A little preparatory training, proper nutrition and a helmet always on the head on the slopes. These are the basic advice of pediatricians for young skiers to help them practice snow sports safely.
“ Skiing must be a game, a fun, it is therefore important that the instructor knows the characteristics of each student. In the event of an accident, pending help, it is essential not to touch the injured person in any way, “explained Armando Calzolari, head of cardio-respiratory medicine and sport at the Bambino Gesù children’s hospital in Rome.
the sportsand the mountains, explains the specialist, are also good for allergic children: “whatever their pathological manifestation, when the symptomatology is well controlled by the therapeutic program, they can play games on the snow and sport”.
Regular exercise and keeping fit is also essential for children with kidney disease who can thus enjoy their holiday without worry.
One hour on the slopes equals the average consumption of 300 calories: good news for overweight children .
In short, the ‘debut’ on the ski slopes cannot be improvised and this is not only true in the case of the little ones. “Who goes skiing without a minimum of trainingfaces a high percentage of injury possibilities. Two skiers out of three fall from their skis and risk being injured because they are not trained “, warns Sandro Rossetti, head of the Orthopedics and Traumatology department of the San Camillo hospital in Rome.
“ Sprain is the most common injury among ski-goers – explains the expert – while the parts of the body most affected by this type of injury are the knees. In skiing, due to a fall, the most affected are the lower limbs (52% of cases), less the upper limbs (16.3% of cases). And there is a distortion more women (42.1%) than men (23.7) “.
“Skiing – explains the expert – must be tackled with adequate muscle preparation. When skiing, in fact, you are with the ankle locked inside the boot, consequently the joint that becomes the pivot of rotation is our knee. We must protect it from the rotating injuries that are frequent in this sport. The best protection is certainly the one offered by toned and training muscles “. That’s why proper muscle preparation is important.
“We must work in particular on the quadriceps and the biceps femoris, to give joint stability to our knee – explains the orthopedist – The other joint to be protected is the shoulder, because traumatic dislocation is frequent in trauma from a ski fall”.
The specialist therefore recommends that you “dedicate at least an hour for a couple of weeks, before leaving, or to the gym or swimming, with the help of a good athletic trainer who can show us the best exercises to strengthen and protect the knee and shoulder “.
When it is not possible to go to the gym or swimming pool “we all have the opportunity to prepare at home, with flexion-extension exercises in the lower limbs.
“It is necessary to lie on a carpet, pull the tip of the foot towards our nose keeping it at 90 degrees with respect to the leg, contract the thigh muscle to the maximum, lift the limb from the ground up to 45 degrees with respect to the floor, count up to 10 keeping the maximum contraction and bring it back to the ground. Repeat this exercise until the thigh appears painful. This banal exercise repeated twice a day will allow us in two weeks to face the white week in safe conditions “.
