Eco delle Dolomiti 6 Akja

The winter sport par excellence, skiing attracts an ever-growing number of followers and practitioners of all ages and backgrounds. For several decades, in fact, you can find on the pistes, beyond ‘traditional’ skiers, many snowboarders and alpine skiers who use the most advanced technology to improve their performance and make their descent more exciting.

Dr Andrea Parma, a specialist in back surgery at the USC (Unità Strutturale Complessa – Complex Structural Unit) for Orthopaedics and Traumatology of the United Hospitals of Bergamo, has always been a lover of skiing, and since 1999 has been associated with FISPS-AKJA, Lombardy Section (A voluntary association operating in the field of safety on the pistes), where he carries out some studies and offers some advice on having fun in safety.

Sci carving

“Fitted skis, often called carved skis, have now replaced ‘traditional’ skis, which has completely changed the technique of skiing. Traditional skis demanded stretching and flexing to take curves, , whereas ‘carved’ skis, wider at the front and back and narrower in the middle, require a continuous shifting weight from one foot to the other, with a resulting change of the centre of gravity to effect a curve and a change of direction. In this way the skis carry out a curve naturally, and it is as if they turn ‘by themselves’.
“Those who have learned to ski with the old method need both technical and physical preparation to pass to carved skis: the new skis are shorter and make downhill runs easier; but they are also heavier and faster. Consequently, if the skier is not sufficiently expert and/or well-prepared, the risk is that he or she will not control the radius of curvature with carved skis, and will let the skis control the movements of the skier rather than vice versa. The probability of a sprain injury thus increases, because the joints are exposed to a greater risk of twisting.”

Talking of snowboards…

Snowboarding is still considered as a new entry: a sport with access limited almost exclusively to the young, and which for the collective imagination has rather taken on the image of a sport for daredevils, because it is often practised by young people, off-piste.
The board requires a serious commitment, considerable ability and a good sense of balance, especially in handling the numerous and often damaging falls on the snow, but in themselves snowboards are no more or less dangerous than skis. It is simply that snowboarders and skiers do not suffer the same types of accidents. For example, snowboarders run considerably fewer risks for the lower limbs: the clips are parallel and twisting of the knee is very rare. But fractures in the upper body are much more common, especially in the bones of the forearms (radius and ulna) and the hands because they brace themselves on these when they fall. They may also suffer damage to the neck and the lower part of the back.

Some valuable recommendations for having fun in safety

“You can never have enough prudence and good sense: this is a simple idea but one that needs to be taken seriously. Even expert skiers sometimes forget it and, sure of their own abilities, take more risks than people putting on their skis for the first time.
On the other hand, it is occasional skiers – the famous Sunday skiers – who use advanced equipment without sufficient basic preparation: and it is fundamental to be able to choose the most appropriate equipment for your real capacity.
Training is another key word: someone who practises a sport regularly has a smaller probability of hurting himself, thanks to adequate muscular preparation. This is why men tend to react better to a potential accident than women or children under 15, who in general have less developed muscle masses. In this connection, pre-ski exercise and preparation in the gym are very useful.
Technique is a powerful ally too. It would be a good idea to take skiing and snowboard lessons and prepare the body to carry out the co-ordinated movements required by the specific sporting activity in question.
Finally, don’t forget that it is very important to wear a helmet, and not just for those under 14 (for whom helmets are required by law): it has been demonstrated that if everybody wore them, skull injuries from accidental falls or collisions would be reduced by a good fifty per cent!
Skiing is one of the most enjoyable and least dangerous winter sports (as the statistics show). The new equipment should not be demonised just because it makes you go faster; it makes the sport more exciting too. The trick, rather, is to know how to control it, and how to use your head!”