Muscle control in elite alpine skiing

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine whether muscle control may be influenced by accelerative forces brought about by the downhill displacement of body mass in combination with the sharp turns during alpine skiing.

Methods: Sixteen elite skiers performed either super G (SG), giant slalom (GS), slalom (SL), or freestyle mogul (FM) skiing. Knee and hip joint angles and electromyographic (EMG) activity of the knee extensors were recorded.

Results: During the course of a turn, the minimum (deepest stance position) knee angle of the outside (main load-bearing) leg ranged from 60 degrees to 100 degrees, where the smallest angle was obtained in the FM event. Among the traditional alpine disciplines, smaller knee angles were obtained in the high-speed events (i.e., knee angle: SG<GS<SL). Knee angular velocity of the outside leg ranged from 15 degrees to 300 degrees x s(-1), with the slower movements in the high-speed disciplines (i.e., knee angular velocity: SG<GS<SL<FM). In all disciplines, EMG activity reached near-maximal levels during the course of a turn. In SG, GS, and SL, but not in FM skiing, a marked predominance of eccentric over concentric muscle actions was observed. The dominance of slow eccentric muscle actions has not been observed in other athletic activities.

Conclusions: We believe these results have important implications for the design of specific training models.