In this instructional video Tom Gellie explains how the position and movement of the shoulders and shoulder blades across three anatomical planes—fore‑aft, lateral, and rotational—directly influence a skier’s balance, spinal posture, edging, and turn dynamics. He describes how a forward‑projected shoulder posture encourages a rounded upper spine, while retraction promotes an upright spine, useful for different skiing styles such as moguls. Lateral scapular movement is linked to edge control: the outside‑arm scapula should drop and move away from the spine, while the inside‑arm scapula moves closer, aiding weight distribution between skis. In the rotational plane, coordinated protraction and retraction of the scapulae store and release rotational energy, helping to de‑edge and initiate the next turn without excessive spinal torque. Gellie highlights common extremes seen on beginner slopes, offers cues for self‑assessment, and suggests gym‑based mobility and strength checks (thoracic rotation, scapular mobility) to develop the necessary range of motion. He concludes with a call to seek personal training or functional body coaching to translate these concepts into improved performance and reduced pain.
Chapters
G'day everyone, it's Tom Gellie back again, just with some thoughts and, uh, some ideas on how your shoulders and shoulder blades could be affecting the way you move and the way you balance in skiing. So in this video, I'm just going to go over the 3 different planes of movement in the shoulders and and how they could influence certain aspects of your skiing. So if we start out with the first one, our fore and aft balance, if we're in our skiing position and our shoulders are reaching forward or our shoulder blades are sliding in front of our rib cage, it's going to influence more of a rounded posture in our upper spine. If that's what you want in your skiing, then this is something that you should be trying to encourage. If a more upright spine is something you're trying to encourage in your skiing, then a retraction, or bringing the arms and the shoulder blades back in closer to your body, is going to influence more upright spinal posture, perhaps for mogul skiing. Now obviously there are extremes in between, These two ends, I've seen people on the beginner slope very much in this position, trying to get weight forward by moving their arms in front, even though there's not much weight here, it actually pushes you back, and then other people stuck in this posture, too far retracted with their shoulder blades. So just being aware of probably your own posture and where your shoulder blades rest is also going to influence your stance in skiing, whether you're in a fairly neutral zone where you can access both, or whether you're stuck a little bit more rounded or a little bit more upright. So there's fore and aft. Next, if we have a look at lateral balance in skiing, so more to do with edging, if my knees and hips are rolled into the turn Then ideally, on the outside arm, my shoulder blade should be sliding down and away off my spine and rib cage. On this side, it should be sliding in closer and almost coming up a little bit to help keep my balance. Okay, so if I switch sides, this shoulder blade on the right will be dropping down and away, this shoulder blade will be coming in closer. So like this. So more of an awareness thing, probably when you're out on the snow, would be do you feel that happening? And second, indoors and in the gym, do you have much lateral flexibility in your thoracic spine in order to allow this movement to happen? Very subtle, small thing, although you definitely want that to be there, because if I'm in this position edging for a turn to the right and this shoulder blade is pulling away, if I take that into an exaggerated movement, that is going to incline me in this direction, putting more weight over my inside ski. If this shoulder blade is coming up and across to the left and this one is moving even further to the left, it's going to encourage me to have this position with a better balance of my outside ski. So finally, if we look at the rotational plane, if I'm trying to come through the end of my turn, you're down the hill, I'm going to want to finish, especially in a short turn, with as best separation as possible, plus the ability to store rotational energy, which is then going to help me unwind if I need to make a quicker turn, or just help store energy in the muscles, which is going to help me glide and project, project forward. So through the end of the turn, I can use a little bit of help from my shoulders arms and shoulder blades to encourage my body to stay separated, or to hold stored energy through my hips, legs, and all the way up through my core. So this shoulder blade is actually what's called protracting, or sliding forward and around my rib cage as my arm reaches, and this shoulder blade is retracting slightly, So they are both moving around my rib cage this way, and I want to make sure that that movement influences all the way through my body. So I don't want to do it without it having an effect down here so much, because that just really puts a lot of torque through my spine. But if I am aware enough, my whole body is talking to each other, then that movement will help bring a little bit of counter through my hips, help to start de-edge this ski and flatten it and release it and help engage this new outside edge early. So a protraction and a reach with this arm and a slight retraction with the pole planting arm. Okay, and if I took that again to the, uh, showing what would happen if it was the other way around, if I if I reach too much for this pole plant forward, this shoulder blade ends up protracting, which puts a spiraling effect through my spine to rotate in the opposite direction. If I want to go this way, I want to be encouraging movement in this direction. So there you go, the 3 different planes, how your shoulders can be influencing your skiing, and also your balance while skiing. So a takeaway you can do is perhaps go see a personal trainer, check in the gym in the mirror on yourself. Are you able to make all those movements with your arms and shoulder blades and couple it in with how your spine and the rest of your body moves? And if not, get working at it, and, and then you can get out on snow and try some exercise to encourage these movements into your skiing. Thanks very much for tuning in. I'm Tom Gellie. Please visit my site functionalbody.com.au if you'd like to organize a Skype session or come and see me in person. Love helping people out, get out of pain and increase their performance. See you next time.
