To reduce your risk of injury it is important to make sure your bindings are properly mounted and maintained. Your ski is effectively a long lever arm and if your ski does not release properly it will put a tremendous amount of force through your knee. Therefore it is important to make sure your DIN is set properly, and to check that the release mechanism is working properly regularly. Keep in mind that due to gender differences in strength and morphology, the DIN on women’s bindings should be set at 15% below the recommended universal setting. So before you get out for your first turns of the season, check your equipment and get assistance from your local independent ski shop if necessary.
At Excel Physical Therapy winter is often our busiest time of year; and with good reason, many of us choose to live here for our winter pursuits of skiing and snowboarding. Unfortunately these sports have a high injury rate and can lead to serous injuries resulting in the need for surgery and extensive rehabilitation. While one cannot completely prevent injuries in skiing and snowboarding, your risk can be reduced by following injury prevention guidelines. This series of blogs will focus on injuries and their prevention for alpine skiing, snowboarding, and Nordic skiing.
See more Winter Injury Prevention: Alpine Skiing, Nordic Skiing & Snowboarding – Part 1
See more Strength and Injury Prevention in Alpine Skiing – Part 2
See more Technique and the Prevention of Alpine Ski Injuries – Part 4
Jason Lunden, DPT, SCS specializes in the rehabilitation and prevention of sports-related injuries, with a particular interest in the biomechanics of sporting activities – running, cycling, skiing, snowboarding and overhead athletics. He has published on the topic of shoulder biomechanics and the rehabilitation of knee injuries and has a strong commitment to educating others. Jason serves as a physical therapist for the US Snowboarding and US Freeskiing teams and is a frequent, well-received local and national presenter on the topics of sports rehabilitation and injury prevention.
