I remember one of my favorite mystical moments skiing in the winter wonderland of Mount Hood in Oregon, U.S. There was something exhilarating about gliding down what looked like a mound of ice cream. According to the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM), “winter sports participation is increasingly popular worldwide, with recent estimates of 9.8% of the U.S. population (~30 million people) participating in winter sports during the 2022-2023 season.” It’s clear that more people are hitting the snowy slopes, which has to be one of the more fun ways to get some exercise in.
An injury is one way to ruin that fun. The AOSSM notes that “most injuries occur later in the day” and “proper skiing and snowboarding instruction are critical to preventing injuries.” Instructors can “provide key insights into proper equipment fitting, warm-up and cool-down programs, safe skiing practices,” and more. The risk of injury is always there, but there are certainly ways to prepare, lower your risk, and make winter sports safer. To learn more about this, I caught up with Sailboat Lewis (DPT), a clinical physical therapist for FYZICAL Therapy and Balance Centers in Norwalk, CT, with years of experience and a special interest in winter sports.
Preparing to hit the slopes
Sailboat shares that “the level of preparation required before getting out on the slopes for snowboarding or skiing is definitely determined by what an athlete’s intentions are, their age range, and their overall athletic ability. For example, a snowboarder doing a freestyle or slopestyle routine may require a significantly different type of preparation than a skier who is going into a racing event. An adolescent skier/boarder may require different preparation than a more elderly skier or boarder.”
The importance of warming up
Sailboat emphasizes the importance of warming up. “As a general rule of thumb, I always recommend an active, dynamic warm-up to get the blood pumping and muscles warm. Recent studies over the last 10-20 years have demonstrated that dynamic warm-ups (completing activities that get the body moving and replicate movements of the sport that you will be participating in) tend to reduce the risk of injury while maintaining athletic performance and muscular output. Starting with an active warm-up of some jogging, fast walking, or even cycling/swimming, followed by some dynamic stretching, is a great way to get the body warmed up and primed for activity.”
Mental preparation and visualization
I recently covered a study on how mental visualization techniques helped competitive varsity hockey players boost performance on the rink. I know I believe in the power of the mind, and so does Sailboat.
“Mental preparation and visualization are also especially important components as the level of challenge increases,” Sailboat says. “The best athletes out there have been shown to have exceptional abilities to process what they are going to do before they do it. Make sure you stay within your level of capabilities and prepare yourself mentally before trying new things.”
Hydration and nutrition
Sailboat also emphasizes the value of hydration and nutrition.
“You don’t want to be the person who passes out on the slopes because you haven’t eaten in the last 24 hours! Making sure that you’re fueled up is a surefire way to ensure the best day on the slopes you can have. Nutritional demands vary from person to person and can depend highly on diet, but you don’t want to hit the slopes on an empty stomach or a stomach full of junk.
Hydration tends to be neglected in winter sports. Just because you might not get as warm due to the environment doesn’t mean that you’re not losing valuable liquids via sweat and cellular processes during your time on the slopes. Make sure to hydrate before, during, and after to help your body keep up with the demands placed on it and recover appropriately after.”
The science of helmets
Researchers have found that “the best evidence for the effectiveness of injury prevention countermeasures in recreational snow sports was for the use of helmets and wrist guards and to address low visibility issues via weather reports and signage.” I asked Sailboat’s thoughts on these findings.
“I’m a huge advocate of the use of helmets with recreational snow sports.” He shares. “Just because you’re participating in an activity on a soft surface doesn’t mean that you’ll land softly; the brain is effectively floating in the skull, and with an impact directly to the skull, the brain rattles around, banging into the skull. The impact suffered from a traumatic head injury can lead to devastating lifelong injuries and cognitive deficits, and in worst-case scenarios, death. Helmets are the number one way to prevent such an occurrence and reduce the damage the brain will incur during a fall.
Wrist guards are also a great way to reduce injury likelihood, especially in lower-level athletes who have a higher likelihood of falling. One of the major occurrences of wrist injuries is what’s known as a FOOSH injury — a fall on an outstretched hand. Wrist guards can help to reduce the likelihood of hyperextending the wrist during a fall. As far as addressing low visibility issues, I think this is something all mountains should be doing. Any area of a potentially dangerous slope should be marked as such to prevent athletes from going to a section of the mountain that could be above their skill level or may present unseen dangers. This would help ensure that all are able to enjoy themselves without getting in over their heads, both metaphorically and literally.”
Strengthening your core and key muscle groups
The same research points to strengthening the core, hamstrings, glutes, and quads as being critical to improving balance, coordination, and preventing falls. I asked Sailboat to share some of the exercises recommended to strengthen those key areas.
“When it comes to core, quad, hamstring, and glute balance, I tend to follow along the lines of the KISS method: keep it simple, stupid! Exercises that mimic functional activities such as squats, lunges, side lunges, deadlifts, hip hinges, bridges, and similar are some of my favorites. Of course, there’s a learning curve with such exercises, and I always recommend seeing a professional to learn how to best perform such drills effectively with good form. Your local physical therapist or personal trainer can help with this, especially as you want to load such exercises with weights.
A good place to start is working on body-weight squats, lunges, side lunges, and bridges, then progress to weighted activities as tolerated. I prefer larger, whole-body movements that target multiple muscle groups at once because they’re more likely to also improve stability, balance, and core strength. Isolated exercises such as leg extensions, hamstring curls, etc are great but aren’t going to build globally and are going to be better utilized as supplemental activity rather than a main focus. Start with bigger, global movements for the most bang for your buck and then narrow the focus to more specific movements that focus on individual muscle groups after, so you don’t burn out individual muscles before working on them in a big, multi-muscle-group exercise.”
Sailboat’s fitness journey
Fitness and winter sports have been a part of Sailboat’s life for as long as he can remember.
“The first real memory I have of winter sports goes back to when I was five years old. My father looked at my three-year-old brother and me and asked if we would prefer to play hockey or basketball, and we both enthusiastically responded with hockey! Less than a week later, we were enrolled in learn-to-skate programs and were on the ice two or three times a week, learning to skate. Since then, I’ve stayed involved in hockey in some capacity and have played in various forms of the sport for 30 years.
As I got older, I became interested in other winter sports as well. I started skiing at age 9, which I picked up very quickly, as I was able to learn the use of edges on skis immediately, with my hockey background. I got bored with that quickly and decided to pick up a snowboard, which proved to be a lot more challenging, especially since my first instructor forced me to ride goofy-foot when I actually ride regular. I gave it up for several years after such a bad experience.
When I decided to give it another try at age 12, I started to teach myself how to carve down the mountain and eventually got the hang of it without any formal instruction. I continued snowboarding throughout the years, although in recent memory, I haven’t had the opportunity to get out as much as I would like to.
I’ve always been interested in staying in shape, and I exercised informally as a kid. My more formal training originally started at a high level in order to prep myself for high school hockey, as I had aspirations of playing varsity as a freshman. I trained relentlessly and found it to be rather addictive, so I’ve never really given up on my fitness journey, even if how I work out has changed throughout the years.
Now, I train to make sure that my body remains at its highest level of functionality as I get older and things start to break down. I’ve had more injuries throughout my life than most people can fathom, and I know how much easier it is to bounce back when you start in good condition. Also, I want to be an absolute threat when it comes to being competitive with my son as he gets older; I refuse to let my age and condition limit me in my ability to keep up with him as he develops into a young boy and soon enough, a young man.
