kneeling and knee injurys

[KenM]

Steen, I'm sure you have but figured I'd ask, have tried any yoga for this? It's helped me with some minor knee problems quite a bit.

[Steeno]

Hey Ken
My Left knee has no cartlidge what so ever, smashed to pieces in a skateboard/sailing accident when I was 18, lotsa titatnium involved, my good knee (the right) is the one with minor surgery's.

I have tried alot of things, but I am mainly trying to avoid a complete knee replacement at my age. Yoga/stretching does keep the movement, but does not take away the bone on bone aching.

all ideas are welcome

[SFKneelo]

Jeez... re-reading my post from back then, I get a fail on math! Started in '74

So... very, very carefully, it's now (counting on fingers and toes) 36 years

Unfortunately, I'm surfing less with family & work. On the positive, I've shed one layer of neoprene. Knock on wood everything keeps holding together.

Steeno, which directions are you at risk? Will more solid hinged kneebraces help? (ya gotta keep surfing, ya just gotta! )

[KenM]

Steen I agree your young for a knee replacement. One bit of good news is that the technology is improving all the time so when your ready it should be very good.

[day]

Steeno,
I love your surfing and your photos are the source of my kneeboard fantasies.
I am assuming that it is your left knee that is holding you back. (The bone on bone knee.)
What diagnostic procedures have you done on your left knee? Have you done an arthroscopic procedure? If so, what is the extent of the bone on bone situation when they went in to have a look? Localized area of erosion? Half the knee/one condyle? The entire weight bearing surfaces?
If localized area they have a micro fracture procedure that tries to stimulate scar tissue in the worn out spot.
If half a knee they do have a hemi/half replacement.
What kind of range of motion do you have in flexion (bending)? 0 is straight, 145 is a good, within normal range bend. If very limited in bending due to stiffness or pain, then it would be very difficult to kneeboard, especially the way your are capable of.
My feeling on knee replacement and age: If your life sucks now because of pain and limitation. Then I would go and get it done so you can enjoy the days of your youth. Why put off being pain free just in your old age and give up your present youthful life now?
In 15 years if you wear it out, get the newer model put in. Yeah there are greater risk of surgery when you are old. But from the videos of you, risk does not seem to bother you.
You need to talk to a good surgeon that does a lot of replacements and ask him if you would be able to knee board with a total knee. You usually do not get a full range in flexion/bending like a normal knee after the surgery. (They do have a new procedure that is less invasion and leaves less of a scar in the front of your knee where you would contact the board.)
I don't know of any kneeboarders that surf with a total knee replacement. (If there are any out there, please share your experience.) Where I am from, I am the ONLY knee boarder that I have ever seen out in the water. So no one here to ask.
Keep the pics coming.

[skeg]

Maybe try adhesive strap bandaging. Don't forget to shave first or there could be tears later. Also, worth a look: http://www.ossur.com.

[skeg]

Ligament Augmentation Reconstruction System (LARS) procedure.

[Joel5150Photo]

javascript:emoticon('')yyyOOOOOOO! joel5150photo here, RE: knee Inj,i tore the begeezes!!out of my left knee at South Poop Pipe at Zuma!had too be carried to the car by 2 other surfers,(Thanks guys) saw the doc,quote;" you will never kneeboard again" he left the room and i broke down like a lil' woosie!!did orthospocick surgery and did the exersizes as doc prescribed, wore a knee brace every time i surfed,Bodyglove of redondo beach make good braces, some with metal hinges or stays,neoprene, look on line or go to shop,(custom avaiable too) also a co. in Santa Monica SWISS BALENCE make custom braces $500.00 at the time, i still have it.. if you need to borrow it im in Oceanside Ca, or i can ship it too ya'!!! . its kind of bulky,but the darn thing works, javascript:emoticon(':D') keep kneeridin' joel5150photo,K.B.ing sinse 1967

[halbs]

I ruptured my achilles tendon last Saturday playing Aussie Rules football the day before my two new Flashpoints arrived - quietly devastated! Had the operation last Tuesday and fitted into the moon boot on the Wednesday, flew home from Adelaide on the Thursday my new board covers arrived Friday - unreal! So now I have eight long weeks in the boot aith the hope of resuming exercise [read surfing] at the end of that but I will need to find some conditioning after watching DVDS for so long!!

[Chris Buscemi]

So I've been out of the water for nine weeks yesterday with a severe knee sprain. Happened while surfing DMJs, was turning to avoid a close out, the wave broke next to me and pushed my torso the opposite direction I was turning. Felt a pop in my left knee and I was immediately in pain. Just got an MRI last week after being fed copious amounts of anti-inflamitories and doing a boat load of physical therapy since the day of the injury. Free medical not fast medical in the USMC.

Anyway, I haven't seen my doctor yet to go over my MRI. But the head athletic trainer at work read the results of the MRI and it looks like no surgery will be required to repair my knee.

I've read all of the other posts on knee injury/recovery and was wondering if any new information has come to light on recovery techniques. Shitty thing is that I can do everything I normally do with very little pain but kneeboarding is extremely painful.

I have cut back on the high impact cardio and increased the swimming. Still hitting gym but have cut out the heavy lower body exercises like squats and dead lifts. Those exercises have been replaced by the physical therapy regimen of body weight lower body exercises to strengthen the muscles around my knee as well as increase my core strength. Lots and lots of push ups and crunches too.

Only have about eight months left in California until I have to head back to Quantico, Va for about of year of required training (or what I like to call Surf Purgatory). My goal now is to be back in the water by mid-November. That'll be a total of four and a half months out of the water.

Thanks for any new info and the beatings will continue until morale improves.

[KenM]

Cap'n Chris, check out the book "Heal Your Knees" by Dr Robert Klapper and Lynda Huey. Lots of good stuff for knee problems including workouts for in the pool. It's available cheap on Amazon.

[Chris Buscemi]

Gracias amigo

[Smokin Rock]

hey Chris, when i blew out my ACL the rehab that made the most improvement for me was bicycling. start with flatland and when you can start climbing hills without significant pain then climb lots of hills. lots of ice and anti-inflammatories after. good luck

[Chris Buscemi]

Thanks Mike

[NCountyKneelo]

Chris, having had ACL reconstruct and a meniscus cleanout on a knee, rotator cuff repair (shoulder) and complete reconstruction of a wrist (ladder fall, 1 year ago), I can tell you that if you have structural issues in the knee or other places, you will battle it until it is fixed. MRI's do not allow them to really see what is messed up. North County Orthopedics docs always say until we get in there, we really don't know what we will find. And, we will fix what we need to fix. I can say in each case the outcomes were way better than expected by having surgery. I am just not one to sit and rehab with the possibility of it being ok. My motto is FIX IT. Especially when you are fit going in, outcomes tend to be way better. I have always justified it to the Doc by saying, I play Basketball, I do Triathlons, I Surf, I play Racquetball and I will not give those up. I am coming up on 50 and am still very pleased with the decision of getting things fixed over the years. Good luck.