Balance is the most important single factor in athletic skiing. Without it, skiing is clumsy and awkward, a struggle against gravity often leading to fatigue and even injury. Yet recreational skiers are hardly ever taught balance and how to improve it through sensory training and proprioception.
Proprioception is the sense of position, posture and movement. Poor proprioception leads to poor balance, limits skiing performance and can lead to a frustrating lack of improvement in ability. Lack of exercise and the modern sedentary lifestyle means less proprioceptive input which makes the problem worse. Practically this results in a measurable loss of speed of muscle contraction, affecting the ability to change direction on skis and react to changing terrain.
Good muscle control is impossible without good sensory feeling or proprioception. Like training for muscle strength, sensory feeling can be trained too. There are proprioceptors in skin, muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints especially in the feet. These help control muscle responses through feedback loops with the spinal cord and brain. In other words, the receptors tell the brain what the body is up to so it can control body movements. This, of course, is all co-ordinated automatically. We do not have to think how to walk for instance, we just do it.
Balance is a result of more than just muscle control. Alignment in the foot, knee, hip, pelvic and spinal bones complete the triangle. Poor proprioception can literally switch muscles off creating misalignments and imbalance. Fortunately, easy exercises performed in the few weeks before a ski holiday will significantly improve strength, agility and balance. This is applicable to all levels.