With a 20 knot NE'r and a nice little swell at my local, not to mention sunshine and four days off in a row, I am feeling a little bit depressed because the knee I injured at Merimbula (grade 2 torn medial ligament left knee) is so much better but still no where near ready to kite on.

The frustrating part is I can walk around all day and it feels pretty good. But one wrong move or squat and it quickly reminds me of the world of pain I was in first two weeks. It's now been 5 weeks and 1 day, give or take an hour.

Who has had this type of injury and how long did it take before you were 100%?

Had that same injury few years back(at the beginning of the season)....took 6 to 8 weeks....Then no big issues.

Did mine last year. Don't rush it. Took me 4 weeks to get back into it, but wore a brace for 6 months and stayed off the tt as well. I was able to work, but as you say, One wrong move and you know it!
I think one of the local kids did his yesterday, they will know tomorrow.
Hope you heal quickly as the season has been pretty good so far.

I had a full knee Recon few years back happened the start of December, took 9 mths to get back out there, the pain of watching the Boyz over summer was worse than the injury....

But you get on..

Yours seems only a minor set back .

You'll be back out there soon

Google strapping knees, might be useful when you do feel ready to head back out.

I've got a stressed and painful medial but have managed to keep kiting with a physio fitted support. Has not given me the confidence I need so tried the adhesive strapping as well.

Just finished a fairly aggressive 2 hr session in surf and very happy, no pain or swelling and didn't go into the pain zone

The only pain is putting it on and taking it off. Good luck with it.

I stuffed my left knee years ago and kiting with straps would always flare up the pain. Having no heel support it would wiggle around and hurt, and accidentally landing jumps with one foot out would give me a week long limp.

As soon as I got boots all the pain went away and now it's got heaps stronger. Having a supported heel and ankle seemed to cause less strain and twisting movements at the knee. Worth a shot if you haven't tried boot man.

Thanks all. I'm a surfboard girl so I'm going to lose the straps (bummer, cos I know unstrapped is cooler but you can try more stuff with them). Strapping tape and a brace and I reckon I'll be out there in 2 weeks hopefully.

good luck with boots on a strappless surfboard



beaten by 2 minutes

ha Hamburglar I am thinking about trying a blowup shark as my vehicle of choice. Cool avatar ;)

PS does anyone want to buy a brand new girls wakeboard :(

check out Rocktape

I've had four knee reconstructions on my left knee (last one was 15 years ago) and wear a brace every day because of the level of instability I still have in the joint. But, with a custom fitted brace, a strong leg and paying attention to how it feels I don't have to many restrictions. Best advice is to listen to your doctor and don't try to return to soon. Surgeries two and three were the result of thinking I was "healed".

I had. 2 x knee reconstructions.

I use. Donjoy knee brace, best thing ever purchased. Can kite on my twin tip with no stress my knee will buckle. There are not super expensive either.

Get on and get back out there.

I feel your pain Ezza i am in the same boat as you . I broke my heal and am not going to be able to kite for about 4 to 6 months .
I hope you have a quick recovery and get back on the water soon .I even watched a kiter from my hosiptal bed out in a sweet southly the other day
it sux you just want to be out there cant wait to get back out my self and its only been a week .

Weeeeee i can see the light at the end of the tunnel, i'm pain free with full range of motion now. it's been seven weeks and two days, and around 4 hours.

I've got strapping tape, a brace and those constant butterflies in my belly that you get when you can smell a session coming on.... the physio said give it ONE more week to be sure to be sure.

I've started letting myself check the forecast again.... i've put the fins back in my board... FROTH levels at an all time high!!!

Awesome ezza from someone who has been struggling with injury ( albeit not as profound as yours) great to hear soon you will be back in action mate.

ezza check this site out www.kiteboardingexercises.com will help with strenthening you knee so to avoid any dramas later on, ski squats are a great strength building exercises, it helped me with my recovery youll know when its working as your legs will be on fire .

Good news ezza I'm happy for you !!! . Reading your last post was giving me the butterflies .

Go easy on it, and think about the next 40 years of kiting you still have in the tank.
Don't burn out too soon.......longevity is the key.

Ezza, you should be looking good at 7 weeks post MCL grade 2 injury. Now you have range of motion back, you need strength, more strength, and a little power mixed in. Hopping pain free at least 15-20 times with confidence in changes of direction (zig zag hops etc.) is a good functional guide for return to kiting (see below for more formal assessment)

Exercises that would be good
- Leg Press / Squats single and double leg
- Glut exercises in single leg stance like step ups or similar
- Calf raises single leg
- Box jumps (jump onto box)
- Skipping
- Hop sequences like zig zag
- Minitramp jogging with holds on single leg(balance), wobble board, or Bosu squat

A quick test you can do your self is a hop test - or get physio to do it. Singe leg hop for distance (compare injured vs non-injured), and a more challenging triple x-over hop (3 hops for distance crossing two lines 15cms apart). Injured should be at least 90%, ideally >95% of uninjured. Same for strength (no. of calf raises or single leg squats to failure). I have used a similar return to sport criteria with elite snowboarders in the past.

Kerry (Sports Physio)

Cheers for the positive messages guys and thankyou so much for the expert advice Kerry! Much appreciated! I will put it into practice to see if I'm ready.

You'll be there before you know it Stuntnaz. Try my methods to take your mind off things... Buy a guitar, enrol in an OHS and physics course at the same time (or not... that is kinda hard), pimp your kite vehicle etc etc. I've also started making a quilt and have learnt to knit (don't judge me!)

Select to expand quote

KezzaK said...
Ezza, you should be looking good at 7 weeks post MCL grade 2 injury. Now you have range of motion back, you need strength, more strength, and a little power mixed in. Hopping pain free at least 15-20 times with confidence in changes of direction (zig zag hops etc.) is a good functional guide for return to kiting (see below for more formal assessment)

Exercises that would be good
- Leg Press / Squats single and double leg
- Glut exercises in single leg stance like step ups or similar
- Calf raises single leg
- Box jumps (jump onto box)
- Skipping
- Hop sequences like zig zag
- Minitramp jogging with holds on single leg(balance), wobble board, or Bosu squat

A quick test you can do your self is a hop test - or get physio to do it. Singe leg hop for distance (compare injured vs non-injured), and a more challenging triple x-over hop (3 hops for distance crossing two lines 15cms apart). Injured should be at least 90%, ideally >95% of uninjured. Same for strength (no. of calf raises or single leg squats to failure). I have used a similar return to sport criteria with elite snowboarders in the past.

Kerry (Sports Physio)

Thanks again for these guidelines and your advice Kerry, following these guidelines I'm 99% ready, I'll give it another week to gain a bit more strength then hopefully catch the tail end of the season. Yewwwww

hey Ezza now is the time to get into paragliding or hang gliding .Life is full of opportunities that initially seem like liabilities

Hi Ezza good to hear your almost there. As a matter of interest, what excercises and frequency have you been doing in your rehab, and will you be using support brace etc on your first session back ?

Okayyy. Tomorrow arvo is forecast 20knots, I finish work at 4, the swell is small and my knee has been feeling good, great even. All signs point to Ezza going kitesurfing. I'm nervous!! I'm going to take it really easy, unstrapped and no toeside.

@slashrockson I have it well taped, and will wear a neoprene sports brace. My carbon fibre brace has not arrived yet in the mail. It's a POD/Fox brace designed for moto riders. I've been doing one legged squats, had it taped constantly, leg presses, stretching and I work on my feet all day and I think that has really helped. I've also been swimming in the ocean with flippers. I'm now almost 8 weeks post-injury.

Wish me luck!