Skiing or Boarding easier with Dodgy knee?

[phatmanace]

I had my ACL reconstructed 3 years ago, and have had 2.5 years of Rehab.

My knee is 'ok', but still not back to normal, but kids are keen to go (lots of watching the olympics). Me and Mrs ace have been talking about whether we could make it work...

I'd wondered about boarding rather than skiing, rationale is that with your feet locked into the bindings, you eliminate most of the twisting movement, which my knee seems most sensitive to.

I have a DonJoy brace, which helps with your knee not overstretching, and helps with preventing twisting a little bit...

Wondered if anyone had any thoughts?

--ace

[The_Doc]

boarding thought to be much safer. No real pivot.

not much evidence either way though

why hasn;t your ACL performed as i should? what does your surgeon say?

[Gary C]

It depends

I hyperextended my cruciate ligament years ago and the knee will collapse in certain positions so can't play football at all, but skiing is fine and so is boarding (except that I can't board but did fall over a lot with no problem)

I imagine some knee injuries are different

[phatmanace]

The_Doc said:

boarding thought to be much safer. No real pivot.

not much evidence either way though

why hasn;t your ACL performed as i should? what does your surgeon say?

I'm not sure - I never went back to the surgeon (perhaps my error) - after the post-op checkout, I threw myself into the physio and gym

I can cycle, which is what I really want to be able to do, but my lateral stabilty isn't great. After 6 moths of physio and 2 more years of rehab classes I got it to 'so-so' - but there is no way I'd trust it to direction changing sport or anything like that

Better than before I had the operation, but all slightly dissapointing.

[CAPP0]

I'd be inclined to think that a board is less risky on the knees, for the same reasons you mention above, but if you haven't boarded before, it may be a painful learning curve in the early days!

[S100HP]

Can you do either? If you've never been on a board expect to spent much time on your knees, it hurts.

[Trevor555]

As already mentioned, learning to board is hell, constant falling over for a few days.

But if you're a competent boarder already I'd say it's safer for the knees.

If you learn to board and you book a lesson just make sure it's not first thing in the morning when the snow is it's hardest, or icy later in the season. I cringe when I see novice boarders learning on hard ice.

As well as something to help your knee, wear a but protector, they're like cycling shorts but with some hard protection for your coxis, essential kit. A bruised coxis takes months to heal and is very unpleasant.

Best of luck with it.

[M400 NBL]

My right knee was in perfect condition for my first snowboarding holiday.

I wasn't aware that you have to take one foot out of your binding on the ski lifts (not all but the ones that will cause you pain).

More often than not there is a slope as you get off the lift which you are supposed to snowboard down with one foot in your binding and the other on top of your board (usually inside the binding on a bumpy stomp pad). When I say supposed, it didn't happen like that for me for a while. I would usually fall over and my snowboard would swing round twisting my ankle and knee.

Snow is bloody slippery at when you get off a lift as it is in constant use and compacted.

I haven't tried skiing but my friends that do both say that skiing is quicker to learn. And you can keep both skis on the lifts.

If you are going to snowboard, a decent pair of step-in bindings and boots will make it easier to get your feet in and out. A decent pair will have very little heal lift, which you get with regular bindings.