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Help Needed: Minor knee injury/lack of pain?

Powgirl

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
We do our stretches at our ski condo...but, you could do some stretching at your house, before you hit the road...

We actually do our little yoga routine almost daily....I think it has a very cumulative effect.

Also, I incorporate some daily core strengthening, too...it helps me ski better, with less fatigue.

How's the knee today?
 

bounceswoosh

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I think the closer you can get the warm-up to the actual skiing, the better - so the lodge makes sense. I have to admit that I never actually end up doing a warmup before skiing. Maybe I should, but I don't want to start sweating in all that gear, and I also figure the lift ride will freeze up all my muscles, anyway.
 

skibetty

Certified Ski Diva
I always think about the stretching that I should do while I'm on the lift! :nono: I should know better....
I must improve on that this year!!
 

newboots

Angel Diva
@Powgirl - Knee is startlingly better! It feels like a pulled hamstring, not like something weird inside.

I had been doing (and working with my PT so I would do them right) ACL strengthening exercises. I mean, exercises that strengthen the muscles that support the ACL, and all those other CLs. (I once tore my lateral collateral ligament. Why does ACL get all the attention?) j/k

I drive over an hour to the mountain, so I'm thinking maybe the lodge. It was races day Saturday at Berkshire East, and the place was packed like sardines! The mountain was quiet and uncrowded as usual. Amazing. So lucky to live near this mountain!
 

newboots

Angel Diva
@bounceswoosh @skibetty

Maybe we should start a trend of some stretching and some sort of warmup at the top. At my advanced age, warmup and stretching should be mandatory.

I actually exercise in the car, because sometimes my job requires some fairly long drives. I contract my glutes for bounces, do isometrics with my hands on the steering wheel, and my favorite: with the car on cruise control, I plant my feet and do slow, large pelvic tilts for core strengthening. It's not much of a workout, but it's better than sitting still for an hour. The glutes thing could be done on the lift!
 

bounceswoosh

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
@newboots- I just remembered something I wanted to share. There's a new-ish line of thought that passive stretching increases the risk of damage to the muscle, so it should not be done just before exercise. Instead, you want warm up exercises that, well, increase blood flow to the muscles and get them ready. Stretching is for after, or at a totally different time.
 

Jilly

Moderator
Staff member
How about first run a green. You warm up the muscle that way. Been doing that for 20 years.....First run of the day is Petit Bonheur. Abet...right to the bottom. On that run you should bounce around, fined your centre, loosen the joints, maybe even through in a little hop to find that centre after a turn. Works great.

Stretch AFTER your day or Hot tub!
 

bounceswoosh

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I usually do a mellow run before the harder stuff, if only to remind me of how to ski ;-) Unless it's a powder day. That's when minutes - sometimes seconds - do actually matter, so I don't really get to do that.

I don't enjoy starting the day on a bump run, which for some reason has happened now and then. I feel like it sets me up for an off day. But then again, my instructors tell me not to construct stories like that. Just remember the good turns/runs/days and forget the bad.
 

newboots

Angel Diva
How about first run a green. You warm up the muscle that way.

...

Stretch AFTER your day or Hot tub!

Yes, good plan! Sadly, for me to take an easier run before skiing I would have to use the Magic Carpet . . . but point taken! I expect I'll be doing this with the easiest green once I graduate to harder greens and some day, blues!
 

bounceswoosh

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Yes, good plan! Sadly, for me to take an easier run before skiing I would have to use the Magic Carpet . . . but point taken! I expect I'll be doing this with the easiest green once I graduate to harder greens and some day, blues!

Even if you can't realistically ski anything easy for you the first run, you can still focus on technique? You took a lesson, right? Is there a drill that would get you moving and also get you into the right mindset while reminding your body of how to ski well?
 

Little Lightning

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
My ski day starts with warm ups in the condo. 1st I foam roll, (calves, hamstrings, quads, glutes, IT band and back muscles). Sometimes I crawl to help warm up all muscles. In years past I've used physical therapy exercises as part of my warm ups, otherwise I wouldn't do them after skiing.

This year I'm following the warm ups that I do with my personal trainer-foam rolling, deep breathing, cook hip lifts (these help building strength in my lazy left hip), 1 arm planks, push downs (instead of pushups I start at the top and go down), step ups on a box, single leg dead lifts, fit ball extensions and lateral lunges.

If we have a longer drive to the slopes I take my roller stick and a small ball to roll and warm up the muscles. I also try to warm up on a green run but often I'm outvoted.
 

newboots

Angel Diva
Even if you can't realistically ski anything easy for you the first run, you can still focus on technique? You took a lesson, right? Is there a drill that would get you moving and also get you into the right mindset while reminding your body of how to ski well?

Fortunately, the trail I'm using now starts out very easy, and gets more challenging as you go down. Just before it gets steep, there's a section of flat so most people generally have to skate for a bit. It's about 2 miles total, I think. There is a quick bunny hill one could try first, but it's a long skate from the lodge. I suppose that would warm me up!
 

newboots

Angel Diva
My ski day starts with warm ups in the condo. 1st I foam roll, (calves, hamstrings, quads, glutes, IT band and back muscles).

Where did you learn how to use the foam roller? I have heard it is wonderful for preventing muscle soreness after vigorous exercise.
 

bounceswoosh

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Where did you learn how to use the foam roller? I have heard it is wonderful for preventing muscle soreness after vigorous exercise.

This is going to sound a little glib, but - lie on your side with the foam roller under your body, somewhere around the side of your quads up to your butt. If it feels tingly or spiky or sharp, stay there. Make little micro-movements to roll that part of the body against the foam. If it feels just fine, slowly roll around on the roller until you find a spot that feels tingly, spikey, or sharp. You will find something. It probably won't give you relief that time - I never really thought foam rollers worked until I was told to use one twice a day a couple of months after surgery. I'd apparently never stuck with it long enough to have it work.
 

altagirl

Moderator
Staff member
My first torn ACL experience involved zero pain, skiing down the mountain uneventfully, but significant swelling the next day. No pain then either, just discomfort from the swelling.

My second one (other knee) had zero pain when it tore, but I fell a second time when I tried to continue and that hurt a lot. But only briefly.

The issue going forward was with the instability one the swelling finally subsided.
 

Little Lightning

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Where did you learn how to use the foam roller? I have heard it is wonderful for preventing muscle soreness after vigorous exercise.
Not sure I should tell you this but I started using foam rollers when my quad was tight after my ACL surgery. My PT introduced it to me. Rolling helped to relax the quad so I could do my exercises. That was 11 years ago and they've been a godsend for times when my muscles are really sore. I also think they are the reason I don't feel especially sore after skiing. However, it's amazing all the tender spots you don't realize you have until you use one.
Foam rollers don't take the place of a good massage, cupping or dry needling. There are times you need the expert touch.

Here's a good source to get you started, https://breakingmuscle.com/learn/what-is-a-foam-roller-how-do-i-use-it-and-why-does-it-hurt
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Fortunately, the trail I'm using now starts out very easy, and gets more challenging as you go down. Just before it gets steep, there's a section of flat so most people generally have to skate for a bit. It's about 2 miles total, I think. There is a quick bunny hill one could try first, but it's a long skate from the lodge. I suppose that would warm me up!
I learned long ago at a boarding school with a rope tow. The requirement to start a ski session was to hike up the main hill before you were allowed to use the tow. Could hike carrying skis or side step or herringbone. Obviously it served to warm up the kids!

Where did you learn how to use the foam roller? I have heard it is wonderful for preventing muscle soreness after vigorous exercise.

I collected a few ideas for stretching and foam rolling.

https://over50skifitness.blogspot.com/search/label/stretch
 

bounceswoosh

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
The issue going forward was with the instability one the swelling finally subsided.

I never noticed that .. erm ... I guess my swelling never fully subsided until well after the surgery! It went down enough that the doc was okay with operating. But I never noticed instability. I also wasn't doing anything more exciting than hobbling down stairs one at a time. I did notice a difficulty with my quads, but I think that was just eccentric motion being limited by the swelling.
 

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