Balance and Proprioception Exercises for Skiing and Snowboarding
Proprioception is the sense that lets you feel, without looking, where your body is and how it is moving, thanks to receptors in your joints, muscles, tendons and inner ear; it is the foundation of balance. In meta-analyses of team sports, programmes that included balance and proprioception training markedly reduced lower-limb injuries (for example, the risk of anterior cruciate ligament injury was roughly halved). The ski-specific evidence is weaker. The dose research points to for improving balance is training about 3 times a week for 11–15 minutes, spread over at least several weeks; standing on one leg is the most basic exercise.
According to the US National Library of Medicine's medical vocabulary, proprioception is the sense of perceiving the position and movement of body parts through information gathered by receptors in the joints, tendons, muscles and inner ear, and it is important for maintaining postural balance. According to Proske and Gandevia's 2012 review, this sense covers not only position but also movement, effort and force; it can be impaired when you are tired from exercise, and it declines with age.
In skiing and snowboarding, this sense is constantly at work: legs reacting to bumps, feet sensing whether the edge is gripping, an inner ear picking up changes your eyes cannot see. We explain which muscles are involved in our guide which muscles do you use when skiing?
Do balance exercises reduce injuries?
Study
Type
Finding
Lauersen et al., 2013
Meta-analysis, 25 randomised controlled trials, 26,610 people
Proprioception training reduced injury risk by about 45% (RR 0.55); strength training was even more effective; stretching was ineffective
Hübscher et al., 2010
Systematic review, 7 high-quality studies
Multi-component programmes reduced lower-limb injuries by ~39% and acute knee injuries by ~54%; balance training alone reduced ankle sprains
Petushek et al., 2018
Meta-analysis, 18 studies, 27,231 people
Prevention programmes cut the risk of anterior cruciate ligament injury from 1 in 54 to 1 in 111
Emery et al., 2015
Meta-analysis, young people
Neuromuscular training reduced lower-limb injuries by ~36%
Webster and Hewett, 2018
Analysis of 8 meta-analyses
Roughly a halving of anterior cruciate ligament injuries; insufficient data for men
Most of these studies were carried out in team sports, especially among young female athletes. And the programmes were not balance alone; they combined strength, jumping and technique exercises.
Is skiing different?
The ski-specific evidence is more limited, and the sources diverge:
The Vermont study (Ettlinger et al., 1995): Ski resort staff were shown videos explaining how anterior cruciate ligament injuries happen; serious knee sprains among the trained staff fell by 62%. But this was an awareness programme, not exercise.
Ski high schools (Westin et al., 2020): Among young racers who took part in a neuromuscular programme, the anterior cruciate ligament injury rate was 3.9%, compared with 8.1% among students in previous years. The study was not randomised; it compared against previous years.
Young racers (Raschner et al., 2012): In a 10-year follow-up of 370 young racers, trunk (core) strength stood out as a decisive factor in anterior cruciate ligament injury.
Myths review (Johnson et al., 2009): A review of skiing injuries lists the idea that “exercise prevents skiing injuries” among unproven myths.
In short: balance training definitely improves balance; how much it reduces injuries in skiing is not yet clear. We cover knee injuries in our guide Knee Injuries in Skiing.
How much should you train?
For balance: According to Lesinski and colleagues' meta-analysis combining 25 studies, the dose that most improved static balance in healthy young adults was:
11–12 weeks, 3 times a week,
11–15 minutes per session,
4 exercises per session, each 2 sets, sets of 21–40 seconds.
For injury prevention programmes: The programmes in Petushek's meta-analysis were carried out for an average of 24 minutes per session, 2.5 times a week.
That is why it makes sense to start a few weeks before your holiday; we give a general preparation plan in our physical preparation guide.
Balance exercises you can do at home
According to Marcori and colleagues' systematic review, single-leg balance training improves balance whether or not the difficulty is increased, and the effect also carries over from the trained leg to the other leg. A common progression in practice is as follows (this order has not been established by research):
Level
Exercise
Duration
1
Single-leg stand, eyes open, on a firm surface
2 × 30 s per leg
2
Single-leg stand, eyes closed or on a soft surface (cushion, balance mat)
2 × 30 s
3
Ski stance on one leg with knee slightly bent, slowly up and down
2 × 30 s
4
Standing on one leg and throwing and catching a ball with a partner
2 × 30 s
5
Standing on one leg while a partner gently pushes you off balance
2 × 30 s
Levels 4 and 5 are stages of the single-leg balance exercise in FIFA 11+, the warm-up programme used in football; in a large study with female footballers (Soligard et al., 2008), this programme reduced all injuries by ~32% and severe injuries by ~45%.
Tips:
Do not let your knee collapse inwards; keep it over your toes.
Keep your hips level and your trunk upright.
Have a wall or chair nearby.
Wobbling is normal; your balance system works precisely through these corrections.
Balance on the slopes
You can also train your balance on the slopes: short glides on one ski on a flat area, the skating step and, on a snowboard, one-footed skating. Because proprioception is impaired by fatigue, slow down if you feel your balance fading at the end of the day; see our guide fatigue and technical performance.
Ready legs, an enjoyable holiday
A few weeks of balance training helps you feel more confident from your first day on the slopes, and that makes an activity holiday more enjoyable. Doğadayız winter packages include accommodation, ski pass and equipment; lessons with an instructor belong to the basic course packages. Starting a balance routine with friends before the holiday, and seeing who can glide longest on one foot on the slopes, is also a fun way to get ready for a social adventure holiday. For programmes, see our winter activity holidays page.
Doğadayız Packages
Doğadayız packages for your level
Winter activity holidays with accommodation, ski pass and equipment included, shared with a group.
The easiest way to learn to ski: a winter activity holiday
An activity holiday puts a sport at the heart of your trip: transport, accommodation and meals are planned, so you can focus on learning on the slopes. On Doğadayız winter activity holidays, accommodation, ski pass and ski or snowboard equipment are included in every package; course packages include basic lessons with instructors affiliated with the Turkish Ski Federation, while experience packages let you practise on the slopes at your own level.
What makes the programme different is the group: sharing the slopes with people at a similar level, dinners and nights out together, and a group leader by your side at all times. Solo travellers become part of this social adventure holiday from day one. That is why we describe our programmes as a social adventure holiday.
It is the sense of perceiving the position and movement of body parts without looking, thanks to receptors in the joints, muscles, tendons and inner ear. It is the foundation of balance; it can be impaired by fatigue and declines with age.
Do balance exercises prevent skiing injuries?
In meta-analyses of team sports, programmes that included balance and proprioception training markedly reduced lower-limb and anterior cruciate ligament injuries. The ski-specific evidence is limited: a non-randomised study with ski high school students gave a positive result, but a review of myths considers the idea that exercise prevents skiing injuries unproven.
How much balance training should I do?
According to a meta-analysis, the dose that most improves balance is 11–15-minute sessions 3 times a week for 11–12 weeks, with 4 exercises per session, two sets each and sets of 21–40 seconds.
Physical preparation for skiing and snowboarding gives you two things: less fatigue in the first few days and keeping control at the end of the day. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) recommends arriving in good condition, stopping when you get tired, and warming up for 3–5 minutes before skiing and starting with a few slow runs; many skiing injuries happen at the end of the day. To be honest, though, according to a systematic review there is not enough evidence that fitness training reduces injuries in recreational skiers; the evidence is strongest for knee injury awareness training and, in snowboarding, for wrist guards.
Skiing works the front thigh muscles (quadriceps), back thigh muscles (hamstrings), glutes and inner thigh (adductor) muscles most. In a study measuring muscle activity (EMG), these muscles worked at more than half of their maximum force in snowplough, parallel and giant slalom turns alike, and activity increased from the snowplough to parallel turns and from there to racing turns. What sets skiing apart is eccentric work (braking while the muscle lengthens): according to one study, the braking phase in giant slalom lasts about twice as long as the push phase. In recreational skiing, too, the outside leg works much harder than the inside leg, and the load increases as the slope gets steeper. The research base for snowboarding is more limited.
The knee is the most commonly injured body part in skiing: according to a clinical review of skiing injuries, 27–41% of all injuries affect the knee. The most common knee injuries are sprains of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and the medial collateral ligament (MCL); in an 18-season study in the US state of Vermont, the ACL was the single most common injury among skiers (17.2%). There are two typical mechanisms: phantom foot (falling backwards off balance so that your weight goes onto the tail of the downhill ski) and boot-induced injury (landing a jump with a straight leg). For prevention, the right binding setting, stopping when you are tired, not sitting back and not fighting a fall all matter; an awareness training programme given to ski staff reduced serious knee sprains by 62%.
