Get your ski legs on
How’d that preseason training go for you? Are you feeling it after a good day on the hill? Albeit this is early season and your ski legs might not be here yet, you will benefit from some of these tips to keep agile throughout the season & even own the last run of the day.
Nutrition. Whether you are a casual skier/boarder or take it to the extreme, consider upping your nutrition game. A whole foods plant based diet can maximize your energy, prevent muscle fatigue and improve your performance on the hill. One of my favourite resources for performance-based nutrition is from Brendan Brazier, the founder of Vega.
Take a lesson. How better to prevent an injury than getting instruction. Brushing up on your technique, dropping those bad habits, will reduce your risk of injury. Even watching ski movies that show those epic bails can reduce your risk of those same injuries as seen in a study that saw a 62% decline in knee sprains among patrollers and instructors that had watched videos scenes where knee injuries had occurred.
Après ski. Keeping up with good après ski ritual is swapping stories of that sick line that you rode over a nice cold one & yummy appies. Yet before your muscles have had much time to harden, be sure to get in that hot tub that’s calling your name.
Magnesium. A muscle’s best friend. Muscles that easily fatigue or cramp can be corrected by supplementing with magnesium. Too many of us are deficient in magnesium. Not that you want to hear it, but a nice cold beer increases excretion of magnesium. So counterbalance this with a veggie packed smoothie, loading your ski snack with nuts and seeds, or taking a Magnesium supplement après ski. Your muscles will thank you.
Prolotherapy & PRP. Regenerative injection techniques are an option for some to quicken healing time and get back on the hill faster. Prolotherapy & PRP are both nonsurgical treatments. Prolotherapy is the use of a sugar solution injected directly into the injured site, creating a local inflammatory response to encourage growth of new ligament or tendon fibers. Whereas PRP is the injection of your own blood plasma in and around the painful injured ligament, tendon or joint. Your plasma is rich in platelets, which stimulate repair and regeneration when injected into the injured area. PRP allows for faster healing and can be used for acute or chronic injuries. You can consult with Dr. O’Neill to see if these regenerative injection techniques will help you saw goodbye to pain and put your injury behind you.