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Aches and pains

kiki

Angel Diva
Seems skiing brings aches and pains and I’m always trying to figure out what the current ache and pain is telling me about my skiing.

The calf issues i was having are getting better using the roller, though my achilles are feeling delicate—i guess it will take time to get used to my mew boots without heel lift

In the meanwhile, a new ache and pain has shown up—my hips!! I took two days of classes working on rounding my turns, edging (using my ankle rather than my knee to control it), and caving in my tummy a bit to have a rounder back. The skiing feels good but now my hips hurt after. Is that normal? I don’t recall my hips hurting last year....
 

mustski

Angel Diva
I get hip pain which is directly related to tight calves. I don't know why. I only know that if I stretch my calves really well, it takes care of a lot of my foot and hip pain. I also do piriformus stretches. I learned to be a lot more careful with the pigeon pose (yoga) which opens up the hips. I overstretched without feeling it happen and injured my IT Band.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
n the meanwhile, a new ache and pain has shown up—my hips!! I took two days of classes working on rounding my turns, edging (using my ankle rather than my knee to control it), and caving in my tummy a bit to have a rounder back. The skiing feels good but now my hips hurt after. Is that normal? I don’t recall my hips hurting last year....
Don't know if this is related to your situation or not . . .

I've been working on my weak side for a few years. Really started dealing with it last season. Had a semi-private lesson with the PSIA Examiner who works at my home hill last season. Followed up with a private lesson in early January. We spent the entire time on easy terrain (really easy) until I felt the correct placement of my hip/leg under me when turning that way. Kept working on it this past week at Taos. When I asked towards the end of the week, my instructor for the Taos Ski Week said he wasn't noticing a different between the two directions. That was nice to hear! But there are muscles in that hip that are clearly more sore than has ever happened before.

For sure, having learned the correct motion my turns on bumps of all sizes are much easier than last season.
 

Skisailor

Angel Diva
Could it be from "caving in your tummy"?

I know instructors like a rounder back, but if you just aren't built that way, and it takes muscular input to hold that "pose", it means you're tensing muscles that you don't normally tense.

I think we need to be generally relaxed while skiing. Whether that produces a rounder back has more to do with anatomy, IMO, than technique.

In powder and crud I use a "functional tension" - I'm not actually tense, but I'm ABOUT to be tense. Not sure if that makes sense. The rest of the time, my muscles feel very relaxed. I could imagine that tensing muscles that affect your posture, your abdomen and your lower back might make your hips sore.

But I'm sure there are other possibilities too.
 

racetiger

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I like to think of it as "tucking in my tailbone" then the back doesn't get too round but yet my butt doesn't stick out. If I dont on a heavy ski day i get a spot of hip pain on my left side.
 

Skisailor

Angel Diva
Tucking the tailbone is often a very counter productive move in skiing which reduces our ability to turn our legs. In the video Ursula made for the Divas a couple of years ago she does a great visual so you can really see how and why it is typically a bad idea to tuck the pelvis.

If we flex our ankles knees and hips appropriately our butts will not be sticking out. Seems like only women worry about this!!
 

Little Lightning

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
After several years of a wonky SI Joint that would go out of alignment I would get hip and low back pain after skiing or bicycling. Physical Therapist said the joint was aligned but it was the very strong muscles around it that were causing my pain.
The pain went away after I started working with a personal trainer and strengthening my core and glutes. That said, I get biweekly massages and I have alot of trigger points in that hip. Not sure why, I don't notice it until the massage. However, in my workout yesterday I pulled/pushed a 185 lb sled and this morning I'm getting complaints from that hip.
 

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