Gearing Up for Ski Season 🎿

With the snow season now in full swing, a lot of our Melbourne clients are packing up the car for Buller, Hotham, or Falls Creek most weekends. It's one of the best parts of winter — but it's also one of the more common causes of injury we see walk through our door in July and August.

The thing about skiing and snowboarding is that most people spend 50 weeks of the year not doing anything resembling the movement patterns involved, then throw themselves into a full day (or weekend) of it. Add in cold muscles, fatigue by lunchtime, and uneven terrain, and you've got a recipe for knee, shoulder, and lower back strain.

A few physio tips that make a genuine difference:

• Build some leg strength before you go — squats, lunges, and single-leg work in the weeks leading up to a trip go a long way toward protecting your knees

• Warm up properly, even if it's just a few dynamic stretches in the car park before you clip in

• Know your limits by the afternoon — most injuries happen on the last run of the day, when fatigue sets in and technique slips

• Layer for mobility, not just warmth — if you can't move freely in your gear, your body compensates in ways that add load elsewhere

If you've got a snow trip coming up, it's worth popping in beforehand — even one session to check your strength and mobility can make a real difference to how your body copes with a big weekend on the slopes.