Gave the kiting a fair hammering last season and ended up with golfers elbow. This is the pain on the inside of the elbow(tennis is the outside) where the tendon joins to the bone. It's a sharp annoying pain everytime I straighten the forearm, ride a bike or lift something up. I had a corterzone injection about 9 weeks ago and it cleared it up 100% but now it's coming back again even though I'm not kiting.
The doc said there's nothing can be done to improve it other than rest, I can just see myself sitting back watching the lovely whitecaps rolling in with my elbow peacefully resting!!
Has anyone else had experience with this and offer any cures, excercises ,should I be stretching it now? don't mind getting another jab if it lasts.
What sort of kite are you using. Some kites have a lot more bar pressure than others. Also I have heard that the way you ride(arms bent vs arms straight) has an impact on this type of injury.
Hey,
I know the feeling. I had it bad a few years back.
For me it just got better slowly. Now there is no worries.
So hang in there, I'm sure it will get better.
Andy
Yeap got it quite bad last season and am still recuperating after 4-5 months.
Do the exercises shown here: http://www.nismat.org/ptcor/tennis_elbow/ and change your grip on the bar to underhand on the affected elbow (right/left) whenever possible, ie., when not doing any tricks/jumps also try and ride with straighter arms at these times.
Are you for real! a bow kite made your arm feel better, that's got to be a joke....... or you sell them.
You must be the first in the world to claim it!
I have tried a few kites and for sure the heaviest bar pressure is on the ones with bridals. Apart from the fly surfer. It is too soft and slow.
yeh I found the more bar pressure type kites give me a bit of tennis elbow or tradies elbow is more like it,but waroo cabs revs etc are all light on the bar for me an no probs at all = kite all day
A free bit of advice here; go see a physio. Your doc was a bit trigger-happy with the injection unfortunately, that stuff should never be the first line of defence against a bit of tendonitis.
I had to plead with the doc to give me the jab as I was heading off on a 2 week kitetrip. Without this it would've been hell. He said there was a 50% chance of it working long term, so it was worth the risk. He is happy for me to have another go at it if it does'nt get any better . Will wait another 2 months and access the pain.
I had tennis elbow so bad last year I couldnt grip anything for a few months (but still managed to kite 
). Used the elbow strap to just about cope.
Off season, I managed to rest it for few weeks, then followed the program at http://www.nismat.org/ptcor/tennis_elbow/ and now all is good, whereas a friend went straight for cortisone and is still in pain...
Gotta start doing the exersises again to get set for the coming season.
Lower bar pressure is important too, and to not kite too much in low wind conditions which means lots of sine-ing of the kite which uses the forearm muscles a lot.
try flying in a locked off configuration - your harness hook takes all the bar pressure and your elbows will love you-
this works really nicely in steady breezes - and you will be surprised how much extra torque your kite generates!!
you may actually have to edge in a gust though... but its a good idea to move away from rapidly sheeting in and out - try and use edging to control the kite.
i used to use a harness line and "double hook" - by having the harness line AND chicken loop both in my harness hook. This sorts out sore elbows quickly.
You can statically adjust the power of most modern kites via the depower strap - so you can get a nice all round setting to match the current wind strength
