Overall, this talk aims to (1) provide an overview of what is known about back overuse injuries in alpine ski racing, and (2) add (new) data/perspectives on how to prevent them. The back is one of the most vulnerable body parts for overuse injuries, particularly in the sport of alpine ski racing.[1] As early as adolescence, competitive skiers have a significantly higher rate of anterior endplate lesions than agematched controls.[2] These types of spine deteriorations are known to increase the risk of developing low back pain at follow-up.[3] Specifically, the strongly forward/sideward bent and twisted postures of the spine while skiing are considered a major cause of back overuse injuries.[4] Combined with loads of up to 2.9 times body weight, these postures might lead to adversely high spinal torques.[4] Therefore, prevention measures should aim to control/reduce the magnitude of frontal bending, lateral bending and torsion in the trunk, while avoiding an immoderate exposure to high peak loads during skiing.[4] By means of three biomechanical field experiments, we investigated the effects of different equipment and course setting interventions on the aforementioned back loading relevant variables. Briefly stated, in both giant slalom and slalom, decreased standing height due to the ski-plate-binding-boot unit can indirectly be associated with decreased overall back loading (unpublished data), while increased gate offset might primarily help to avoid adverse back loading patterns in slalom.[5] Alterations in sidecut had no effect on back loading relevant variables.[4] However, whether the investigated measures are effective to prevent back overuse injuries in alpine ski racing remains to be verified by epidemiological studies. ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR
© Copyright 2016 21st Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science (ECSS), Vienna, 6. -9. July 2016. Veröffentlicht von University of Vienna. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.