Joined: 13 Dec 2011 Posts: 918 City: Lake Lewisville, Texas
Posted: Jan 09, 2012 3:35 pm Post subject: Knee Strength
I am still young, but wakeboarding kills my knees. After riding for a long time my knees just ache and have sharp pains that run through my knees.
Should I just work on building up knee strength and how?? _________________ A little part of me dies inside every time I see an $80,000 Malibu Wakesetter pulling a tuber.
You should be sore until your muscles get used to it, but there definitely shouldn't be experiencing sharp pains. You may need to adjust the stance of your bindings. What I suggest is jumping off of some steps to the ground and landing with your feet about shoulder-length apart while squatting down kinda low to absorb the impact. Keep your feet in that position and see where they are. That will show you how your feet/legs are turned naturally and you should try to copy that on the wakeboard.
Right now your stance could be too wide, too narrow, or your bindings aren't 'ducked' out enough.
What JB said. Also, in the grand scheme of things, there are some fitness routines you can get into to protect your joints and your body as a whole from the punishment of wakeboarding.
If you want to protect your knees, support them by strengthening the muscles around them: your quads, your hamstrings, etc. Flexibility is also a must. Get into some yoga or at least try to stretch daily.
None of this will totally prevent knee injuries or long term damage, but it should help you get the most life out of what you've got left to work with. _________________ rally to the wake
Joined: 13 Dec 2011 Posts: 918 City: Lake Lewisville, Texas
Posted: Jan 10, 2012 3:26 pm Post subject:
Okay so if the place you land is where your bindings should be?? And what do you mean about the bindings?
So by strengheningthe muscpes around your knee will help your knee overall? _________________ A little part of me dies inside every time I see an $80,000 Malibu Wakesetter pulling a tuber.
Okay so if the place you land is where your bindings should be?? And what do you mean about the bindings?
So by strengheningthe muscpes around your knee will help your knee overall?
I'll let JB explain the stance advice. Strengthening your muscles MAY save you from a knee injury but there are no guarantees. In the event that you land weird, your muscles will support and cushion your knee or other joints and reduce some of the shock and deformation. They will dissipate some of the energy of impact that would otherwise go to your knee and try to tear your ligaments/tendons.
The stronger your muscles, the more effectively your knee will be supported. However, in some crashes, there is simply too much force or too extreme an angle for your muscles to protect you. In those cases, the harsh reality is that you're going to get hurt, and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it.
Basically, stronger muscles will reduce the force imparted to your ligaments in a crash, and stronger/more flexible ligaments will be more likely to absorb that force and deform/stretch without tearing. _________________ rally to the wake
Joined: 13 Dec 2011 Posts: 918 City: Lake Lewisville, Texas
Posted: Jan 10, 2012 4:31 pm Post subject:
So it may or may not help. When building up those muscles it helps when dealing with impact of a landing?
Stupid question but is it easy to tear a ligament while wakeboarding?? _________________ A little part of me dies inside every time I see an $80,000 Malibu Wakesetter pulling a tuber.
Stupid question but is it easy to tear a ligament while wakeboarding??
It depends on how healthy you are. If you're young and fit, you shouldn't freak out about it. I've been riding several days a week for more than a year now, and the only injuries I've ever had were concussions, cuts, bruises, and a minor hematoma. My knees feel fine. I know it could happen any day, but it's not something I worry about. I just do my best to take care of my body off the water, and when it's time to ride, I just go out and ride.
Knee injuries are freak accidents/bad luck. They're fairly common among high-level wakeboarders/veteran riders, but if you're just a casual newbie, you don't have all that much to worry about. If you ride regularly for years and years, chances are good that you'll suffer at least one knee injury. It's not the end of the world. I'm sure it sucks, but it's a risk you have to be willing to accept if you want to be a wakeboarder. _________________ rally to the wake
Joined: 13 Dec 2011 Posts: 918 City: Lake Lewisville, Texas
Posted: Jan 10, 2012 7:12 pm Post subject:
I am healthy and pretty fit...working on working out more. I have almost had a concusssion and a couple bruises but i bruise easily. What is a hematoma?? So i shouldnt worry about knee injurys much? Thats just my biggest worry but if it happens it happens. stuff happens. _________________ A little part of me dies inside every time I see an $80,000 Malibu Wakesetter pulling a tuber.
It's an injury that occurs when the tiny blood vessels under your skin break and the blood leaks out into your tissue and pools, forming a bruise or a lump or both. It's similar to a hickey. In my case, I fell on a backside 180 and my forearm got stuck in the handle. As the boat yanked the handle off my forearm, some of my blood vessels broke and this lump formed. It scared the stuff out of me, but it healed up quickly and I was completely fine.
It was a freak accident. It's never happened to me again or to any other riders I know. However, it's always a good idea to keep your arm out of the handle because if you fall in that position, you can get hurt a lot worse than I did. I've seen some really disgusting stuff.
wakechick13 wrote:
So i shouldnt worry about knee injurys much? Thats just my biggest worry but if it happens it happens. stuff happens.
Exactly. You have the right attitude. On any given day, the chance that you'll hurt your knee is tiny. If it's your turn, it's your turn, and you'll just have to deal with it. If you're healthy and you truly love to ride, you'll come back from an injury like that just fine.
Joined: 13 Dec 2011 Posts: 918 City: Lake Lewisville, Texas
Posted: Jan 11, 2012 4:55 am Post subject:
Ow. That sounds like it would hurt. I have never even heard of that happening. I will always remember to keep my arm out of the handle! But im glad you were ok.
Thanks. Yeah I really love to ride, so I cant let some injury hurt stop me. Your right. _________________ A little part of me dies inside every time I see an $80,000 Malibu Wakesetter pulling a tuber.
Okay so if the place you land is where your bindings should be?? And what do you mean about the bindings?
So by strengheningthe muscpes around your knee will help your knee overall?
The bindings are the boots on your board. Just unscrew the bolts, make the adjustment to match your natural position from the jumping thing and it should improve.
Joined: 13 Dec 2011 Posts: 918 City: Lake Lewisville, Texas
Posted: Jan 11, 2012 2:28 pm Post subject:
So I just need to find my natrual feeling stance? Yeah that website helped a bunch! _________________ A little part of me dies inside every time I see an $80,000 Malibu Wakesetter pulling a tuber.
I've had 3 knee surgeries. One was an ACL reconstruction complete with a few screws about the size of my little finger. The other two were meniscus repairs and were much less severe but I don't have lateral meniscus in my right knee now. Anyway, my knees aren't the best in the world anymore, but I still wakeboard several times a week from early april to the end of october. I don't try to do big jumps or tricks that I don't feel comfortable with. My knee will swell for a few days sometimes if I take a hard landing and be sore, but nothing I can't ride through. I did buy a slingshot board this year and the landings are so much softer. By the way, I did not tear my ACL wakeboarding, just saying that if you do get hurt, it doesn't mean that you can never ride again. May have to take a break, though!
Joined: 13 Dec 2011 Posts: 918 City: Lake Lewisville, Texas
Posted: Jan 11, 2012 7:42 pm Post subject:
Well sounds like you have been through a bunch of knee pains!! Can you tell me the difference between a slingshot board and a regular board? And if I may ask...how did you tear your ACL?? _________________ A little part of me dies inside every time I see an $80,000 Malibu Wakesetter pulling a tuber.
Can you tell me the difference between a slingshot board and a regular board?
He's using a flex board. They're softer and more flexible than traditional construction wakeboards. Slingshot is widely considered the industry leader in this emerging segment of the market. Flex boards are exploding in popularity and many people say that they land softer than regular boards.
I wouldn't necessarily agree with that. It really depends on the board. I ride a Slingshot flex board as well, and it lands like a brick because it doesn't have any bottom features like spines to break the surface and it does have a very aggressive three-stage rocker that puts less of the board in contact with the water.
Not all flex boards land soft, but some do. It's worth looking into, if not for the landings, just because flex boards allow you to do awesome surface tricks like you see in the video below and they are more fun to press out on rails.
I started out riding a CWB faze board so that is the only one that I can compare the slingshot too. The slingshot board is a flex board and does make a noticeable difference in the landing. When landing on the CWB, my knees felt like they were taking a beating. My CWB was just a beginner board so I'm sure that had something to do with it too.
I tore my ACL playing softball in college ....long before I ever started wakeboarding.
I started out on the Faze as well, but I wasn't good enough to take it big and find out how it landed in the flats. _________________ rally to the wake
Joined: 13 Dec 2011 Posts: 918 City: Lake Lewisville, Texas
Posted: Jan 12, 2012 3:16 pm Post subject:
Is the Faze a better beginner board?? And that ACL injury sounds like it hurt! _________________ A little part of me dies inside every time I see an $80,000 Malibu Wakesetter pulling a tuber.
Joined: 13 Dec 2011 Posts: 918 City: Lake Lewisville, Texas
Posted: Jan 12, 2012 3:33 pm Post subject:
Better than a slingshot or regular board? _________________ A little part of me dies inside every time I see an $80,000 Malibu Wakesetter pulling a tuber.
What do you mean? It is a "regular" board as opposed to a flex board. It's a board of traditional construction that's shaped to be forgiving to a beginner, and it does a damn good job of giving beginners the confidence they need to learn pop and edge control. _________________ rally to the wake
Joined: 13 Dec 2011 Posts: 918 City: Lake Lewisville, Texas
Posted: Jan 12, 2012 4:30 pm Post subject:
I dont know what I meant to be honest. So those boards are easier to learn to jump and such? _________________ A little part of me dies inside every time I see an $80,000 Malibu Wakesetter pulling a tuber.
The Faze is a little easier on jumps than some boards that have more aggressive rocker lines, but you'll really notice the difference when you're edging, i.e. learning to turn and control the board on the surface of the water. The particular shapes of the rails and channels cut into the bottom of the Faze help beginning riders guide their turns without being so powerful that they catch and throw you on your face when you make a mistake.
Most flex boards are cable-first boards that have few or no bottom features. Once you learn proper edge technique, they give you the freedom to get creative like the guy in that video I posted. But until you're comfortable spinning and sliding and pressing every which way, they're a little harder to control. They're like a bike with no training wheels. _________________ rally to the wake
Joined: 13 Dec 2011 Posts: 918 City: Lake Lewisville, Texas
Posted: Jan 12, 2012 6:09 pm Post subject:
Okay..its starting to click. Cable-first boards?? Yeah not quite comfortable with that yet... _________________ A little part of me dies inside every time I see an $80,000 Malibu Wakesetter pulling a tuber.
Joined: 13 Dec 2011 Posts: 918 City: Lake Lewisville, Texas
Posted: Jan 12, 2012 6:46 pm Post subject:
Well I have a board that I really enjoy riding right now Im just interested in what other boards are out there. _________________ A little part of me dies inside every time I see an $80,000 Malibu Wakesetter pulling a tuber.
As you should be. I've only been riding for like 17 months or so and I'm already on my third board. There's an amazing variety of riding styles out there and a plethora of boards to match. _________________ rally to the wake
Joined: 13 Dec 2011 Posts: 918 City: Lake Lewisville, Texas
Posted: Jan 12, 2012 6:52 pm Post subject:
I have only been riding for 3 summer, got school that preoccupies my time. Yeah this board is a hand-me-down from my dad...my 2nd board. _________________ A little part of me dies inside every time I see an $80,000 Malibu Wakesetter pulling a tuber.
I thought the Faze was a great beginner board, but I'm sure there are others out there just as good. The big center fin makes it very stable. Once I was comfortable edging I took the center fins off. Definitely not going to do surface tricks with those fins. Even after riding the faze without fins the slingshot felt really loose when I first started riding it. Had to ride it 4-5 times to get used to it, but I love it now. the ACL injury definitely wasn't fun, but wasn't the worst that could happen either. Recovery from the surgery is about a year, but after that if you strengthen your leg back properly, you're pretty much good to go. I do wear a brace to wakeboard now, but mostly because my husband is in medical school and he freaks out if I don't wear it.
jbcs16, props to you for coming back from that surgery. I would just like to point out for wakechick13's benefit that your recovery time of a year isn't necessarily the standard for everyone. It really varies quite a bit. Friends of mine have managed to get back on the board in as little as 6 months. _________________ rally to the wake
Joined: 13 Dec 2011 Posts: 918 City: Lake Lewisville, Texas
Posted: Jan 13, 2012 5:20 am Post subject:
The board that Im riding right now has a fin in the back. It felt loose?
Well Im glad you recovered well jbcs16, and if it was up to you, not yoir husband would you wear the brace?
TheHebrewHammer, your recovery time probably depends on the seriousness of the injury, right? _________________ A little part of me dies inside every time I see an $80,000 Malibu Wakesetter pulling a tuber.
The seriousness of the injury and also what method you use to repair your knee (patellar tendon graft vs. cadaver), but it mostly comes down to your rehab. Again, young, healthy, and committed people will heal faster.
As for the board, it would feel a heck of a lot looser without the fin. _________________ rally to the wake
If I had been wakeboarding at the time I would have probably been back on the water in 6 months. I was definitely able to get out and do stuff in 6 months, but I didn't feel like I was back to close to 100% until about a year. I was not comfortable doing anything without a brace until about a year out. I just started wakeboarding 3 summers ago and I did not wear my brace at first. I don't wear it for anything else now, so I didn't think about wearing it for wakeboarding either. I caught an edge and took a nasty fall one day and thought I had hurt my knee again. Ended up having to get MRI and all, but nothing was torn. My orthopedic surgeon recommended the brace and actually ordered a new one for me. My husband wanted me to wear it and I didn't like it at first. But after a few rides with it, I realized that I felt more secure and comfortable with it on. So, I guess I would not have started wearing it on my own, but now it would feel weird riding without it. I had the first surgery 12 years ago and braces have come a long way in 10 years. They used to be a lot more restrictive than the newer ones. I'm not one to sit on the sidelines. I had shoulder surgery 2 summers ago and skied 12 days after surgery (on 2 skis and with my arm in a post op brace/sling thing). And yes, the ACL reconstruction recovery depends on the method. Mine was done from several hamstring tendons, which I would not recommend. It was the newest thing at the time but rehabbing the hamstring missing 3 tendons was as bad as the knee. lost a lot of flexibility and strength for a while. I had a really bad meniscus tear too. They tried to fix it, but ended up going back in and just removing the lateral meniscus.
Joined: 13 Dec 2011 Posts: 918 City: Lake Lewisville, Texas
Posted: Jan 13, 2012 3:27 pm Post subject:
So it is looser without the fin?
Do you still to this day wear the brace? That sounds like it hurt, but Im hlad your okay now. My best friend just had knee surgery. She tore her meniscus and all the cartliage around her knee. _________________ A little part of me dies inside every time I see an $80,000 Malibu Wakesetter pulling a tuber.
jbcs16, damn, scary stuff! I always assumed that anyone who had gone through reconstructive knee surgery had to wear a brace for just about any sport. _________________ rally to the wake
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