Knee Injuries

Hey anyone have any knee injuries from boarding? This morning when I went out, it was pretty rough, I hit the wake and just got thrown. Anyways, I landed really weird and I can't straighten my knee. I just hope it is a sprain because I can't be wasting the summer not being able to board

I think 75% of my wakeboarding friends have or have had a knee injury from either wakeboarding or snowboarding. Welcome to the Club... It's not fun...

I just got a knee injury from work and I'm bummin cause we're going to Hawaii for 15 days... Worst time to get a knee injury. We were kickboxing and It got twisted so I tried to just box and it buckled out from under me. We were filming at the time:

http://www.demibarbito.com/knee.mov

The first thing I thought was "AAAHHHH, now I can't wakeborad".

I'm real aggressive with the recovery however.

Here's what I do (don't try this at home)

Ice right away.

Alternate ice and heat first few days after.

I alternate between 600 - 800mg of Motrin every four hours.

Rest the knee.

Light stretching.

It's usually up to par within 1 - 2 weeks.

Everyone has their own way of doing things however.

Demi

Demi, what do you do for light stretching? How is your knee for walking on?

I could not walk very well for the first day or two but now I'm walking fine. Still have some pain and weakness in the knee. I hurt it on Tues. and I'll probably need another 4 days or so to get up to speed.

For light stretches I just do range of motion very slowly, whatever my range of motion is at the time. I do this a few times a day. I never do anything that causes pain. I just do not want my knee staying too stiff.

I literally take Motrin for inflamation every four hours that I'm awake for 5 - 7 days, sometimes longer. I will also alternate 4 hours Motrin and 4 hours Tylenol.

Again, I get real methodical with recovery and it works for me. It's not magic however. It just takes a little time and thought. Some people can't handle that many pills - stomach, reactions etc. It works for me.

Thanks, I will try that. My leg has been feeling better and I think its cuz I did some range of motion stuff but in the water. I took some meds for the inflamation, but I get really disconnected and hate that feeling so I will prolly lay off on it. Thanks for the advice demi and nice vid ;)

Well, you should really have your knee looked at. I have sprained both ankles last year and already my right ankle, this year. I was trying to wakeboard sooner then I should have and caused me to injure my knee, I have a slight tear in my meniscus in the inside of my right knee. With a little time and this will heal but I will now have to ride with a knee brace for the end of this season at the least. If you have a big tear or severed a tendon, all you will knee is small surgery and a knee brace. I have a friend who has a completely turn ACL and he continues to wakeboard with a knee brace. I have stiff movement in the morning and after riding or walking for sometime. I ice it and use a knee brace and it was like night and day. I don’t walk with a limp any more and the stiffness isn’t as severe.

My swelling has gone down completely and walking is going fine with intermittent (sp?) pain. Anyways, I am gonna try going again this thursday, and maybe get a brace on just to be sure.