Balance perception
In our perception of balance, it could be recognized two modes:
- Perception of the surroundings: our ability to keep balance is directly related to perceiving the environment in which we act. We consider external references to achieve appropriate balance to the current situation (terrain configuration, snow type, etc.).
- Motor perception: it refers to the movements we employ while searching for stability through a consistent posture based on the foot sole of one or both feet.
Balance and stability
Balance could be defined as the situation that, despite our reduced and slippery BoS, we stay upright without falling. Stability refers to easily maintaining or restoring our balance. This is ensured by our vestibular system, while balance is supported by our visual system.
In sliding, there is a constant risk of falling because of suffered instabilities, so we could say that skiing is administrating unstable equilibrium or, for us to be stable, we should be inherently unstable. Stability gives a certain security feeling but is a state in which it is more difficult to initiate movements, while instability is unpleasant and involves risks, but facilitates movements (Feldenkrais, 1972).
Rebalancing
Rebalancing is our reaction tending to regain balance. By external or internal causes, we constantly become unbalanced and will automatically tend to rebalance through postural responses. These responses can be divided into two phases: the balance perturbation perception (reaction time) and postural adjustment (movement time).
- Reaction time is the time between the stimulus (the disturbance causing the imbalance) and the initiation of our rebalancing movement, which indicates our perceptive skill.
- Movement time is the time that passes between the beginning and the completion of our rebalancing movements.
Rebalancing is a normal postural reflex mechanism that consists mainly of two types of actions: the righting reflex and the equilibrium reactions. The righting reflex is automatic but can get in conflict because of body misuse as, for example, excessive neck tension.
Rebalancing is a skill depending on our skiing level. At expert levels, it is observed that the upper body remains stable and feet and legs adapt. Instead, the beginner skier employs the upper body and arms to compensate for feet and legs discrepancies.
Balance in children
At a wider BoS and a lower CoG height there will be more possibilities to maintain balance. It is observed that the smaller the child, the less favorable relationship between the mentioned elements. Their BoS is small and mobile, and their CoG is at a greater height related to an adult due to the great size of the head in relation to their trunk and limbs. This combination of adverse factors makes the child’s balance precarious, resulting in frequent falls caused by, among other reasons, sudden direction changes or abrupt braking.
Physiological disorders perturbing balance
Sometimes our body suffers alterations in its function producing motion sickness where visual information is limited as, for example, foggy or flat light conditions. It is when balance is altered, causing false body motion sensations affecting our spatiotemporal structure which could lead to dizziness. In these cases, visual information does not seem to coincide with our vestibular information and a possible solution is to compensate it with a strong visual fixation to a fixed point.
Psychological influences affecting balance maintenance
While we take into account the external factors (environmental conditions), it is in our psychological factor we should consolidate skiing balance through internal focus and mainly, our own decisions.
Our relationship with the environment could be psychologically traumatic, perceiving slope inclination as spatial emptiness or sliding as a constant risk. Other psychological factors affecting our balance are confidence, self-esteem, attention, and the feeling of self-efficacy. In short, our psychological factors are the ones that condition the most about our balance in skiing.
The relationship between emotion and balance
Our emotional level fulfills a very important role in our performance. Negative emotions as anguish or fear appear when on certain occasions, our brain is saturated with information the senses provide.
An important function of emotions is the adaptive function, which is preparing our body to execute a behavior according to environmental conditions, directing it towards a particular goal. This function depends on our own assessment of the situation (appraisal), i.e., the meaning that confers to it and our response originated while facing such a situation.
Anxiety may be a disturbing emotion coming from the stress of skiing. It is an adaptive function that helps us confront the risk of, for example, losing balance and falling. The problem is that for many skiers, this emotion is disproportionate to the destabilizing situation.
Balance is affected by anxiety conditions due to our tendency to maintain postural strategies, keeping tighter control of the CoM, and a decrease of limbs’ angular movements. While anxiety intensifies, there is an increase in the vestibulo-ocular reflex and our postural oscillation frequency changes. If it occurs regularly, it presents a risk because extreme anxiety causes tension that hinders flexible balance maintenance.
The fear of falling affects balance
Our fear of falling affects significantly the way we perceive the environment and move in it in relation to our balance control. For this reason, many skiers change their postural control strategies based on risk perception that a potential loss of balance generates. If we suffer from falling anxiety, we will relate it to negative perceptions about our balancing capacities and will ski reflecting these impressions.
