Considered not sharing this but I thought that by doing so it may save someone else having an ankle injury.
I have been kitesurfing for around three years and was always going to get rid of the straps on my kitesurfing surfboard for downwinders on the NSW Central Coast but I just enjoyed jumping on the way out too much! I've had a few landings where I have hurt my ankle a little but it took this one 1.5 weeks ago to convince me to NEVER go back to straps. Fractured fibula, tibia and foot bone after stuffing up a landing and twisting my ankle over the strap. Surgery and six screws are now stabilizing my fibula. I'm told 6 weeks before I'll be on my feet walking again and running etc. may be 4 months or so away. When I can get back to surfing and kitesurfing I do not know. Needless to say this will be a big disruption to life, time with kids, work and recreational pursuits - not to mention the fact the north-easterlies are just starting for the season!!!!!!
I know there has been a lot said about injuries that straps on surfboards can cause. Consider this a post to those who may have had close-calls with their ankles before and that it may be time to get rid of those straps. My injury would have been avoided if I was not strapped in.
Enjoy the kitesurfing season that I am likely to miss!
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Snowboard
Windsurf
Wake

list goes on...... all have straps and similar injuries. Geeez I think stirrups on horses cause more and worse?

Risk we take. Did the same injury at the 10yr point of a 25yrs time windsurfing and I still do. (The hobby, that is)
Just get better, and go hard again. Sucks to be out this time of year though huh

What a pain been there a number of times with two knee and ankle injuries But with normal surfing Never with kiting and I kite strapped and unstrapped in waves I have straps very loose and have foot twisted and if any mishap my feet release Get well soon

Boots and flat water on a kite

Or just go surf without a kite

Ditch the straps, tore my meniscus a few years ago when a foot came out of the strap and I rotated on the surfboard, been unstrapped ever since. Miss the boosting a little but heading towards 60 and no issues since.

Hi Peabob

That's a nasty injury - I wish you a speedy recovery.

I had a strap related kitesurfing injury a year ago - front foot strapped into surfboard with back foot out of the strap in pretty powered up conditions - did a fully powered split going over a wave as back foot came off board - resulting in a complete tear of all my hamstrings on my leading strapped in leg at their proximal attachments and a good tweak of the sciatic nerve - repaired with screws and a hip brace for 6 weeks.

Incidentally the same injury that Mick Fanning had years ago- what a legend to recover and win a world title.

I was out the water for 7 months. Paddling a surfski kept me sane.

Now back kiting on the twin tip and relearning strapless surfboard with a new kite. not yet back on the prone foil or kite foil though.

I reckon it's difficult to predict these injuries but maybe either fully strapped or no straps at all


Lucky I had mates to send me seabreeze wind reports whilst I was recovering!

cheers
Marto

I have seen a pretty a horrendous injury with strapless boards (shattered ankle). I myself have a niggling ankle injury from a frontside punt and landing badly. Now I just do backside jumps.

But if you want to save your knees and kite for many years to come strapless boardriding is def the way to go. Riding waves and landing small jumps is so much more satisfying than a big jump with straps.

vodka said..
Hilarious watching you all slowly realise you should be rideing boots

After seeing a guys kneecap that popped out of his leg from crash landing in boots, I'll give it a miss.

Oh and this was in Sri Lanka. He flew all the way back to Europe with his knee like that to get proper surgery.

vodka said..
Hilarious watching you all slowly realise you should be rideing boots

please let us know when youll break both ankles in boots. Like a guy who landed flat in 5cm water.

~~~
Re ditching the board in mid air:
- This is how I broke me ankle. If did not ditch it, who knows...

Took me 2 years to recover fully and 3 years to go strong again. Everyone is different.

I would recommend 4 wheels scooter to move around, hired one for $50/mnth.

Also, be aware of blood cloth. It is very common below the knee. Go for ultrasound asap, it can save your life. If they put u on blood thinners, b careful with that.

All the best

psychojoe said..
Thanks for sharing.
I always try to ditch my board mid air if I haven't got both feet ready for landing. The marks on my shins are testament to all the times I shouldn't have tried to ditch it forward to save a body drag ...

Had my two-week post op chat to the surgeon yesterday. Healing plan seems to consist of doing things slowly, getting a physio to get me back to putting weight on my injured leg again and lots of TIME!!!!! It's basically sounding like ...
Next four weeks = keeping with the cam boot and learning to put a bit of weight on the ankle. Also having a plan back to normality in consultation with physio.
Lose the boot in 4 weeks but possibly another week or two before I have the strength to use my foot to drive.
After the boot comes off then I am not sure whether the physiotherapy continues.
Other than that I have not been told much else other than keep on the blood thinners to avoid clots (had a revisit to hospital last week as there was concern I may have had one!) and just to manage pain using panadol and nurofen.

peabob said..
It sounds like there are a lot of experiences of people getting ankle/lower leg injuries. My query is this ... for those of you that have had to wear a cam boot, did you find the pain in your knee and upper leg to be worse than the actual injury. I find the associated discomfort from managing the weight of the cam boot using my rapidly shrinking leg muscles is what is keeping me up at night. I'm interested if others have had similar experiences and what was done about it.

Broke my 5th metastarsil (outer foot bone), surfing not kiting, and after wearing a cam boot for a 4-6 weeks my already dodgy ankle became weak which is apparently normal so need physio, rest etc, but it seems one injury flares up another. You shouldn't have to wear ithe cam boot at night?

Some of these injuries heal quickly enough but never seem to really go away. Now I wish I had titanium bones.

Mate I feel your pain, it feels like **** when you get hurt but will recover and soon be back on the water. In March last year I dislocated my foot, broke the fibula and the ankle in 3 places landing an air with straps where my back foot came out and the board twisted it. Surgeon put in 13 screws, two plates and a tighline to hold the whole thing together. Ended up having two surgeries and its been a long road back but you got to stay positive, do as much exercise as you can even while you're on crutches just to keep up your fitness and start your rehab ASAP. Get a good physio and do twice as much rehab as what they tell you to do. Swimming is really good, I got these shinfin.com so not to put any load on the ankle (can sell them cheap if you want) Back on the water now and even thinking of using straps again when its big and windy.

marty72 said..
Mate I feel your pain, it feels like **** when you get hurt but will recover and soon be back on the water. In March last year I dislocated my foot, broke the fibula and the ankle in 3 places landing an air with straps where my back foot came out and the board twisted it ...

Sometimes it only takes seeing or hearing the injuries of others to know how lucky you've got it ... your pictures made me feel VERY lucky!!!! It looks like a shambles of metal!!!! Thanks for the advice. I am certainly eager to keep as fit as possible while still on the crutches and leading up to running etc again. I'll see how I go in the pool. Thanks also for the advice on the shinfins ... I'll see how I go. First physio appointment tomorrow so I'll see how fast the progress goes.
You say your accident happened in March last year. I assume 2020 then so its taken around 18 months to be back to kiting? Interested in knowing how long after your accident you were back to walking comfortably, driving, bike riding, running etc.
Cheers,

vodka said..

peabob said..
It sounds like ...

Havent had a single board related injury since i started exclusively ...

Fair point. Don't the injuries just move up the leg to the knees though?
My injury was actually from a surfboard with straps and not a twintip. I am going to be nervous getting into the straps on my TT for flatwater sessions though in the future so I'll do some homework on boots. Definitely strapless on my surfboard from now on. Boots on a surfboard ... new sport maybe!!!

vodka said..

peabob said..
It sounds like there are a lot of experiences of people getting ankle/lower leg injuries.

Havent had a single board related injury since i started exclusively rideing boots in 2012


Every time ive borrowed a friends board with straps since then ive nearly had a injury tho and rideing is ****ing garbage cant load for **** all and just amazing anyone uses straps. Just imagine how stupid it would be to ride in straps on a snowboard or skis its ludicrousants bro

boots seem like a great idea until you either get pulled out (one leg out one in) or one boot to board connection fails.

Last time i rode boots, during a kiteloop gone wrong I got pulled from both boots mid wipeout. i hate to think what would have happened if only one foot came out. they were done up as tight as possible. that was the last time i ever rode boots and a the last time i rode a twintip. Strapless all the way since.

I'm not a fan of huge loft boosts on a strapped surfboard, prefer the feeling of smaller ones strapless where you're not dangling from the kite, these airs are more like real surfing airs or skateboarding.

peabob said..

CJ2478 said..

vodka said..

peabob said..
It sounds like there are a lot of experiences of people getting ankle/lower leg injuries.

I agree. I enjoy shooting out through the surf with board straps and doing airs with the board dangling but the days I have gone strapless have felt more like surfing as I am more connected to the water through the board rather than the straps. I also found I spent more time in the actual surf zone as with straps I would continue jumping waves beyond where they break.
I'm pretty sure I will be keeping away from straps for a while (forever?) once I am back into kiting out of fear of a repeat injury. Most interested in being in the waves so I will probably use the flat water days to work on strapless technique so my days in the surf have me performing better. Up to the injury I would have pulled out the TT and done flat water kiting in Lake Macquarie (or nearby) when conditions in the ocean were not favourable.

Follow ya passion. Accidents can happen with or without straps. If strapless is giving you flow then do that. If you yearn for jumping again then build back into it. Address the route cause of the accident so you limit the chance of it happening again. IE the straps arent the cause of the accident, the set up of the straps and your technique lead to the failure. Improve the technique and adapt the strap for better fit and you will be cooking with gas.

I've gone full circle. I loved a powered wave ride session with boosting on my mutant. I drifted into foiling for a few years. Enjoyed it. But it now I'm back to powered boost n wave ride. I just love it too much. I'll foil every now and then. But the passion is the combo of jumping and wave riding for me......