Is this common? I regularly skate and surf and never have issues but after an hour session the top of my knees ache for a few hours a little bit. I wonder how much worse it will get when I start going grey!

Almost didn't bother answering this Drew because you won't listen and will want to "experiment for yourself" anyway.
Regardless, some others may find this useful: Joint pain (particularly after exercise) is usually due to muscle imbalance. You are using muscles and putting strain on tendons not normally used previously or in other activities, the tightening of these muscles & tendons is putting stress on your joints in ways they are not used to and therefore creating pain. The best way to release this pain is regular stretching, massage and exercises that work the other muscles to keep your limbs in "balance". I do regular Pilates classes, get a deep tissue massage and do other sports like rock climbing, cycling, running and swimming to try balance my bodies activity and muscle use. Good diet helps too by the way.
NOTE: Above advice doesn't take joint disease like arthritis or gout into account by the way however my sister has had rheumatoid arthritis since her teens and lives a mostly pain free life through proper diet and exercise.

Or you have a stiff harsh board and are getting hammered in the chop, or you are doing harsh landings, or your stance set up is hurting your knees or a combination of the above.

Hey mate,
Totally agree with the above advice.
Being of the grey variety
I often get ankle and knee soreness.
As plums says ,often too stiff a board and to wide a stance position will add to knee soreness.
Carbon boards seem to be a little stiffer in flex and give.
Cold compacts or hot with legs up, can relieve the pain.
Also a couple of coldies don't go astray.??

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drewpweiner said..
Is this common? I regularly skate and surf and never have issues but after an hour session the top of my knees ache for a few hours a little bit. I wonder how much worse it will get when I start going grey!

Change the angle of your bindings, Reducing the amount your legs are rotated may also help.

One more note of advice, I found a post here years ago someone put up with a series of yoga stretches. It's a ten to 15 minute routine. I incorporated that into my program and it has helped big time. I have had two knee surgeries (acl left, meniscus right) and tore the medial right that did not require surgery but does cause me pain if I over work it by going for runs over 6 k's and more than three times a week.
The yoga keeps me strong and supple and have had less injuries due to flexibility. I am in my mid 50's. I want to be able to keep charging into my 80's :)

But wait there's more.

Toeside can play havoc with knees and hips.

Sliding spreaders/twisting harnesses can reduce hip/knee toeside soreness.

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dafish said..
One more note of advice, I found a post here years ago someone put up with a series of yoga stretches. It's a ten to 15 minute routine. I incorporated that into my program and it has helped big time. I have had two knee surgeries (acl left, meniscus right) and tore the medial right that did not require surgery but does cause me pain if I over work it by going for runs over 6 k's and more than three times a week.
The yoga keeps me strong and supple and have had less injuries due to flexibility. I am in my mid 50's. I want to be able to keep charging into my 80's :)

Hey buddy, can you post the exercises here? I hate stretching and although I do them am always looking for alternatives to the usual stretches I do.

Strange thing I find is that from carrying my toddler down the hill to daycare or other gentle exercise I quite often tweak my knees, and to fix it I often go out and just hammer it on the kite and it seems to straighten things out for me!

Weird ay

My mates girlfriend is a physio and she said I'm probably getting knee pain because when I bend my knees it's not inline with my feet, so it's twisting the knee when I bend it (kind of hard to explain). She told me to keep my feet inline with my knee when I'm on my board.

Duck angle on the straps or boots of 12-18 degrees depending on wether your inserts are straight or off set. Had to play around with it a bit to rid my pain. Stood on my board with no boots attached slightly wider than shoulder width then crouch down your feet should naturally want to move to a comfy position to take the strain off the knees. Put a couple dots on the board round your feet and use this to set the closest angle on the straps or boots. If it doesn't work then some of the above mentioned things may be in play

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drewpweiner said..
Is this common? I regularly skate and surf and never have issues but after an hour session the top of my knees ache for a few hours a little bit. I wonder how much worse it will get when I start going grey!

You might need to give the river dancing a break

There's a few kiteboarding specific warm up videos on You Tube and Vimeo if you go looking. I'm currently seeing a Sports Physio for some leg issue and they pretty much excluded arthritis right away based on hip and knee ranging in various postures. Basically as Gateman says a lot of knee and hip issues are down to imbalance and tightness. Flexibility work will only get you so far, what you need to do is strengthen the supporting structures. Go see a PT or Exercise Physiologist for guidance and don't rely on Dr Google - might cost you a few bucks; but my PT friends at work all say once you've got a program sorted, you aren't looking at heaps of sessions for treatment - like most things in life you have to put the work in yourself to heal yourself (and be smart about it).

I am 68 spend some time each week in the surf or chop and yes you will get some aches and pains. Just grin and bear it and it will come good eventually.

55yo, ice knees after a big session, does wonders followed by a lot of SFA. Less rigid board helps enormously.

Board with increased flex
a kite with more natural lift
shinn boards are renowned for there butter feel in choppy conditions add a higher powered kite and your load on the water is heavily reduced
if you want to strengthen your knees surrounding muscles then ski squats are a simple but highly effective exercise
you just need a smooth wall and rolled towel to perform the exercise

Add the rolled towel between knees and cross your arms for extra pain

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shi thouse said..

dafish said..
One more note of advice, I found a post here years ago someone put up with a series of yoga stretches. It's a ten to 15 minute routine. I incorporated that into my program and it has helped big time. I have had two knee surgeries (acl left, meniscus right) and tore the medial right that did not require surgery but does cause me pain if I over work it by going for runs over 6 k's and more than three times a week.
The yoga keeps me strong and supple and have had less injuries due to flexibility. I am in my mid 50's. I want to be able to keep charging into my 80's :)

Hey buddy, can you post the exercises here? I hate stretching and although I do them am always looking for alternatives to the usual stretches I do.

sorry, I tried searching but could not find it. It was from like 2012 or so. The routine covered quite a few muscles and in the summer months actually get a sweat up from doing them. If I ever do come across it I will post it to you.

one of these ?

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bfg said..
one of these ?

Good post dude
I just stretched my underpants a few inches watching them

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cauncy said..

bfg said..
one of these ?

Good post dude
I just stretched my underpants a few inches watching them

hahaha

Buy a Tranq, problem solved.

I had the same problem, always after using my bigger board. No problems with the other board. I brought the bindings closer together and changed their angle - to suit my anatomy. No more sore knees, or lower back pain.

only kite related knee injury I've suffered was carpet burns

Sh!t where's Lotowind

He'd be all over this if it was s windsurfer asking
Oh that's right, one trick pony past his use-by date.

^^^^Grumpy Old Troll

I'm 57. My knees never hurt. Been snowboarding since 92, skateboarding since 1965, ( with break 1975-2007) Kiting since 2001.
Why?
Been riding bicycles since I was 7, and in my 20-45 years old, like 4000km a year. quads and knees are strong. These days I do 1000-2000 km year,
Please note that I gave zero genetic advantages, my parents and grand parents were couch potatoes.
Start cycling

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TomW059 said..
I'm 57. My knees never hurt. Been snowboarding since 92, skateboarding since 1965, ( with break 1975-2007) Kiting since 2001.
Why?
Been riding bicycles since I was 7, and in my 20-45 years old, like 4000km a year. quads and knees are strong. These days I do 1000-2000 km year,
Please note that I gave zero genetic advantages, my parents and grand parents were couch potatoes.
Start cycling

Agree on cycling strengthening knees and an easy roll after a kite session seems to do wonders for getting the knees working again after a kite session. However more recently have noticed a bike ride before a kite makes me unco on the board again, falling off a lot when I ride strapless and takes a few goes to get back into the swing of it. Somehow the two don't compliment each other from a balance perspective. AndI used to ride700-800 km per month on average.

I would skateboard more but I look a bit like old kook at the half pipe and I still cannot get the balls to drop in. Concrete is hard.

Yes, cycling should be done on non kiting days. Otherwise your legs will get too tired.

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Plummet said..
But wait there's more.

Toeside can play havoc with knees and hips.

Sliding spreaders/twisting harnesses can reduce hip/knee toeside soreness.

I do find I get sore in hip and knee since riding more toeside. And I'm not even that old yet...