If your lower back or knees ache at the end of a long day on the slopes, you may have limited hip mobility.
Compromised range of motion in the hips can be “a silent culprit” for pain elsewhere in the body, says Mandie Majerus, a physical therapist with Lake Washington PT in Kirkland, Washington, and co-founder of the Alpine Training Project, an online ski and snowboard training program designed by physical therapists to improve performance and reduce injuries. If you lack mobility in your hips, “your body is going to find it somewhere else,” Majerus says.
Majerus has been working on the medical team for World Cup ski races and training camps for 14 years. During that time, she has noticed a consistent trait in the athletes who top the podiums: “They wake up, do their hip mobility work, go ski, and then come right back to the gym to do their cooldown.”
For the rest of us, dedicating even a few minutes a week to improving our hips’ range of motion and stability can have a meaningful impact on ski performance, longevity in the sport, and overall health.
