The prevention of skiing injuries is now possible with the development of biomechanics.

The most common skiing injuries are bumps and bruises; however, professional skiing can also result in several other typical skiing injuries affecting the knee, shoulder, and hand.

The causes of skiing injuries can be varied:

• Lack of physical preparation. Skiing is a sport that requires good physical fitness to combine endurance, flexibility, and strength.
• Clothing or incorrect equipment. Boots must adapt anatomically to the foot, and once done up, they must allow the toes to move and hold the foot and heal properly. The bindings must be adjusted according to the weight and level of the skier.
• Poor snow quality. It is important to have suitable ski or snowboard edges that allow them to withstand use in adverse conditions.
• Tiredness. Tiredness and loss of snow quality can contribute to an increase in the number of injuries and their severity.

Prevention of skier injuries

The Podoactiva Andorra centre has managed to improve the prevention of skiing injuries by perfecting its study. Podoactiva Andorra’s new biomechanical study now features an innovative system that combines the cameras of Younext 4D Motion Capture and the Podoactiva Ski simulator.

This system developed by Podoactiva allows three-dimensional in-motion reconstructions without placing any markers on the patient.

The 4D cameras allow more precise articular kinematics. The specialist can assess the range of motion of the knees and hips in each phase of lateral displacement, thus detecting joint asymmetry. This technology, patented worldwide by Podoactiva, designs an avatar of the patient’s skeleton to visualise the range of motion of the skier.

With this simulator, a postural re-education of the body can be carried out. The avatar detects how, when, and where the athlete does or does not flex, allowing the ranges of motion of the limbs to be improved and decreasing potential skiing impacts.

This technology consists of “instrumentalized” insoles that provide information on the exact area and strength of the skier’s footprint. The purpose of this technology is to quantify the load born by each area of the patient’s feet and thus restore a correct skiing stance. Through our study, we can obtain accurate data to create custom-made Podoactiva Ski insoles.