Well developed proprioceptive abilities may be the essential aspects of injury prevention and rehabilitation in many sports including alpine skiing. In our study we hypothesized that balance may be the factor that influences performance in skiers and the aim was to determine which of the three laboratory balance tests correlated the most with situational "on the snow" balance ability of the skiers. The study design encompassed 3 simple laboratory balance tests (lateral and front-back tilts tests on the balance board, and hanging board balance test ) and 2 "on the snow" tests (inner ski jump test and one leg carving test) that required advanced skiing skills. The subjects were 27 candidates for a national alpine skiing instructor. Multiple regression analysis singled out the lateral tilts balance as an important prediction factor for balance abilities on the skies. The subjects that performed well on lateral tilts board test got on average 3,3±1,2 points on inner ski jump test while the others who had poor lateral tilts board performance got only 2,2±0,9 average points on the same ski test (p=0.018).
© Copyright 2008 Abstractbook. The First International Low Lands Congress on Science and Skiing, Brussels, October 11th. Veröffentlicht von Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.