With the snow falling and the wind howling on the other side of the window, there is no better place to have some quality, active leisure time than getting on a ski slopes. However, you would not want to do so if you have stiff muscles, particularly at the lower limbs.
Tight muscles can decrease the level of skiing performance as well as increase muscle strain possibility and have a negative impact on daily living. For example, tight IT band and quadriceps muscle can result in anterolateral knee pain, which is located at the front and outside of the knee. Moreover, tight hamstrings is one of the main causes in developing lower back pain because if shortened, it pulls on the hip increasing the lower back curvature which increases the work load that is placed on postural muscles such as multifidus and transverse abdominis. With time, the latter then shortens and becomes hypertonic resulting in reduced circulation, hence, poor blood supply and waste product removal which eventually causes discomfort and pain. In addition, regular glut stretching can prevent development of piriformis syndrome. Piriformis is a small muscle located underneath gluts coming from your tail bone to your thigh bone. It goes over the sciatic nerve so if tightened, it might irritate the nerve causing local pain or pain that migrates all the way down to the lower limb of the affected side. Below are few stretches you should perform to avoid any of the above.
Hip Flexors:
Start
Finish
Calves:
Start
Finish
Hamstrings:
Start
Finish
Lower Back:
Start
Finish
Gluts:
Start
Finish
Inner Groin:
Start
Finish
However, if you still feel niggles and aches there is no need to worry as Clinic4Sport has a number of ways how to fix you so you could hit the slopes as an Olympic athlete!!!
Also, here is the link for the Youtube video with the stretches above https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ1diAfAnuw
Enjoy!!!