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Consider ditching the kitesurfing straps to save an ankle injury!

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Created by peabob > 9 months ago, 13 Nov 2021
peabob
NSW, 10 posts
13 Nov 2021 8:24PM
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Considered not sharing this but I thought that by doing so it may save someone else having an ankle injury.
I have been kitesurfing for around three years and was always going to get rid of the straps on my kitesurfing surfboard for downwinders on the NSW Central Coast but I just enjoyed jumping on the way out too much! I've had a few landings where I have hurt my ankle a little but it took this one 1.5 weeks ago to convince me to NEVER go back to straps. Fractured fibula, tibia and foot bone after stuffing up a landing and twisting my ankle over the strap. Surgery and six screws are now stabilizing my fibula. I'm told 6 weeks before I'll be on my feet walking again and running etc. may be 4 months or so away. When I can get back to surfing and kitesurfing I do not know. Needless to say this will be a big disruption to life, time with kids, work and recreational pursuits - not to mention the fact the north-easterlies are just starting for the season!!!!!!
I know there has been a lot said about injuries that straps on surfboards can cause. Consider this a post to those who may have had close-calls with their ankles before and that it may be time to get rid of those straps. My injury would have been avoided if I was not strapped in.
Enjoy the kitesurfing season that I am likely to miss!
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IanR
NSW, 1237 posts
14 Nov 2021 12:20AM
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Kite boarding is a dangerous sport In the surf it gets even more unpredictable
I witnessed a strapless guy at Wanda shatter his ankle in 2-3 foot shore break trying to control his board as a wave pitched right in-front of him
Don't think I will ever forget his screams of agony
He doesn't kite anymore

Mark _australia
WA, 22089 posts
14 Nov 2021 12:47AM
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Snowboard
Windsurf
Wake

list goes on...... all have straps and similar injuries. Geeez I think stirrups on horses cause more and worse?

Risk we take. Did the same injury at the 10yr point of a 25yrs time windsurfing and I still do. (The hobby, that is)
Just get better, and go hard again. Sucks to be out this time of year though huh

oldmic
NSW, 343 posts
14 Nov 2021 7:03AM
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Terrible accident, wish you as speedy a recovery as medicine allows.
Those photos. geez reminder of the risks taken. Agree ditch straps.

smook
VIC, 196 posts
14 Nov 2021 1:00PM
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What a pain been there a number of times with two knee and ankle injuries But with normal surfing Never with kiting and I kite strapped and unstrapped in waves I have straps very loose and have foot twisted and if any mishap my feet release Get well soon

Kamikuza
QLD, 6493 posts
14 Nov 2021 8:01PM
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Ouch, I bet that was fun getting back to the beach and out of the water Heal up fast!

Froth Goth
332 posts
14 Nov 2021 9:18PM
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Boots and flat water on a kite

Or just go surf without a kite

psychojoe
WA, 1799 posts
14 Nov 2021 9:31PM
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Thanks for sharing.
I always try to ditch my board mid air if I haven't got both feet ready for landing. The marks on my shins are testament to all the times I shouldn't have tried to ditch it forward to save a body drag.
Hope you have a speedy recovery.
Glycine is important for bones, intuitively it's highly concentrated in a bone broth, I like Vietnamese Pho.
When a mate had a nasty accident he nixed the booze to help speed recovery, the guy looks like an Adonis now.
I am a little curious as to the self care regime you've been prescribed.

Deefer
VIC, 117 posts
15 Nov 2021 9:42AM
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Ditch the straps, tore my meniscus a few years ago when a foot came out of the strap and I rotated on the surfboard, been unstrapped ever since. Miss the boosting a little but heading towards 60 and no issues since.

Plummet
4862 posts
15 Nov 2021 8:13AM
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Nasty. Injuries suck.

I cant ditch the straps because i like boosting too much. The alternative is to set up straps either loose or tight....
I have loose straps on the foil and can jump out of them at a moments notice and tight straps on the muntant so I dont have accidental foot fall outs.

Lets face it, its when one foot falls out and the other doesnt... then you get thrown through the washing machine.

martininoz
2 posts
15 Nov 2021 3:17PM
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Hi Peabob

That's a nasty injury - I wish you a speedy recovery.

I had a strap related kitesurfing injury a year ago - front foot strapped into surfboard with back foot out of the strap in pretty powered up conditions - did a fully powered split going over a wave as back foot came off board - resulting in a complete tear of all my hamstrings on my leading strapped in leg at their proximal attachments and a good tweak of the sciatic nerve - repaired with screws and a hip brace for 6 weeks.

Incidentally the same injury that Mick Fanning had years ago- what a legend to recover and win a world title.

I was out the water for 7 months. Paddling a surfski kept me sane.

Now back kiting on the twin tip and relearning strapless surfboard with a new kite. not yet back on the prone foil or kite foil though.

I reckon it's difficult to predict these injuries but maybe either fully strapped or no straps at all


Lucky I had mates to send me seabreeze wind reports whilst I was recovering!

cheers
Marto

CH3MTR4IL5
WA, 747 posts
15 Nov 2021 4:20PM
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Brutal. Its a hard thing to avoid if you're at it long enough- watching The Longest Wave, if Robbie Naish can screw himself with a one foot out of strap injury it will probably happen to you eventually.

in general, my injury rate has dropped substantially since going strapless. Miss giant boosts and stupid moves a little but i'm not really willing to lose even a day of kiting and the nice thing about strapless is that the challenge level is generally much higher so you don't need to be riding harder or faster or higher to be pushing yourself for a trick. A good shove-it will keep you occupied for months!

Peahi
VIC, 1467 posts
15 Nov 2021 10:40PM
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I have seen a pretty a horrendous injury with strapless boards (shattered ankle). I myself have a niggling ankle injury from a frontside punt and landing badly. Now I just do backside jumps.

But if you want to save your knees and kite for many years to come strapless boardriding is def the way to go. Riding waves and landing small jumps is so much more satisfying than a big jump with straps.

Froth Goth
332 posts
15 Nov 2021 8:03PM
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Hilarious watching you all slowly realise you should be rideing boots

Phoney
NSW, 583 posts
16 Nov 2021 9:45AM
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vodka said..
Hilarious watching you all slowly realise you should be rideing boots


After seeing a guys kneecap that popped out of his leg from crash landing in boots, I'll give it a miss.

Oh and this was in Sri Lanka. He flew all the way back to Europe with his knee like that to get proper surgery.

Froth Goth
332 posts
17 Nov 2021 10:16AM
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Cost me like 4$ to get stitches in sri lanka homeboy should have just gone to puttalam

dbabicwa
WA, 805 posts
17 Nov 2021 10:34PM
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vodka said..
Hilarious watching you all slowly realise you should be rideing boots


please let us know when youll break both ankles in boots. Like a guy who landed flat in 5cm water.

~~~
Re ditching the board in mid air:
- This is how I broke me ankle. If did not ditch it, who knows...

Took me 2 years to recover fully and 3 years to go strong again. Everyone is different.

I would recommend 4 wheels scooter to move around, hired one for $50/mnth.

Also, be aware of blood cloth. It is very common below the knee. Go for ultrasound asap, it can save your life. If they put u on blood thinners, b careful with that.

All the best

Phoney
NSW, 583 posts
18 Nov 2021 11:44AM
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vodka said..
Cost me like 4$ to get stitches in sri lanka homeboy should have just gone to puttalam




Homeboy needed ACL reconstruction. Probably a bit beyond the backyard doctors in Puttalam that stitched you up for 4 bucks

peabob
NSW, 10 posts
18 Nov 2021 1:27PM
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psychojoe said..
Thanks for sharing.
I always try to ditch my board mid air if I haven't got both feet ready for landing. The marks on my shins are testament to all the times I shouldn't have tried to ditch it forward to save a body drag ...


Had my two-week post op chat to the surgeon yesterday. Healing plan seems to consist of doing things slowly, getting a physio to get me back to putting weight on my injured leg again and lots of TIME!!!!! It's basically sounding like ...
Next four weeks = keeping with the cam boot and learning to put a bit of weight on the ankle. Also having a plan back to normality in consultation with physio.
Lose the boot in 4 weeks but possibly another week or two before I have the strength to use my foot to drive.
After the boot comes off then I am not sure whether the physiotherapy continues.
Other than that I have not been told much else other than keep on the blood thinners to avoid clots (had a revisit to hospital last week as there was concern I may have had one!) and just to manage pain using panadol and nurofen.

peabob
NSW, 10 posts
18 Nov 2021 1:56PM
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It sounds like there are a lot of experiences of people getting ankle/lower leg injuries. My query is this ... for those of you that have had to wear a cam boot, did you find the pain in your knee and upper leg to be worse than the actual injury. I find the associated discomfort from managing the weight of the cam boot using my rapidly shrinking leg muscles is what is keeping me up at night. I'm interested if others have had similar experiences and what was done about it.

Peahi
VIC, 1467 posts
18 Nov 2021 5:35PM
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peabob said..
It sounds like there are a lot of experiences of people getting ankle/lower leg injuries. My query is this ... for those of you that have had to wear a cam boot, did you find the pain in your knee and upper leg to be worse than the actual injury. I find the associated discomfort from managing the weight of the cam boot using my rapidly shrinking leg muscles is what is keeping me up at night. I'm interested if others have had similar experiences and what was done about it.


Broke my 5th metastarsil (outer foot bone), surfing not kiting, and after wearing a cam boot for a 4-6 weeks my already dodgy ankle became weak which is apparently normal so need physio, rest etc, but it seems one injury flares up another. You shouldn't have to wear ithe cam boot at night?

Some of these injuries heal quickly enough but never seem to really go away. Now I wish I had titanium bones.

towradgi
NSW, 424 posts
18 Nov 2021 6:02PM
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From my own experience , it is quite unexpected how quick a quad muscle shrinks ,from lack of normal use ,which can take up to a year to get back to normal size .

marty72
QLD, 298 posts
18 Nov 2021 6:48PM
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Mate I feel your pain, it feels like **** when you get hurt but will recover and soon be back on the water. In March last year I dislocated my foot, broke the fibula and the ankle in 3 places landing an air with straps where my back foot came out and the board twisted it. Surgeon put in 13 screws, two plates and a tighline to hold the whole thing together. Ended up having two surgeries and its been a long road back but you got to stay positive, do as much exercise as you can even while you're on crutches just to keep up your fitness and start your rehab ASAP. Get a good physio and do twice as much rehab as what they tell you to do. Swimming is really good, I got these shinfin.com so not to put any load on the ankle (can sell them cheap if you want) Back on the water now and even thinking of using straps again when its big and windy.






Kamikuza
QLD, 6493 posts
18 Nov 2021 6:52PM
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marty72 said..




Looks like the contents of a tool bag after it's dropped off the back of the ute and rolled down the road

Glad you healed up well!

peabob
NSW, 10 posts
18 Nov 2021 9:27PM
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marty72 said..
Mate I feel your pain, it feels like **** when you get hurt but will recover and soon be back on the water. In March last year I dislocated my foot, broke the fibula and the ankle in 3 places landing an air with straps where my back foot came out and the board twisted it ...

Sometimes it only takes seeing or hearing the injuries of others to know how lucky you've got it ... your pictures made me feel VERY lucky!!!! It looks like a shambles of metal!!!! Thanks for the advice. I am certainly eager to keep as fit as possible while still on the crutches and leading up to running etc again. I'll see how I go in the pool. Thanks also for the advice on the shinfins ... I'll see how I go. First physio appointment tomorrow so I'll see how fast the progress goes.
You say your accident happened in March last year. I assume 2020 then so its taken around 18 months to be back to kiting? Interested in knowing how long after your accident you were back to walking comfortably, driving, bike riding, running etc.
Cheers,

Froth Goth
332 posts
19 Nov 2021 2:03AM
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peabob said..
It sounds like there are a lot of experiences of people getting ankle/lower leg injuries.


Havent had a single board related injury since i started exclusively rideing boots in 2012


Every time ive borrowed a friends board with straps since then ive nearly had a injury tho and rideing is ****ing garbage cant load for **** all and just amazing anyone uses straps. Just imagine how stupid it would be to ride in straps on a snowboard or skis its ludicrousants bro

peabob
NSW, 10 posts
19 Nov 2021 7:26AM
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vodka said..

peabob said..
It sounds like ...

Havent had a single board related injury since i started exclusively ...

Fair point. Don't the injuries just move up the leg to the knees though?
My injury was actually from a surfboard with straps and not a twintip. I am going to be nervous getting into the straps on my TT for flatwater sessions though in the future so I'll do some homework on boots. Definitely strapless on my surfboard from now on. Boots on a surfboard ... new sport maybe!!!

Froth Goth
332 posts
19 Nov 2021 8:42AM
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Boots do have a learning curve at the start you do need to be able to get in and out of the water without walking... think about it... this means if you arent comfortable flying your kite with no hands for a few seconds at a time **** can go sideways.

Also if your in super shallow water like ankle deep and your layed out on your belly then itll be tuff to roll over cause the board and kite still pulling ya so try to only dick around in waist deep water to avoid that fun scenario of nearly drowning in an inch of water infront of everyone

CJ2478
NSW, 482 posts
19 Nov 2021 1:11PM
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vodka said..

peabob said..
It sounds like there are a lot of experiences of people getting ankle/lower leg injuries.



Havent had a single board related injury since i started exclusively rideing boots in 2012


Every time ive borrowed a friends board with straps since then ive nearly had a injury tho and rideing is ****ing garbage cant load for **** all and just amazing anyone uses straps. Just imagine how stupid it would be to ride in straps on a snowboard or skis its ludicrousants bro


boots seem like a great idea until you either get pulled out (one leg out one in) or one boot to board connection fails.

Last time i rode boots, during a kiteloop gone wrong I got pulled from both boots mid wipeout. i hate to think what would have happened if only one foot came out. they were done up as tight as possible. that was the last time i ever rode boots and a the last time i rode a twintip. Strapless all the way since.

I'm not a fan of huge loft boosts on a strapped surfboard, prefer the feeling of smaller ones strapless where you're not dangling from the kite, these airs are more like real surfing airs or skateboarding.

peabob
NSW, 10 posts
19 Nov 2021 2:38PM
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CJ2478 said..

vodka said..


peabob said..
It sounds like there are a lot of experiences of people getting ankle/lower leg injuries.




I agree. I enjoy shooting out through the surf with board straps and doing airs with the board dangling but the days I have gone strapless have felt more like surfing as I am more connected to the water through the board rather than the straps. I also found I spent more time in the actual surf zone as with straps I would continue jumping waves beyond where they break.
I'm pretty sure I will be keeping away from straps for a while (forever?) once I am back into kiting out of fear of a repeat injury. Most interested in being in the waves so I will probably use the flat water days to work on strapless technique so my days in the surf have me performing better. Up to the injury I would have pulled out the TT and done flat water kiting in Lake Macquarie (or nearby) when conditions in the ocean were not favourable.

Plummet
4862 posts
20 Nov 2021 1:10AM
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peabob said..

CJ2478 said..


vodka said..



peabob said..
It sounds like there are a lot of experiences of people getting ankle/lower leg injuries.





I agree. I enjoy shooting out through the surf with board straps and doing airs with the board dangling but the days I have gone strapless have felt more like surfing as I am more connected to the water through the board rather than the straps. I also found I spent more time in the actual surf zone as with straps I would continue jumping waves beyond where they break.
I'm pretty sure I will be keeping away from straps for a while (forever?) once I am back into kiting out of fear of a repeat injury. Most interested in being in the waves so I will probably use the flat water days to work on strapless technique so my days in the surf have me performing better. Up to the injury I would have pulled out the TT and done flat water kiting in Lake Macquarie (or nearby) when conditions in the ocean were not favourable.


Follow ya passion. Accidents can happen with or without straps. If strapless is giving you flow then do that. If you yearn for jumping again then build back into it. Address the route cause of the accident so you limit the chance of it happening again. IE the straps arent the cause of the accident, the set up of the straps and your technique lead to the failure. Improve the technique and adapt the strap for better fit and you will be cooking with gas.

I've gone full circle. I loved a powered wave ride session with boosting on my mutant. I drifted into foiling for a few years. Enjoyed it. But it now I'm back to powered boost n wave ride. I just love it too much. I'll foil every now and then. But the passion is the combo of jumping and wave riding for me......



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"Consider ditching the kitesurfing straps to save an ankle injury!" started by peabob