Skiing and Snowboarding Neck Pain

I've written about neck and back pain before, talking about whiplash and what can be done to treat it. In this article I want to address snowboarding, skiing and other winter sports such as ice skating and innertubing that can lead to neck and back stiffness or even whiplash.

Winter sports can be a lot of fun, especially here in Colorado where it snows a lot. It's easy to get excited and underestimate an environment that seems so soft and smooth. It's true that snow and ice can diminish the impact of a direct hit when you take a fall, but that sense of security and freedom can also increase your risk tolerance. I get a broad range of patients including semi professional skiiers who come in after a long day of skiing the moguls as well as first timers who are just learning the sport.

Consider this, whenever you catch an edge snowboarding your body is whipped down (either frontwards or backwards) ending with your head. It's a lot like crack the whip! This abrasive reaction builds stress and tightness in your back, it's no wonder that learning how to snowboard is considered one of the most challenging and painful winter sports. Chiropractic care, acupuncture, and a warm massage therapy with heat packs can go a long way in keeping your alignment from slipping away - leaving your hurting for months. The sooner you get treatment, the more can be done in the way of prevention. Over the long term tight muscles adapt and hold in stress, it is best to help reset them early on.

So what's one way you can keep yourself safe, regardless of the winter sport? A helmet of course... While this statement seems like a no brainer, it's actually more complicated than you might think. Sure, a helmet can keep you safe from a tree or another skiier on high impact, but did you know it actually stresses your neck and causes whiplash on minor falls?

Did you know an adult human head weighs an average of 12lbs? That's a lot, and the stress on your neck is multiplied exponentially as inertia is created during a high speed activity. Add to that weight the fatigued neck muscles that many "weekend warriors" experience after not exercising their necks all week. Fewer people work on farms or other manual labor jobs these days and that leaves the neck and back muscles vulnerable for activities like skiing. It's hard enough to lift and support a 12 pound head, then you add an additional pound or two for the helmet, that's nearly a 10% weight increase. I have patients who describe the feeling of extra weight pulling back on their head whenever they fall, and it's because of the helmet. I understand the neck pain and headaches that falling down in these sports can create, the good news it is treatable.

As a legal disclaimer it is important for me to state here that I completely agree with the safety precaution of wearing a helmet at all times when taking part in a dangerous sport such as skiing or those other sports described above, that having been said, there is a cost to this added safety. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction and the weight of wearing a helmet is no exception. Said differently, Newton's second law of motion states: force = mass x acceleration. The added "mass" of a helmet combined with a high speed sport "acceleration" directly influences the "force" your neck and back feel.

If you are planning to ski, learn snowboarding, or take part in other active winter sports this season, please stop by the office and I'll give you some tips on neck exercises or help adjust past injuries. Our first visit special is just $19.95