Hey all, just wanted to know if anyone gets a sore lower back and sore top of knee caps during and after kiting?

Got into kiting at the end of '08 and been hitting hard in the WA summer going pretty much everyday. Just noticed lately though that my lower back gets pretty painful after only being out for 30mins or so. I use a DaKine Tabu waist harness and havent experimented with a seat harness yet, but maybe this is the way to go?

Any suggestions out there? Cheers!

Maybe get someone to check your stance?

slackster, i know EXACTLY what you are talking about. I suffer from lower back pain too. I learned that the more I exercise, the less pain I get, however kitesurfing can be very physically demanding if you do it hard. I used seat harness for few years and never had lower back pain. This year i switched to waist, which by the way is way more exciting to ride and allows you to do tricks, rolls, toeside upwind much better, and it gives you a lot better feel when riding, but it does give me lower back pain, because everything below your waist is now carried and controlled by your back and stomach muscles. What you could also do is use both harnesses and switch between sessions to give your back chance to recover. Or if you just prefer easy cruising, then use seat - no question - it's more comfortable and supportive for your back.

When I first started kiting I was fine but after a couple of sessions of learning and stacking quite a bit I started to get quite an intense pain in my femoral head (the joint when your pelvis meets your femur bone). When tacking starboard I would feel the joint pop out of my left leg. It would hurt immensely to put pressure on it and the only way to fix it was to get back on the beach and do a sort of lunge with my left leg back.

Even then whenever I go back out onto the water it would pop out and hurt again.


:(

Haven't been kiting since the last time it happened (2 days ago). Planning to see the doc.

One word for back soreness....technique.

Must say unless you are a teenager or early 20 something, kiting every day you are going to get sore. Its tough on the body. Im on hols at the mo and with our mechanical seabreezes Im getting almost every day. After about 3 days straight of long hard riding in the surf I feel sore and my body feels tired. Stretching in the morning certainly helps even just going for a walk loosens me up.

My mate suffers from back soreness and he'll be doing back stretches morning and night when riding regularly.

I know its hard, but having a day off in between lots of riding helps alot too. I know it feels weird though when its 20 knots out there and your not amongst it...

Sorry east coasters

I have been riding with a wider than normal stance for me recently and found that my knees and hips were sore. Have a look at you stance. Kids tend to ride with a wide stance maybe there body's can handle it but as an older kiter I recommend a stance about an 4cms wider than you shoulders also to much duck puts a lot of pressure on your Knees

Factor 5 said...

whatthe said...

Factor 5 said...

Must say unless you are a teenager or early 20 something, kiting every day you are going to get sore.

That's probably cos you were fit when you left school and got fat and unfit in your 20's.

Ive just found over the years of constant punishment (snowboarding is probably the hardest on the body) as the human body grows older it becomes more prone to soreness and injury.

Hello

I agree with Factor S and would like to share my experience.

At 36 and fit, former near misses are now injuries for me. In the recent years, main injuries that compromised my sport addiction includes broken neck, broken ribs, grade three knee injury, severe soreness in both knees, and a pain in the elbow that appeared several months ago. These injuries results from various impacts during kitesurfing, surfing, minor fall on motorbike, kitelandboarding and generally stressing the body during long events such as rogaines.

Never gone to the hospital for injury before my 30's despite major impacts.

A few years ago, I would be surprised that i would not be injured from large impacts. Now I am surprised that i can be injured by small impacts.

We are just weak humans... be aware! :

Fred

deXtrous said...

When I first started kiting I was fine but after a couple of sessions of learning and stacking quite a bit I started to get quite an intense pain in my femoral head (the joint when your pelvis meets your femur bone). When tacking starboard I would feel the joint pop out of my left leg. It would hurt immensely to put pressure on it and the only way to fix it was to get back on the beach and do a sort of lunge with my left leg back.

Even then whenever I go back out onto the water it would pop out and hurt again.


:(

Haven't been kiting since the last time it happened (2 days ago). Planning to see the doc.

I had exactly that last season !

My issue started after a big stack with one foot in one foot out on a heavy landing at the time I thought I had dislocated my hip. I actually thought I felt it come out and then pop in. For about 3 months after I experienced the same issues you are having particularly riding toeside but also just at random, slowly they became less frequent and less painfull.
Not a nice feeling that's for sure particularly the klunk sound and associated bone vibration when it correctly locates again.
I can't judge the severity of your injury so maybe seeing a doc is not a bad idea. But if it is Amy consolation I was able to kite the whole time allbeit a little slower and a wary of the injury.
Good luck with it

^^^ Agree, my Flight Control is awesome, highly recommend.

I'm 31, the fittest I've ever been and that is due to heaps of varied exercise; boxing, running, cycling, pilates and weights. Being kite-fit is important, but I think to avoid soreness you need a more all-round approach to fitness. Just kiting will only work a specific area, you need strength in all areas to avoid injury/soreness.
Recently did a trip away where we kited 14 days in a row, for about 3-6 hours a day. I didn't have any major soreness other than general tiredness at the end of the day, and I attribute this to doing a lot of non-kiting fitness work in the months leading in.

im only 26 but have had crook back for a few years, about two years ago and im very carefull what i do with it now. I run a seat harness and apart from the fact it occasionally tries to rip your balls off, i havent had a back problem at all. Im not boosting tho, just cruising and wave riding coz thats all i wanna do. I had an old footy knee injury flair up and realised that i was twisted like a mutant when riding toeside, made a conscious effort to get stance correct when riding toeside, now the only soreness i get is generall all over from solid sesh...sweeeet

Having squids adds the kgs for sure Rich. Having been trying hard for a few yrs to get back to pre-kiddy weight with mixed results.

Laird's M.O. of grabbing a cutey 20 yrs younger than himself and pounding off the kgs has some merit.

BTW weirdly after a sesh on the board my knee (after stuffing it in meduim fashion during winter) feels better most of the time.

Reading through this thread I see my fellow kiters suffer. Working in the field of sporting and work related injuries for long (too long?) time, I attempt to give a brief general summary of my view.
My background...? I had severe knee, lower back, and neck problems from my late teens due to injuries mainly from gymnastics, skiing, and just by stretching limits....
Just to gain your trust:
Now, I am 55 (not kg), my last knee problem was when I collided with a kite surfer mate 8 years ago, my last lumbar problem was when I tried waist harness for a few days two years ago, and the last neck problem was when lots of beautiful women walked around me (before I met my girlfriend )....
I kite up to 5 days a week (depending on wind), 2-4 hours non stop.
What I do for it.
1. I eat very healthily, apart form some tendency to put good amount of bourbon into my fresh orange juice…....uhhhmmm alcohol is a good preservative…....
2. I never kite without a warm up (sometimes long sometimes short), and I stretch only after a warm up. In fact, depending on how I feel, the first 30-60 min of my kiting is more or less a warm up with smaller jumps and easygoing wave riding. I use a modified seat harness….check the pics on my profile if interested...and ..after every session I sit in my outdoor spa for at least 10-15 minutes under heavy massage jets with the above mentioned preservatives in hand…...and I am immensely grateful for living in OZ, where I can do all this....
The following suggestions are general advice only, I don't take into account anyone's personal circumstances....…..(yes, you can use scotch in the orange juice, but you cannot replace orange juice with coke or red bull)......and these advises are inherently incomplete, so I would be open to anyone's experience, something that worked for them....
Reading my post......yeah, it's long...so feel free to bile out if it doesn't resonate with you..
OK. Here we go....


1. Do not take age as an excuse, take it as a challenge. The body always responds positively to positive changes. I mean diet, lifestyle, and regular exercise, low on alcohol, coffee / red bull and emotional stress.
2. If you have an injury do NOT HTFU, because you will likely to break again. See a professional, and don't take anything less then 100% at recovery.
3. Know your limits so that you can go beyond them sensibly and intelligently.
4. Just like with driving: don’t kite tired.
5. Drink water before kiting. If you spend more than 1.5 hours on water, put electrolytes in your water before you take off. They will keep water in your muscles. Dehydrated muscles cramp, fatigue and break easier.
6. Warm up. Even just jogging down to the beach is fine, as long as you puff at the end. (if you are athletic you can carry my gear as well just to puff at the end....)
7. If you sit most of the day you need more warm up. If you are emotionally stressed, you need more stretches.
8. Stretch only after warm up.
9. Take the first 10-15min of kiting as a warm-up when you are in your 20's (even when your girlfriend is around), and add an extra 5-10 minutes with every 10 years thereafter...
Lumbar pain:
1. Seat harness for most cases. It may restrict your movements, and look uncool, but sitting at home or lying in bed with pain is not too cool either. If you ride the waves, or like to ride toe side check out my harness modifications.
2. Do not unhook. Riding unhooked is similar to lifting, which is a no-go with lumbar problems.
3. Avoid landing toe side from a jump. It’s a bit tricky not to jump when going through the shore break toe side, but do your best, and land softly. It is better to just splash in the water and get wiped out, then landing in an awkward position and go home crook.
4. Strengthen your belly muscles. Even just lifting up your board above your head with each jump will do, apart from some sit-ups on windless days. Pilates is great, but it may cause lower back strain if you are not careful.
5. Strengthen your knees so that you can keep them bent and flexible all time. Rigid / weak knees at landing from a jump = pressure on L4 L5 = trouble.
6. If you don’t have the luxury of a massage jet in a spa, then have regular massages or other forms of body work, and use some liniments on your back before and after kiting. What I use is called “Zen” and probably available in pharmacies (I am not associated with the manufacturer in any ways.)
7. Sort out all injuries with professionals. Scar tissue formation, calcifications are sources of further injuries and pain. Just because it has stopped hurting, it may not necessarily be healed.
8. Partially dislocated hip (or any other) joint, that some of you had, usually means ligament stretch or break, and it is a bad news. It needs to be sorted out professionally and has to go through a rehabilitation process. Otherwise it will keep coming back.
Knee pain:
1. If it is painful check it out with your doc for ligament or cartilage tear. And if the tests come positive, repair it (usually surgery, and rehab). If no tear, then it is muscular weakness, mainly the quads (front thigh muscles)...and this is the better news (HTFU as one may say)
2. Jog, and jump around a little while, warm up your knees before you go on the water. Then stretch, make sure your quads (thigh) muscles are warm and flexible before you go on the water. (you sure get my message by now: warm up precede stretches. This is an unorthodox approach...yes, it works)
3. On the water be gradual, gentle and flexible. This is the secret. If your knees giving notices, it usually means limitation in the strength of your thigh muscles. Don’t ignore it, take a rest. If you HTFU you will break. It’s better to take rest every 30 min and go back, than going home after 60min due to pain.
4. After kiting keep your knee, and quads warm. Don’t hang out in 20+kn even if the weather is warm. The wind chill will make your blood vessels contract, reduce circulation = pain. (I always have this in colder weather….nasty…until I rub something in my knee and put on something warm.)
5. Keep your quads super strong, especially if you kite 2-3 hours without break. Squats, gym work, cycling are great. Sitting is a killer.
6. Use some liniment on your knee after session, as I suggested above…

At last (only for male): don't fight with the waves...make love with them...don't they remind you to beautiful breasts....?

Factor 5 said...

^^^ oooh yeah, nothing like a hot jacuzzi after a hard days riding!! really assists recovery.

Also like to have a beer with that too, and perhaps a naked babe also

..one step at a time......start with the jacuzzi....

Try doing this 3 times a week for 6 months.

Heysoos boys and girls,
I am astonished!!! Man it up girls, I am older than all of you . Sore is pain, birth is pain, youth is pain, love is pain, death is pain, and above all fun is PAIN!!!!!!
My advice is; if it is too hard, take up lawn bowls. (Sarck)
By the way, just spent 2 days in St George Spinal Unit, suspected broken neck, popped disc, be careful you guys.