Whether it’s skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing or any other favorite winter sports activity, the season is here and hopefully your body is ready to go play.
Whether it’s skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing or any other favorite winter sports activity, the season is here and hopefully your body is ready to go play.
As Mother Nature dumps snow on the Colorado mountains this winter, people will once again wake up early, brave the stopped traffic on I-70 by the carloads and overtake the white capped resorts to get their snow stoke on. Whether its hiking the backcountry to get fresh tracks in epic powder or riding the lifts to enjoy stunning groomed terrain. Skiing and snowboarding continually revives feelings of effortless joy, if not from last weeks run, last winter, or from our childhood. For any snow lover, there are days when skiing or riding feels effortless and easy. Other days—where you’re at your edge or far beyond it—your body is under strain when pain and injury can run the show.
To reduce or eliminate those not so easy days, this is where Rolfing can help. Rolfing refines the structural relationships in your body, bringing what’s out of order into order and sets the body up for more balance, power and ease.
Taking care of our body and creating better form and functionality, so we can perform at our best and reduce the potential for injury is key. There have been many articles about Rolfing that get some facts wrong, like thinking it's a kind of massage, or that it's all about working the muscles. This is incorrect, Rolfing works with fascia and as we explain to clients, the fascial system is really what is responsible for the whole-body pattern. The work of Rolfing is about "bringing a person more in tune or in alignment with their center of gravity" and then movement becomes more efficient, fluid, and powerful.
One of our instructors in school, Russell Stolzoff, has a great video about Rolfing Structural Integration and athletes, this one showing him working with former Detroit Lions defensive end Devin Taylor. Obviously, this video is related to a professional football player and not winter sports, but it speaks to the necessity for taking of our body, and creating better form and functionality, so we can perform at our best and potentially avoid injury.
If you watch this video, note that when Russell says, "Rolfers can create freedom and flexibility in the structure that will allow exercise to have a greater effect," he's not talking about just pro athletes – it works for all of us!
Whether you are a highly trained athlete or an amateur looking to get back into training, Rolfing structural integration increases performance significantly by reducing symptomatic stiffness and tightness of muscles and improving flexibility and balance of the body as a whole. Let’s face it, some of the winter activities(or any activity)that we love, can also be hard on our bodies, especially if there is already some underlying structural issues. Often we find injuries happening “in slow motion” and building over time that could be avoided by releasing tissue restrictions and balancing the body for fluid movement.
Skiers and snowboards can benefit from Rolfing in the following ways:
Release of chronic tension and scar tissue along with increased range of motion, leading to movement that’s more free from compensation and less dictated by old injuries.
Relief of chronically-stressed areas as force transfers through the centers of joints and limbs on its way to the boots, boards and skis.
Connection and support through the core structures of the body. A clearer feeling of being grounded and stable on skis or boards with power being directed cleanly and evenly through the legs, resulting in confident and agile turns.
Improvements in the sense of balance.
Length and openness in movement, a sense of ease and flow in challenging terrain.
Your body is a complex and intelligent living structure capable of superb, inherent balance and powerful, efficient movement. Rolfing helps you take full advantage of that capacity by building organization in your body and relieving the obstacles to it. An organized body means more days making tracks in Colorado’s fresh powder and less time recovering from fatigue and injury.
Schedule some Rolfing sessions and let us help you be prepared and ready for carving tracks, dropping into the backcountry or whatever you love to do in that beautiful white fluffy stuff. Your knees, quads, ankles, back and entire body will thank you!
We look forward to seeing you soon in our studio and maybe out on the slopes!
Here are a couple statements from athletes and sports authorities about how Rolfing improves performance, speeds recovery and minimizes the wear and tear of training and competition.
“Athletes always need help with chronic injuries, muscular strain and overuse. Rolfing supports structural realignment for greater efficiency of movement and more precise movement.”
- Dr. Karl Ullis, Olympic Physician
“Rolfing helped me get back my career. It tackled some specific injuries that were restricting me from training for the ‘98 Olympics and got me back on track. You can ice and rest, but no matter how slow you train, until you lengthen out the tightness and scarring, it will come back.”
-Two-time Olympian, U.S. Nordic Ski Team Member, John Bauer,
“Rolfing gave me the elasticity to make my first day of skiing look like I was in mid-season form. When people asked me what I’d been doing, I said you won’t believe it, but it was Rolfing bodywork. The first time I tried Rolfing bodywork the rejuvenating effects were incredible. Since then I have been recommending Rolfing to others.”
- World-renowned Extreme skier, and popular Warren Miller ski film star, John Egan.