Skiing and lateral vision

Unlike when driving or cycling, skiing is an activity carried out without the help or safety of a rear-view mirror.

The only movement a skier can do when a visual check back is needed to see if a group of friends, a companion, a kid or a student are following, is by briefly turning the neck around while skiing. It can also be a nice safety precaution when a skier wants to check if a fast, uphill skier is closing in.

Practically, turning back the head is the only way to safely conduct that visual check. Adding an upper body rotation would put pressure on the hip bones and affect the direction of the skis.

Having a healthy range of motion in the neck is therefore very important while skiing, not to mention the fact that insulating apparel, helmet and goggles can sometime restrict the available range of vision and make any motion even harder.

Again, we’re talking about neck rotation, i.e. turning the head to the right and to the left. Normally, an individual should be able to turn far enough so that the chin is almost in line with either shoulders.

The accepted range of motion for this kind of rotation is 80 to 90 degrees. People that are over 70 years old have significantly less motion, which translates into a 25% reduction in rotation.

A way to enhance that viewing angle is to check near the end of a turn, but that moment is brief and hard to capture visually…

So if you’re no longer in your 60s, start doing some regular exercise to keep your makeshift “rear-view mirror” at the right angle!