Sports Chiropractor Vernon BC

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Skiing and ACL injuries part 3

Mark Murdoch

This is PART 3 of a three-part series about skiing and your ACL

Part 1: What is the ACL Sprain? Check it out here

Part 2: What to do if you think you injured your ACL? Check it out here


How can I prevent ACL injuries?

This is the golden question. Unfortunately, the answer is unclear.

Can you 100% guarantee you will not have an ACL injury if you do “these 3 exercises!”? No. Can you reduce your risk of an ACL tear? Probably.

The principles outlined below are no guarantee that you will stay injury-free, but they are what I recommend if you are worried about injuring your ACL.

1. Get Strong

Leg strength does not guarantee you won’t get injured, but it will help you power through tough terrain, maintain your form and technique throughout the day, and improve your chances of keeping your balance.

Pair it with core strength, and you have a better chance of handling anything the mountains have to throw at you.

Below is a basic strength program you can use to help strengthen your body for ski season.

2. Hit the technical stuff while you are fresh

Fatigue leads to decreased strength, worse technique, more mistakes, and worse balance. If you are trying to hit technical terrain and really pushing your limits, don’t wait until the end of the day when you are starting to get tired. When you ARE getting tired, stick to runs you are really confident in.

3. FOLLOW THESE TIPS

These tips put out by Vermont Ski Safety Equipment Inc and can be helpful for avoiding knee injuries. For the full article, check out: https://vermontskisafety.com/research/tips/

TIPS: 

Recognize Potentially Dangerous Positions

If you find yourself in this situation, it is important to take a second and correct your position before panicking and potentially putting yourself at risk:

  • Your uphill arm is back.

  • You find yourself ‘in the back seat’ (off-balance to the rear).

  • Hips are below your knees.

  • Your uphill ski is unweighted.

  • Most of your weight is on the tail of the inside edge of the downhill ski.

  • Upper body generally facing downhill ski.

If you do find yourself in this position, here is the solution:

  • Stick your arms out in front of you.

  • Bring your feet together.

  • Keep your hands over skis.

TRAINING FOR SKI SEASON

Before ski season, I like to focus on 3 things:

  • Single-Leg Strength/Control/Balance

  • Core Strength

  • Aerobic Base

Single-Leg Strength, Control, and Balance:

  • Train 2-4 times per week

  • Use a mix of moderate and heavy loads

  • Limit your reps and weight to your weaker side to limit the development of asymmetry

  • Make sure you still have a decent base of bilateral strength (traditional squats, deadlifts, etc.)

My favourite single-leg exercises for Skiing:

  • Single-Leg Deadlift

  • Hip Airplane

  • Hamstring Sliders/Single Leg Glute Bridge

  • Bulgarian Split Squats (aka Rear Foot Elevated Split Squats)

  • Single-Leg Bounding

  • Pistol Squats to a Box

  • Adductor Plank

Core Strength

  • Train 2-5 times per week

  • Emphasize movements that keep the core stable, while moving the limb

My favourite core exercises for Skiing:

  • Pallof Press (single leg if capable)

  • Side Plank

Aerobic Training

  • The goal is to increase your aerobic capacity so that it is not limiting you when you hit the slops

  • Train 3+ days per week, 30-45 minutes of moderate-intensity

  • Train 1-2 times per week of high intensity

  • The activity itself doesn’t matter too much. Choose one or a couple that you enjoy and rotate between them (e.g. running, rowing, cycling, hiking, etc.)

I put together a sample 4-week program for prepping for ski season you can use and adapt to your own training

See this form in the original post

TRAINING DURING SKI SEASON

During ski season we can still train and improve strength, but we don’t want to do anything that compromises our day on the hill. Your training regiment will be highly specific to your experience, injuries, skiing ability, and skiing frequency.

If you only ski occasionally (once or twice per month) then you can train as if you are leading up to ski season, but refrain from heavy training a couple of days before you plan to hit the slopes.



The goal DURING ski season is to maintain the strength you already have and stay sharp. If your training compromises your fitness on the mountain, then we have screwed up the program and forgotten what the goals are.

Generally, I recommend strength training 1-4 times per week, but limiting heavy lifting or really taxing training 1-2 days leading up to putting the skis on.

For cardio and aerobic fitness, this is a great time to increase your volume with low impact activities such as rowing or cycling.



My recommended schedule is:

3 days of strength training at moderate intensity. Focusing on general physical preparedness. Most of my sessions look like this:

  • 1-2 Upper Body Pushing Exercises (e.g. push up and military press)

  • 2-3 Upper Body Pulling Exercises (e.g. bent over row and pull-ups)

  • 1 Knee Dominant Exercise (e.g. lunges or goblet squats)

  • 1 Hip Dominant Exercise (e.g. Romanian Deadlift or Hip Thrust)

  • 1-3 core exercises (e.g. Pallof Press and side plan)

Author: Dr Mark Murdoch, Chiropractor and Co-Founder at Base Camp Sport and Spine in Vernon, BC.

Mark Murdoch is a Doctor of Chiropractic with a Master’s Degree in Sports Medicine.

www.BaseCampClinic.com

Contact: drmurdoch@basecampclinic.com

Instagram: Base.Camp.Doc



Disclaimer: This blog is intended for general informational purposes only and is not intended for the delivery of medical advice. No doctor/patient relationship is formed. The use of information on this blog or materials linked from this blog is at the user's own risk. The content of this blog and website is not intended to be a substitute for medical advice.