Hey all, just wanted to know if anyone gets a sore lower back and sore top of knee caps during and after kiting?
Got into kiting at the end of '08 and been hitting hard in the WA summer going pretty much everyday. Just noticed lately though that my lower back gets pretty painful after only being out for 30mins or so. I use a DaKine Tabu waist harness and havent experimented with a seat harness yet, but maybe this is the way to go?
Any suggestions out there? Cheers!
My knees hurt but not while kiting ,walking ect they hurt when I go to bed? don't know why they start aching after lying still ( this is usually after a 4-5 hr kite session).
anyone?
Still going through all the pain in knees, shoulder, back, neck.....you name it, it has hurt....at the moment it is just back and neck
You can do none kiting exercise to build up you core strength through stretching, yoga etc. (all boring IMO) or you can go out and kite. I just go out and say to myself what I am not to do. At the moment I am to do no jumping so I try and learn different stuff. Riding powered and slow on a SB can actually be good for your back!
There is good motion and bad motion in everything, stick to good motion, don't kite on stuff that hurts. Change your style to suite your health.
slackster, i know EXACTLY what you are talking about. I suffer from lower back pain too. I learned that the more I exercise, the less pain I get, however kitesurfing can be very physically demanding if you do it hard. I used seat harness for few years and never had lower back pain. This year i switched to waist, which by the way is way more exciting to ride and allows you to do tricks, rolls, toeside upwind much better, and it gives you a lot better feel when riding, but it does give me lower back pain, because everything below your waist is now carried and controlled by your back and stomach muscles. What you could also do is use both harnesses and switch between sessions to give your back chance to recover. Or if you just prefer easy cruising, then use seat - no question - it's more comfortable and supportive for your back.
Can bastards in WA please stop bragging about how much wind you've been getting. It makes me sick. In addition to your knees and back being sore, I hope you get a fungal infection, from all the saltwater, and your testicles fall off. [}:)]
Seriously, whats up with Sydney???
When I first started kiting I was fine but after a couple of sessions of learning and stacking quite a bit I started to get quite an intense pain in my femoral head (the joint when your pelvis meets your femur bone). When tacking starboard I would feel the joint pop out of my left leg. It would hurt immensely to put pressure on it and the only way to fix it was to get back on the beach and do a sort of lunge with my left leg back.
Even then whenever I go back out onto the water it would pop out and hurt again.
:(
Haven't been kiting since the last time it happened (2 days ago). Planning to see the doc.
One word for back soreness....technique.
Must say unless you are a teenager or early 20 something, kiting every day you are going to get sore. Its tough on the body. Im on hols at the mo and with our mechanical seabreezes Im getting almost every day. After about 3 days straight of long hard riding in the surf I feel sore and my body feels tired. Stretching in the morning certainly helps even just going for a walk loosens me up.
My mate suffers from back soreness and he'll be doing back stretches morning and night when riding regularly.
I know its hard, but having a day off in between lots of riding helps alot too. I know it feels weird though when its 20 knots out there and your not amongst it...
Sorry east coasters 
I have been riding with a wider than normal stance for me recently and found that my knees and hips were sore. Have a look at you stance. Kids tend to ride with a wide stance maybe there body's can handle it but as an older kiter I recommend a stance about an 4cms wider than you shoulders also to much duck puts a lot of pressure on your Knees
When I started kiting my first board was quite stiff and I found that gave my sore knees like you said after kiting on chop for a while. A board with a bit more flex can help absorb the chop and save your knees.
As for your lower back try leaning back into your harness more which will keep you back straighter and take the pressure off it.
Maybe I am just lucky so far and should just STFU incase this comes back to bite me on the bum....but... I am nearly 50yo (it hurts to say that) however I stick to a very healthy diet, do heaps of exercise (running, riding, yoga, weights, spin classes etc) and kite as often as I can for as long as I can and find that i can regularly have 4+hr sessions (yes I live in WA) without any soreness or discomfort whatsoever (well maybe a little soreness ....but good soreness).
Use it or lose it I say, I ride my bike to the shops, take the stairs instead of the escalator etc, and for example - I dropped my car off for a service yesterday on my way home from a 12hr nightshift, the manager knowing that I had recently moved and now lived 4-5ks away almost insisted that they give me a lift home.......it was a lovely walk.
Use it or lose it I say, I appreciate that I may be luckier than some, but where possible, I suggest don't take the easy way out, as you will pay for it in the long run.
P.S. I use a Flying Objects Flight Control waist harness and swear by it...... so comfy.
^^^ Agree, my Flight Control is awesome, highly recommend.
I'm 31, the fittest I've ever been and that is due to heaps of varied exercise; boxing, running, cycling, pilates and weights. Being kite-fit is important, but I think to avoid soreness you need a more all-round approach to fitness. Just kiting will only work a specific area, you need strength in all areas to avoid injury/soreness.
Recently did a trip away where we kited 14 days in a row, for about 3-6 hours a day. I didn't have any major soreness other than general tiredness at the end of the day, and I attribute this to doing a lot of non-kiting fitness work in the months leading in.
im only 26 but have had crook back for a few years, about two years ago and im very carefull what i do with it now. I run a seat harness and apart from the fact it occasionally tries to rip your balls off, i havent had a back problem at all. Im not boosting tho, just cruising and wave riding coz thats all i wanna do. I had an old footy knee injury flair up and realised that i was twisted like a mutant when riding toeside, made a conscious effort to get stance correct when riding toeside, now the only soreness i get is generall all over from solid sesh...sweeeet
Hey Guys,
Totally agree with Tightlines.
I was the fittest I had every been up until a couple of years ago, when we had our first kid. There after combined with getting older and kids I would now say the last 2 years I have felt my worst ever.
I am now turning over a new leaf, exercising more and the biggest thing changing my outlook. You need to change your mindset and the pain you get will hopefully feel good rather than bad, it's just getting to that point is the sh!t part.
I now ride to work and try and do atleast 20 minutes of hard gym, no relaxing during sets, before I go home - time is of the essence.
I also bought Laird Hamilton's book which I am only about a 10th through, but he says the mind is a major player in getting and staying healthy.
My father is 65, and he can outperform most 25 year olds, why, because he stays active.
Cheers
Rich
Having squids adds the kgs for sure Rich. Having been trying hard for a few yrs to get back to pre-kiddy weight with mixed results. 
Laird's M.O. of grabbing a cutey 20 yrs younger than himself and pounding off the kgs has some merit. 
BTW weirdly after a sesh on the board my knee (after stuffing it in meduim fashion during winter) feels better most of the time.
Reading through this thread I see my fellow kiters suffer. Working in the field of sporting and work related injuries for long (too long?) time, I attempt to give a brief general summary of my view.
My background...? I had severe knee, lower back, and neck problems from my late teens due to injuries mainly from gymnastics, skiing, and just by stretching limits....
Just to gain your trust:
Now, I am 55 (not kg), my last knee problem was when I collided with a kite surfer mate 8 years ago, my last lumbar problem was when I tried waist harness for a few days two years ago, and the last neck problem was when lots of beautiful women walked around me (before I met my girlfriend )....
I kite up to 5 days a week (depending on wind), 2-4 hours non stop.
What I do for it.
1. I eat very healthily, apart form some tendency to put good amount of bourbon into my fresh orange juice…....uhhhmmm alcohol is a good preservative…....
2. I never kite without a warm up (sometimes long sometimes short), and I stretch only after a warm up. In fact, depending on how I feel, the first 30-60 min of my kiting is more or less a warm up with smaller jumps and easygoing wave riding. I use a modified seat harness….check the pics on my profile if interested...and ..after every session I sit in my outdoor spa for at least 10-15 minutes under heavy massage jets with the above mentioned preservatives in hand…...and I am immensely grateful for living in OZ, where I can do all this....
The following suggestions are general advice only, I don't take into account anyone's personal circumstances....…..(yes, you can use scotch in the orange juice, but you cannot replace orange juice with coke or red bull)......and these advises are inherently incomplete, so I would be open to anyone's experience, something that worked for them....
Reading my post......yeah, it's long...so feel free to bile out if it doesn't resonate with you..
OK. Here we go....
1. Do not take age as an excuse, take it as a challenge. The body always responds positively to positive changes. I mean diet, lifestyle, and regular exercise, low on alcohol, coffee / red bull and emotional stress.
2. If you have an injury do NOT HTFU, because you will likely to break again. See a professional, and don't take anything less then 100% at recovery.
3. Know your limits so that you can go beyond them sensibly and intelligently.
4. Just like with driving: don’t kite tired.
5. Drink water before kiting. If you spend more than 1.5 hours on water, put electrolytes in your water before you take off. They will keep water in your muscles. Dehydrated muscles cramp, fatigue and break easier.
6. Warm up. Even just jogging down to the beach is fine, as long as you puff at the end. (if you are athletic you can carry my gear as well just to puff at the end....)
7. If you sit most of the day you need more warm up. If you are emotionally stressed, you need more stretches.
8. Stretch only after warm up.
9. Take the first 10-15min of kiting as a warm-up when you are in your 20's (even when your girlfriend is around), and add an extra 5-10 minutes with every 10 years thereafter...
Lumbar pain:
1. Seat harness for most cases. It may restrict your movements, and look uncool, but sitting at home or lying in bed with pain is not too cool either. If you ride the waves, or like to ride toe side check out my harness modifications.
2. Do not unhook. Riding unhooked is similar to lifting, which is a no-go with lumbar problems.
3. Avoid landing toe side from a jump. It’s a bit tricky not to jump when going through the shore break toe side, but do your best, and land softly. It is better to just splash in the water and get wiped out, then landing in an awkward position and go home crook.
4. Strengthen your belly muscles. Even just lifting up your board above your head with each jump will do, apart from some sit-ups on windless days. Pilates is great, but it may cause lower back strain if you are not careful.
5. Strengthen your knees so that you can keep them bent and flexible all time. Rigid / weak knees at landing from a jump = pressure on L4 L5 = trouble.
6. If you don’t have the luxury of a massage jet in a spa, then have regular massages or other forms of body work, and use some liniments on your back before and after kiting. What I use is called “Zen” and probably available in pharmacies (I am not associated with the manufacturer in any ways.)
7. Sort out all injuries with professionals. Scar tissue formation, calcifications are sources of further injuries and pain. Just because it has stopped hurting, it may not necessarily be healed.
8. Partially dislocated hip (or any other) joint, that some of you had, usually means ligament stretch or break, and it is a bad news. It needs to be sorted out professionally and has to go through a rehabilitation process. Otherwise it will keep coming back.
Knee pain:
1. If it is painful check it out with your doc for ligament or cartilage tear. And if the tests come positive, repair it (usually surgery, and rehab). If no tear, then it is muscular weakness, mainly the quads (front thigh muscles)...and this is the better news (HTFU as one may say)
2. Jog, and jump around a little while, warm up your knees before you go on the water. Then stretch, make sure your quads (thigh) muscles are warm and flexible before you go on the water. (you sure get my message by now: warm up precede stretches. This is an unorthodox approach...yes, it works)
3. On the water be gradual, gentle and flexible. This is the secret. If your knees giving notices, it usually means limitation in the strength of your thigh muscles. Don’t ignore it, take a rest. If you HTFU you will break. It’s better to take rest every 30 min and go back, than going home after 60min due to pain.
4. After kiting keep your knee, and quads warm. Don’t hang out in 20+kn even if the weather is warm. The wind chill will make your blood vessels contract, reduce circulation = pain. (I always have this in colder weather….nasty…until I rub something in my knee and put on something warm.)
5. Keep your quads super strong, especially if you kite 2-3 hours without break. Squats, gym work, cycling are great. Sitting is a killer.
6. Use some liniment on your knee after session, as I suggested above…
At last (only for male): don't fight with the waves...make love with them...don't they remind you to beautiful breasts....?
^^^ oooh yeah, nothing like a hot jacuzzi after a hard days riding!! really assists recovery.
Also like to have a beer with that too, and perhaps a naked babe also
I hate you Andrash! I am only 37 and It is physically impossible for me to warm up or stretch and I sit on my ass all day. Fried chicken is my favorate food and I prefer coke with my bundy.
When kiting though I just want to go straight into a kite loop as within 15 minutes I know I will be back on the beach injured.I don't know about drinking water before heading out a beer seems to work better but Luckily it dosn't get too cold here so maybe that is the only reason I am still kiting.I just had a massage and here I am in the aircon sitting on my ass. Do you think if I con the missus into getting a Jacuzzi it will fix all my pains and allow me to kite all day and can you get portable ones to take camping when down the coast. ps see you up here next year and you can push my wheelchair to the beach as your warmup.
Stronger muscles, if poorly co-ordinated, will just give you more power with which to hurt yourself. Some strength and mobility are definitely necessary in order to kite, but to kite in such a way that minimises pain, wear and tear, and the chance of serious injury, your strength and mobility need to be integrated within good patterns of co-ordination.
Shameless pimping here but it seems it may be useful to some of you, so I'll let you all know that I am an Alexander Technique teacher, and I work with all sorts of people including athletes and performance artists. I regularly conduct workshops for cyclists, runners and other groups; perhaps it's time I offered one for kiters?
I don't think I'm allowed to put my website on here but you know my name is Brendan and I'm an Alexander Technique teacher in Melbourne, so I'm not too hard to find. Get in touch if you're interested.
Happy kiting
Heysoos boys and girls,
I am astonished!!! Man it up girls, I am older than all of you . Sore is pain, birth is pain, youth is pain, love is pain, death is pain, and above all fun is PAIN!!!!!!
My advice is; if it is too hard, take up lawn bowls. (Sarck)
By the way, just spent 2 days in St George Spinal Unit, suspected broken neck, popped disc, be careful you guys.
