INTRODUCTION: The carving turn is the basic move of the modern alpine skiing technique. It can be identified by the skier's open position, which allows effective use of the knee joints. The more weight a skier transfers to one or both skis, the better he/she grips during the turn. The purpose of this study was to determine the force level and area of the centre of pressure under the feet during carved turn among male alpine skiers. METHODS: Three male Finnish national alpine team skiers were subjects in this study. They made four runs on a symmetrical steep course with ten turns. The ground reaction forces (GRF) in the ski boots were measured by Paromed insoles, embedded with 24 pressure sensors in each, at a frequency of 200 Hz. All runs were Video recorded. Five clean carved turns to the right and left from each subject were chosen for analysis according to the Video recording and foot pressure curves. In this study, the rise of outer foot force curve was the starting point, and the descent back to the baseline the end point of the turn. Each sensor's signal was filtered by five points moving average. GRF and centre of pressures (CofP) were calculated from the pressure distribution data. RESULTS & DISCUSSION: Carved turn times, GRF and CofP values are shown in Table 1. Although the timing parameters of the turns were the same, there were some differences in the GRF and CofP movement areas between the subjects. The measured GRF values were in line with the other studies [1,2,3]. Compared to the skidded turn [3], the CofP travels in a much smaller area in the carved turn (fig 1). CONCLUSION: During the carved turn, a skier had to produce both high brief maximal and long lasting adequate force level. The CofP travels under the metatarsal 2-4 bones. In this way, the skier controls the skis' bending and contact with the snow, along the whole length of the ski edge.
© Copyright 2007 4th International Congress on Science and Skiing. Veröffentlicht von University of Salzburg. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.