I know someone who's had knee surgery (not from boarding) and is very unsure about wakeboarding now due to the potential of doing more damage to the knee. <BR> <BR>Would you say that wakesurfing has significantly lower chance of injuring a knee than boarding? Seems likely to me and I know there is always the chance of something bad happening but I'm looking for some opinions from those that do wakesurf. <BR> <BR>Thanks.

Yes, it is a lot less stressful on your knees. I tore my ACL a few years ago and every time I wakeboard I feal it in my knee--not bad pain but I can tell I stressed it good. I think its the twisted position your locked into and the landings. Surfing has never caused these symptoms. A lot less speed and not being strapped in helps.

Thanks Kenny.

"Would you say that wakesurfing has significantly lower chance of injuring a knee than boarding?" <BR> <BR>In comparison, significantly would be putting it lightly.

Amen! I'm due for knee surgery in late September, put it off 'till the season is pretty much over. My knee is trashed, torn meniscus, cartilage loss, etc and the only thing that really gets me is the get up, otherwise it's ok as long as i don't twist and turn too much.

I agree. I have had two knee surgeries, need a third, and think Wakesurfing is A LOT better on my knees. Wakesurfing actually makes my legs feel like I just got done lifting legs at the gym, which I think is a good thing. I have talked to a few different people who have moved from wakeboarding to wakesurfing because of the knee issues. Overall keep your legs strong to support your legs, and you can be wakesurfing for a long time even on a bad knee.

I get to rehab knee's everyday. I also have a really good understanding of the forces and mechanisms that cause knee trauma. Any time your foot is not planted and fixated you have a drastically reduced chance of injury. An good sports scenario would be a football player who is wearing long cleats on a dry grass field. If he gets hit in the side of the knee he is screwed. The foot will stay planted in the turf and all the stress will be absorbed through the knee joint. He would have tolerated the impact better had the turf been wet and/or he was not wearing cleats (or shorter cleats/turf shoes). Its the same with surfing/wakeskating (non fixated feet) vs wakeboarding (fixated feet). The first you loose balance and fall off without any rotational torsion involved. The other you crash, the edge of the board grabs the water and then your body is forced to go that same direction and that usually involves rotation which is the worst for knees. Bottom line... Surfing is way better on knee's than wakeboarding <BR> <BR>(Message edited by Bigcatpt on May 29, 2009)

Thanks everyone. Intuitively it seemed like it had to be the case but I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something!

IMO it is also a better leg / lower body workout than wakeboarding.

Hell Yes!

No question! I've had 3 knee surgeries (acl, cartilage removel, and microfracture) and can no longer wakeboard because it hurts too much on the landings and having my fixed in boots while body is turned. I can surf all day long without any problems.