BayAreaKiteboarding.com

Yes mid season ailments are alive, started the season fat n slow now riding too much and body caving in. The doc solution is to rest of course but that is not really on the table if the wind is blowing and schedule allows.

Anyone have any tried and tested knee support solutions to at least take some of the chop pressure off?

Unhook knee brace to blind coming soon...

3x Glucosamine! Without it I'd be dead in six months (kiting)

It's sad but we're not getting any younger.
Get down to fight'n weight while load'n up on the building blocks of good health-

Easy said, hard won.
L.M.G.

Depends on where your ailment is, but I've been using a Pro-Tec Athletics Patellar Tendon Strap (18 bucks at REI, works over a wetsuit) and it seems to be doing the trick for me. For a while I was also wearing an equivalent one for my IT band, but that tendon hasn't been bothering me since I started stretching before a session. :)

Pain generally front mid to top of knee caps...can feel the crunching of cartilage as flex knee, perfectly normal right? Years of running fads always ended with similar symptoms from repetitive impact. Used to take glucosamine might try that again, thanks...

Hello Mork,

RIDE A BIKE... this will work the upper area of the knee you need to build that area of the knee to support the rest of the knee.. the lower part is looking for some support to keep your knee caps in place.. If you feel the lower part of your knee it will feel like jelly more like a womens butt" :P after a week of riding a bike it will feel like a rock. works for me!!

Hi...local P.T./kiter here again.....

Sooo, knee cap/top of the knee cap pain....likely your utilizing your quads too much. Would benefit from emphasizing your gluteals (butt muscles) more. Or perhaps your quads, hamstrings, gluteals are tight (poor flexibility). Or you may just have arthritis in the knees (not sure how old you are).....especially with years of running behind you.

In long term:
1. strengthen up the gluts (gluteus medius, gluteus maximus)
2. good flexibility program for quads, hams, gluts

In short term:
1. make sure you stretch your quads before riding
2. watch your knee position while riding....try to keep the knee in line with the toes, versus allowing the knee to collapse inward as our stance/straps like to permit
3. try using Arnica gel (can be purchased at Whole Food/Natural grocery stores) on the knees before/after sessions
4. try to emphasize using your gluts while riding (squeeze through the butt muscles)
5. ice is your friend if soreness persists after sessions

Sorry, don't know of any good braces to wear on the water for this....the patellar strap will only help for pain in the tendon below the knee cap.

Let me know if you have any questions.
And that's all I have to say about that.
Cheers,
Tianna

Try some different boards. I had knee pain for years then switched to a more flexible board with flat pads and the pain has mostly gone away.

hiding in what Tianna said- try changing your stance duck. that can change the angle of your knee as well. try changing your stance width....

a board with more flex and more rocker will make a huge difference too.

Extending the previous replies - get a directional surfboard...

Glucosamine works for a lot of people.

Strengthening the legs and stretching is generally a good idea. If you have joint damage the effect may not be that big.

As far as board, this is definitely something to look at. Riding freestyle twintips powered puts a lot of stress on your back foot and the knee joint. There are boards where you don't need all your weight on the back foot, namely directionals and some Mako twintips. You will scarifies some board ability for comfort. So choose between one session of mega loops a week or 3 sessions a week without mega loops :)

You can also tune your gear so you ride more upright then ducked. In addition get used to riding with one hand on the bar, which usually means your body is more upright than with two hands on the bar.

The liquid force pads are great because they have better geometry than most other pads. The bed in cantered inwards, making your foot joins aligned.

The only real solution is to get younger. Works better than Glucosamine, pad, boards, stretching, etc.