Anterior compartment pressures in cross-country skiers

This paper compares the pressure changes in the an terior compartment of the leg when cross-country skiing using the skating method on either skating skis or classic skis. Intracompartmental pressures of the right leg were recorded from the tibialis anterior muscle of 10 subjects at rest and 15 seconds after 10 to 12 minutes of cross-country skiing on a designated course. All subjects completed two trials on different days. In one trial, subjects used skating skis and for the other trial, classic skis were used for the skating technique. Although the average pressure increase was higher for the classic ski trials than for the skating ski trials, the difference was not significant. This finding indicates that cross-country skiers who skate on a classic ski as opposed to a shorter skating ski do not experience a significantly greater increase in their anterior compart ment pressure. Thus, it appears that the type of ski used is not the most significant factor contributing to chronic compartment syndrome.