why dont you hear about?

why dont you hear about skateboarders tearing their acl or other ligaments?

probably because they're not connected to the board. It seems like broken bones would be more common in skating. Locking into the board can put extreme stress on joints etc. when something doesn't want to give.

Here is my theory. The ACL is the ligament that keeps your lower leg from going too far forward. How often do you see a skater land square to the direction they are traveling. They usually land with the wheels facing in the direction they want to go. In wake boarding it is not uncommon to land facing square to the boat on edge and there you go the lower leg goes forward more than the acl wants it to.

can you say BINDINGS?

That all makes sense, but don't wakeskaters tear ACLs, too? Didn't Murray tear his ACL wakeskating?

Murray tore the whole lot when he dislocated his knee. MCL, PCL, ACL and Meniscus. One foot on one off, I can see how skaters might encounter the same injury in the same situation though.

(Message edited by jtnz on August 27, 2009)

The Ankle takes more abuse in skateboarding. As for the one foot on one off in Skateboarding you don't have a boat pulling you sideways. Instead all your inertia is going forward with the board. Also in Vert skating you can bail off your board and slide down on your knees if you are wearing kneepads.

Not to mention Byerly Blowing out his knee and George Daniels as well wakeskating.

You know the thing is that all you have to do is move right or should I say wrong and snap goes your ACL. I had a buddy snap his snowskating and he didnt even fall. I have seen people on wakeboard land funny and ride away snap and ACL.

Bottom Line, the knee is a horribly engineered joint.

Both of my ACL tears were from clean landings, just didn't have my knee bent enough.

what about snowboarders? i watch theie videos and thin, man, these guys knees take a pounding too. i am not as connected to snowboarding, do i just not hear about it as much?

I personally know more people that have hurt their knees wakeskating than boarding. Doesn't seem right.

Andy,
I beg to differ on the knee being a horribly engineered joint. It works amazingly well, very stable and good range of motion. It has been explained to me by a few Ortho's that if the ligaments of the knee didn't give, then your risk of fracturing your femur would go up (depending on how you land), and that is a far worse injury in almost all cases.
We are putting pretty intense forces on the knee and some of us (myself included)haven't properly built up the other supporting structures. Others may have done previous damage or have bad genetics. Others may have done everything right and land wrong and something has to give. Saying the knee is a bad design because the ACL tears is like saying any other organ or structure is a bad design after it wears out due to repetitive stress/use.
Just be glad you are not female, females tend to have more valgus knees (knock-knees) and this in turn puts you at a little higher risk of tearing an ACL. It is usually a valgus force that tears the ACL in other sports. Wakeboarding could be different, seems like the forces in wakeboarding come from several different vectors.

my friend tore his acl skateboarding a few years ago

No, it's definitely not a matter of being strapped in. I tore mine wakeskating, and know SEVERAL people who have done the same

I think alot of the landings are blind in a sense where you can easily miss judge the landing. A lot of people also have the tendency to land straight legged for some reason. I cringe when I see someone ride like this cause I know what's coming.

Don't forget, on a wakeskate when you have the one on one off situation the rest of your body is moving in a downward direction while that on leg is still firmly on top. Lots of lateral force on that front knee.