| |
Thomas and skiing |   |
Thomas is from Austria and has severe haemophilia A.
Questions and Answers
What do you do to keep yourself fit?
Fitness and sportive activity have always played a very important role in my life. They contribute to my personal well-being and provide me with a feeling of “everyday-instant-success”. During school it was out of question for me that I wanted to participate in physical education classes – not because I was so good in sports but because I enjoyed it; and also because I did not want to be regarded as being an “outsider”, an idea that is quite embarassing for me to remember today.
Do you participate in any kind of sports?
I learned to ski when I was five years old and since then my parents took me on skiing-holidays at least for two weeks every year. I think skiing is still the sport I enjoy the most. During summer I played a lot of basketball, a bit of tennis, I rode my bike at the countryside or went swimming. I also started windsurfing but unfortunately I had to quit after a few years, as the ankle of my right foot really started troubling me.
Sometimes I asked myself, whether I could have avoided severe problems with my ankle, if I had reduced my sportive activities. But In the end I don’t believe this would have changed anything for the better. Possibly I would have different problems today, that weren’t so focussed on a single joint but my general condition would not be as good as it is, that’s for sure. However, my parents always encouraged me to be sportive and never interfered with the choice of sports I made – except for ice-skating maybe, but I never regretted that; I learned it just a few years ago.
Have you ever had to quit a sport due to your bleeding disorder?
Due to the problems with my ankle it became a bit more difficult for me to continue all of my activities and the beginning of a student’s life further contributed to the decrease of my sportivity. Last year I started regularly visiting a fitness centre and I try to go there at least two times a week, which is really the minimum of physical exercise I need, otherwise I simply don’t feel too comfortable. In addition to that I also started to do Feldenkrais, which is a method of physiotherapy aiming at an improvement of the musculoskeletal system by simply increasing your attention to the way you move and act with your body. Both things, fitness centre and Feldenkrais, go together very well and I really have the impression that my quality of life has enormously increased since I started to combine these things and do it more often and regularly.
Read more about Thomas in the previous article, which is part of the "Around the world" theme.
Skiing
Skiing is a popular sport in most countries that have a consistent snowfall in winters. The sport comes in several variants from the classic cross-country skiing via slalom on mountain slopes to snowboarding and freestyle skiing.
Modern skiing started in Norway in the 19th century where bindings were invented that would allow the skier to do turns while going downhill. In Austria the bindings were later enhanced to resemble the bindings used for alpine skiing today, where the foot is firmly attached to the ski. This allowed much tighter turns to be performed and made it possible to ski on steeper slopes.
The two most popular forms of skiing are cross-country (or Nordic) and alpine skiing. In cross country skiing, as the name implies, the skier navigates a route that is mostly flat with shorter up- and down-hill stretches. This is the original form of skiing from the time when in winter skiing was the fastest means of transportation is many areas. Experienced skiers can cover up to 80km in a day on a prepared track. Sweden host a annual race, Vasaloppet, from Sälen to Mora totalling 90km. The race attracts close to 16.000 skiers as well as thousands more on shorter courses. The record time is less than four hours. Nordic skiing is on the Olympic programme for men and women in several different styles and distances.
Alpine skiing is all about going downhill as fast as possible. Skiers typically travel to the top of mountains with ski lifts and then ski down prepares slopes of varying difficulty. The key to maintaining control is to manage the speed so as not to go too fast to stay on the course. This is done by making repeated turns to the right and left with each turn slowing the skier down slightly. More experienced skiers will be able to make shorter turns and thus go faster. In competitive skiing the skier must go around a series of flags on the slope. The flags must be rounded alternately to the right and left. The winner is the one who correctly rounds all flags in the shortest time.
What the doctors say...
Nordic/Cross country skiing
Cross country skiing is a very good aerobic form of exercise that targets most of the major muscle groups in the body. Particularly the upper legs, upper arms and back. The risk of bleeding is considered low when the athlete is properly prepared and avoids steep downhill slopes. The most common cause of injury is falling backwords on downhill slopes, where cross country skies are hard to control, even for professional skiers.
Alpine/downhill skiing
In alpine skiing the arms are only used for keeping balance and therefore only the muscles in the legs and lower back are targeted. Falls are frequent for inexperienced skiers and when combined with high speed, there is a risk of serious injury. Beginners should be firmly familiar with the easy slopes before progressing to more difficult ones, and one should always remember to stop once fatigue sets in. The ankle joints are well protected by the inflexible ski boots, leaving the knee joints as the most exposed. People with weak knees should stay away from alpine skiing. With proper precautions and training, people with haemophilia can engage in alpine skiing without any major risk.
Post you own comment