the knee (ACL tears are most common). There are 3 areas to address:
Pre-Season Strength and Conditioning
There are 4 foundations that are most important when it comes to pre-season preparation:
Stability -
Most workouts focus on the big muscles like the quads and glutes. Stability training goes after the smaller stabilizing muscles around your hips, low back, and feet that help keep your joints controlled. Stability of your joints, your mobility, and your ability to hand load is the foundation of your body.
Think of it like a house: If the foundation of the house has cracks in it will limit the amount of house it can handle, but if you fill in those cracks it can handle more!
Exercise examples: clamshells, penguin walks
Strength -
Strength is what allows you to tolerate a low, athletic stance run after run, absorb bumps and choppy snow rather than getting bounced around and losing control. Strength improves the control you need to stop or turn quickly.
This will also help your knees, hips, and back handle the load of a full day on the mountain; thus, lowering your risk for injury.
Exercises: tricep extensions, squats, planks
For knee specific; we want to ensure that we have good hip strength as this will improve our control over the knees.
Endurance -
Endurance is what takes most of us out before lunch time. There is very little rest during the runs with a high demand of maintaining position, turning, etc.
The body has 2 types of muscle fibers: slow twitch and fast twitch. Fast twitch are the fun ones to train and use, but they tire very fast. Endurance training trains the slow twitch fibers that are built for long and steady efforts like skiing and snowboarding. These are the muscles we want to train if we want to last beyond lunch time.
Power -
Power is the strength you can produce quickly needed when reacting to an icy patch, catching your balance after a wobble, landing a jump, or reacting to being cut off by another person (IYKYK). Power is trained with plyometrics and speed work. This is the fourth foundation as it works best when strength and stability foundations are in place!
Start Conditioning Early: You cannot easily ski yourself into shape; begin a routine several weeks before your trip. I co-wrote a Powder Prep guide for you here 👀
Gear Setup and Bindings
Check Your Bindings (DIN Settings): Have a professional adjust your release bindings (DIN settings) based on your height, weight, boot sole length, and skiing ability so your boots pop out during a twist rather than torque your knee.
Get Properly Fitted Boots: Loose or ill-fitting boots force your legs to overcompensate to maintain control.
This is obviously not my area of expertise, but this is where the experts are really helpful. They love questions!
On-Snow Technique and Pacing
Warm Up Dynamically: Spend 10 to 15 minutes doing leg swings, walking lunges, and light movement before hitting the lifts. (I know that taking time to warm up when also wearing many layers doesn’t sound fun, but I promise your “warm up run” will feel a lot better)
Maintain Athletic Posture: Keep your knees and ankles softly flexed, your weight centered over the middle of your skis, and your hands forward. Avoid sitting back in the "driver's seat."
Take Breaks Before Fatigued: Most injuries happen on the last run of the day when leg muscles are tired. The lore of never calling last run is for this exact reason. Rest frequently and stop for the day if you feel joint pain or swelling.
Take a Lesson: Working with an instructor helps correct poor movement habits and teaches you safe falling techniques. Well worth the investment!
Just as a reminder, we can do all the prep in the world and we can even be the most skilled skier on the mountain. Unfortunately, this does not exempt us from having an accident or catching an edge that tweaks the knee. That being said, ABSOLUTELY do preparation for the season, but please do not think that this makes you invincible!
