To see how it works for yourself, think of a shoulder or hip joint.  Stand with the arm or leg draped from the shoulder or hip, turn your foot in or out, then relax.  It straightens out. 
            Part of the emerging Holy Grail of Telemark or free heel  skiing, the KAM-HOLDZ ^TM decoupler releases laterally under pressure, then, rolling back into place with the assist of gravity. This “return to center force” allows the skier to easily resume sking.

 

She begins to recover. Ideally, the hands would be in front, the hips are over the ankles, and both skis are tipped in the same plane or direction, for the ski to carry the skier in the intended direction.  The center of a functional range of motion.

 

 

 

 

 

RIDE THE SNOW IN HARMONY™ lessons, RIDEINHARMONY™,  AND SHAPED TEACHING™, its teaching method, are consistent with advise and practices about how to avoid the most common major injuries to the knee, as we know them, and we have evolved some of our own common sense practices, to boot.  Oh yeah, that's one of them.  Get the right boot, and learn your size in "ski talk" so you know what you are getting. 

 

What causes an ACL to shear or snap?  An inward twist of the outside knee, that's excessive or sudden, sometimes in a turn, a fall, or upon landing from a jump.  

What USUALLY starts the excessive internal twist? The turn-side(TM), inside, hand drops back and in, taking the rest of the body with it, while the outside foot is stationary, trapped, or posted in one place.  Know where you are going and point in that direction.

Is this a simplifying things? Yes, but it applies in about seventy percent of the ACL ruptures, the most common major ski injury.

Just beginning to ski, or arriving at a ski area for the first time, here are some things you can put on your side for safety.

 

ACL Checklist for newskiers: 
      1. Know your size foot and the boot you are given.

                 They should be the same size or tighter, fitting like a glove, to move when your foot does.  Ski Boots are sized in a system called Mondopoint, but you can translate most sizes into standard US sizes easily.  A size 8 in a regular shoe, for instance, is a marked as 26. 2+6=8 so size 26 in a ski boot is equal to size 8 in a reglar shoe.  Getting a larger boot than your foot size, can be like installing loose steering on a car.

2. Turn-side™ hand forward, RIH style. First three lessons, train you to move the hands forward.  A safe practice.  
3. Two footed foot movements. Lesson 4. Tail of the Dolphin   Learn at your own pace on slopes you are comfortable skiing and riding, then work up.
4. Get aligned early in your career - Huh!  If you are knockneed, statistically, your risk of injury is greater. Get a footbed from a qualified technician or bootfitter that supports the inside of the foot against pronation. Your goal is to get support of the edge of both skis at the same time. If you are knockneed you may not be getting that, and it is called being underedged, for purposes of skiing.  Ideally a footbed will provide a,"Prophylactic arrest of inward rotation of the femur" or knee. Because Knees bend better forward than sideways, 

 

5. There is more but this is a start.  Physical conditioning should be taken into account as you continue. If you have not already been an athlete, you are now.

 

       "You can't change biology, but you can change biomechanics". Michael Sokolov.  That is, how you move.
 
           

 Patented use of gravity

                    

Cary