Just trying to narrow down potential causes of an injury. About 6-8 weeks ago got a new harness, it beat me up a bit from being super grippy so got a rope sliding setup. (Wanted to try one anyway). Had non stop wind for about 6 weeks right after, and had increasingly nagging lower back pain. About 10 days ago I was surfing and the pain just went to 10, legs locked, could barely walk...

Go to the hospital and they say it's a facet joint ligament tear/sprain. I know I could have gotten this no matter what, but the new harness setup was the only change in my program and it aligns with when the pain began. I kite long hours, 20 days a month when there's wind, never had any back issues. Maybe having the pull come from extreme angles with the rope slider might have contributed? Curious as to other's experiences. For now surfing the couch and hoping to get back in the water soon, will switch back to my boardshort harness and fixed hook for a while to see if the pain comes back. Hopefully it wasn't the rope setup causing the pain, I love how it feels in the waves. Thanks for any advice guys.

The seat harness with fixed hook limits the amount which you can twist, so it might be that you know have a larger range of motion than you previously had? So you can stretch and tear ligaments that aren't routinely getting that range of motion?

I had similar maybe 3 years ago when i was a quite a new kiter.
I ignored minor lower back pain for a while then wham, got zapped in the super market picking something up.
Could barely walk or standup. Took 6 months to recover.

My learning is go to the physio or whatever when you first get lower back pain amd do
something about it before you get fxxxxxked big time.
Im going to the physio tuesday as back is starting to hurt again

Good luck!

I sometimes get lower back pain from kiting too hard,
it's the same as I get from shovelling too hard.

I learnt from my Bowen therapist that my hips are being pushed out of alignment.
Which is easy to test, just lie straight, flat on your back and one leg will be slightly longer than the other.
This is the most common cause of back pain and is usually misdiagnosed.

to fix it I have one of these www.crazysales.com.au:443/online-genki-inversion-gravity-table-1247.html?aid=11&gclid=CIqLzc_D-tACFQMHvAodz7YLaA

and one of these bowendirectory.com

also your body will repair quicker if you have more protein in your diet

Sliding spreader
Knock the baby oil and the chick on the head

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psychojoe said..
I sometimes get lower back pain from kiting too hard,
it's the same as I get from shovelling too hard.

I learnt from my Bowen therapist that my hips are being pushed out of alignment.
Which is easy to test, just lie straight, flat on your back and one leg will be slightly longer than the other.
This is the most common cause of back pain and is usually misdiagnosed.

to fix it I have one of these www.crazysales.com.au:443/online-genki-inversion-gravity-table-1247.html?aid=11&gclid=CIqLzc_D-tACFQMHvAodz7YLaA

and one of these bowendirectory.com

also your body will repair quicker if you have more protein in your diet

twisted spine = scoliosis. very common esp. if you carry something heavy on one shoulder.

+1 for Bowen therapy my wife practises this and I am like brand new the next day, although I don't get it free anymore...

It's more likely your harness than the sliding spreader is the culprit.......although it is a combination of the two. The sliding spreader can pull you at an angle, not central so can cause back pain when coupled with the wrong harness. Image a strong toeside tack when you are twisted and getting pulled on your hip and bumped around. I tried heaps of harness set ups over the years. And went through the hip burn, back pain learning curve. Some had better back support but chaffed hips; and vice versa. The worst culprits were small profile, soft harnesses (which I thought would be great for surfing). Pick something that locks in place with plenty of back support, and has a harder structure or shell. The unfortunate thing is when choosing a harness; you really aren't going to know until you have ridden for a few hours. It's trial and error. Plus some body shapes don't hold down harnesses as well as others.

Thank you to everyone who shared their experiences with me, I am counting my blessings as it sounds like I had it pretty easy. Pretty scary stuff and really, really frustrating. I was also remembering that I do a pretty long walk upwind to land my kite, and my back is always a little sore from that. Maybe the high wind days I was putting too much strain at a weird angle and something gave. Definitely going to have to get into some yoga and more serious stretching when I'm ready. I have problems with that usually because I'm so hyper and frothing to hit the water. Thanks again guys.

Select to expand quote

JKimbler said..
Just trying to narrow down potential causes of an injury. About 6-8 weeks ago got a new harness, it beat me up a bit from being super grippy so got a rope sliding setup. (Wanted to try one anyway). Had non stop wind for about 6 weeks right after, and had increasingly nagging lower back pain. About 10 days ago I was surfing and the pain just went to 10, legs locked, could barely walk...

Go to the hospital and they say it's a facet joint ligament tear/sprain. I know I could have gotten this no matter what, but the new harness setup was the only change in my program and it aligns with when the pain began. I kite long hours, 20 days a month when there's wind, never had any back issues. Maybe having the pull come from extreme angles with the rope slider might have contributed? Curious as to other's experiences. For now surfing the couch and hoping to get back in the water soon, will switch back to my boardshort harness and fixed hook for a while to see if the pain comes back. Hopefully it wasn't the rope setup causing the pain, I love how it feels in the waves. Thanks for any advice guys.

Put the sliding spreader on to your boardshorts harness, see how that goes? I'd be thinking its the new harness, especially if you were using a boardshorts (seat) harness and then switched to a waist harness. Waist harness will load up your core muscles very differently to a waist harness and that where I reckon your problem came from.
If you kite a lot, young or older, you need to stretch in between sessions, eat well, drink heaps of water, get plenty of rest between sessions, etc. Kitesurfing long hours puts a lot of stress and strain on your body, annoying young people seem to be able to just do and party all night, but as we age, we all definitely need to do more of what I mentioned above.

For the record, I'm kiting heaps, with previously damaged L1/L2/L3 vertebra. Used to get sore back issues with fixed hook and soft shell harnesses, but switched to a slider and noticed a huge improvement in comfort and riding ability, then to a hardshell harness (RE), and have discovered to most comfortable setup I've ever used (even got a back up RE harness).

As a older newbie and all ready suffering lower back pain from time to time, I am thinking of a seat harness. Do they affect the hole learning process though? And I see there are two different types, built in board shorts and the others what look like they are for mountain climbing. Just personal preference between the two types or is there a huge difference?
Cheers guys for help.

Sliding harness causing back pain? Not my experience. Actually i reakon the freedom / extra movement your slider gives will help your back. It did for mine anyway. Try going back to a fixed hook when you can, i reakon you wont try it for long before you switch back to the slider again :)

Some solid points from Ozone,
I should mention, I was on a waist for about a year before this, the boardshort setup was from a couple years ago but it's my go-to when I have any type of back issue. So boardshort to waist is a non issue, thinking the new harness wasn't really working out with my body. When I'm healthy I'm going to start with the boardshort/fixed, then put the slider on the boardshorts and see how it goes. Hoping to keep using the slider, it's a great setup. Of course, it could just be I'm getting old and falling apart, f***....

Pinched nerve. Get an MRI