Hey Guys.
Tore my ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) right knee about 5 years ago. Never had reconstruction and have had no probs kiting.
Re-injured the bugger playing squash on Tue. Hurts like a bastard, but tomorrow is the only day of wind forecast for ages.
Here's the question: Do any of you guys kite with a brace (Zimmer splint)? If so, comfortable, pain in the butt???? Alternatives?? Strapping, harden the **** up or no kiting????
My brother busted both knees (both ACL's) and rides with knee braces on both legs, says he does not even notice they are there when kiting.
not sure of the brand but the braces did cost $$$$
Leave it for a while. You wanna be fighting fit each time you kite. And give up the squash.
So you'll have to find a happy medium somewhere between those last 2 opinions.
Good luck........
Ice ice and ice. Get it assessed once the swelling has gone down and its not hurting too much.
You don't want to buggerize around with your knees mate.
After an ACL and another ACL on the other leg and 3 or 4 arthroscopies and a tenodesis and some other cartlidge repair I'd say pushing through the pain barrier and stuffing up your knee more is probably not the best option. Get a very good knee surgeon and see what he has to say. As far as braces go, after having custom CTIs, Morph, Breg and Donjoy, I'd say the Donjoy Armour is the best I have had, but I am sure that different people will have different preferences in this regard.
Take it easy though. The more you stuff you knee up the much worse it will be to fix.
i was actually taking the piss... sorry if your at home crying in your beer right now.
Perhaps you just need a tank on your back filled up with the good dentist gas?
don't risk it man. one crash the wrong way eg bad leg still in footstrap and board spins a bit or anything. had a few mates re injure knees and its always worse each time. you always have more fun when you're not worried about an injury anyway.
Nitrous oxide sounds like a great idea Sam, me boy! Can't believe I didn't think of it myself. What size kite do you think I'll need with those xtra kilos on my back.
I see tomorrows NE is the last wind for a while. I've just been getting that 13m Edge dialled in.
Bugger that!! It's off to the hardware store and pharmacy for 1x bag of cement and 100m Elastoplast!! Thanks for the pep talk Mr Miagi
Check out this brace, Australia Owned.
www.podactive.com/
Here is a review from a US wakeboarding site
www.thewakeplace.com/Whats%20Up/files/b098a231ae899b7c271f0a111bab3a88-14.html
A mate of mine uses the Donjoy Armour as mentioned above. ( after a reco )
Quite expensive but backed by the US Ski Team etc....
Hey poley.
Thanks for that. Has anyone tried them? How much do they go for??
How much are the Donjoy jobbies??
You're looking at about $500 each. I currently use one on my left knee as I unfortunatly ruined my knee 18 Months ago kiting. I can tell you the 12 Months off the water was pretty tough, although i became very efficient at landing kites. I probably don't need to wear one anymore however it gives me a little self confidence so i continue to wear it. It fits extremely well and you hardly know it's on. You can set the limits your leg can bend using the provided stops which is great to avoid the hyper extension. I would recommend this brace to anyone comming back from a knee reco. It allowed me to get back out on the water earlier and with the added confidence of knowing that i was not at risk of hyper extending my knee. If anyone is after a second hand left DonJOY Armor Extreme medium size give me a call. I think mine has almost done it's job. 
hey dont give up squash killer game :) i play as well.. is frikin tough on your knees though. pos used to have a full wake board knee brace its was awsome borrowed it once when i tore my pcl and my lcl looping... didnt even feel like it was on. Never give up the things you love just because your body doesnt want to do it :)
