rib injuries

[Suncoast Kiter]

I was kiting 3 weeks ago and come down from a big jump and landed on my side and the kite caught me as i landed. This caused my waist harness to dig into my ribs. I felt something go at that moment and severe pain. I was unable to drive home and went to medical centre for xray and nothing showed up.

I have had pain in the area where the ribs meet the sternum and i think i have done rib carteledge damage. Has anyone else done a similar injury? and how long till it was pain free kiting? I have been told o could take months to heal.....this will drive me krazy not kiting through the rest of the summer!! any similar stories? Has this kind of injury happened to anyone else? how long did it take to heal?

[eitan80]

Hey
Usually it takes 4-8 weeks for full recovery.
Nothing to do but rest, & avoid kiting !
Get well soon buddy ...
E.

[Pippi langsamer]

I did exactly the same as you two weekends ago. Whilst trying to pop over a pretty big white-top, I must have caught the board sightly which span me around. Lost control of kite momentarily, and kite shot up to zenith, taking my waist harness with it right up into my left hand side of ribcage. I felt a *pop*, and the immediate pain thereafter. Couldn't even body drag back to board with the pain so left it for dead (luckily came in on the surf couple of hundred metres downwind). Could see/ feel horrid lump thru the wetsuit, so immediately took myself (painfully), off to ER where they diagnosed the damage.

My cracked rib did show up- just, but the ER doctor told me if it's the lower 7th or 8th ribs, they are hard to pick up on X-Ray. There is no doubt some inter-costal damage also.

Two jabs later, and I was discharged with some kick-ass opiate painfillers, anti-inflammatory tabs and some anti-inflammatory patches. Absolutely gutted, as the wind has been superb here, and I'm leaving Cape Town soon after 2.5 years here.

Anyway, I bought myself an ION B2 boardshort harness in the hope it will get me back on the water sooner. There's no chance I'll be using a waist harness for a good few months, but I'm hoping the boardshort harness will minimize any further damage to the rib if I do venture out. I know I should be resting up for a lot longer, but....................

Happy Healing!

[Peter_Frank]

As said in another thread - it takes usually 3 months before you are over it.

But you can start kitesurfing after a few weeks with a seat harness, so dont worry about it

Rest dont really help, just avoid "pain".

But dont try to use a waist harness, as eventhough you might not feel any pain when you start, you will suddenly feel very bad, and it will be even worse than just after you got the rib injury.

So just go out with a seat as much/soon as you can

It is a very common injury, and can happen with many different harnesses.

After some months, or 3, you can use a waist harness again - depending on how "serious" your rib has been hurt.

Peter

[RickI]

It seems rib injuries are fairly common even going back into windsurfing years back. You will meet people at the beach at times with some bizarre rib cage shapes. I have met some who have dinged their ribs several times. We weren't designed to handle localized excessive loading on what amounts to a flexible bone framework. If you push too hard on a localized part of it, you may move it (strain connective tissues) or in extremes maybe break something (less common).

I don't use waist harnesses, so I really can't comment on those. Regarding seat harnesses, well adjusted snug fit is key along with a nice spreader bar pad to distribute the load and help pad impacts. This stuff will come lose in normal use, if you don't tighten it you may be setting yourself up for a rib injury. I did once.

There are other threads on this subject including viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2337408 and viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2355162

[NEkitesurfing]

I had the same injury too. The only way to get back on kiting two month after was too use an impact vest and a seat harness and most important to avoid any new impacts.

Responsible for the injuries is for a certain amount of the cases the old spreader bar construction which was developed originally for windsurfing harnesses where it still works fine. With the experience and technology the industrie of sporting goods has it should be easy to develop an integral waist harness without any metal spreader bar especially for kiteboarding and the different loads. But because the quantities of kite harnesses are quite small compared to snowboard /ski bindings and boots and motor cycle protection gear we have to wait and suffer for a while more.

The best available product I found was the DAKINE pivoting hammerhead which helps to relieve pressure on the bar T- ends. Instead of rotating the T- end in your ribs the hook rotates. It helps me a lot to avoid rib injuries and on the water I don't feel any difference to a non rotating hook.
http://dakine.com/kite/harnessesbars/sp ... eader-bar/
To avoid rib injuries caused only by impacts I use when I want to jump always an impact vest too.

Give it a try when your pain is gone.

[OCKiter]

I had a badly bruised rib a couple years ago. I couldn't kite for a month. I tried kiting with a seat harness after a couple weeks, but that set my healing back.

I'm telling you - there IS something you can do about it. After a month, my rib still wasn't healing. I decided to go in and see my chiropractor even though I didn't think there was anything he could do for a rib injury. He worked on it, and after the first session, I felt a ton better. I saw him three times in one week, and by the end of the week, my pain was virtually gone, and I got back to kiting right away. My advice is to go see a good chiropractor TODAY.

[Windrider]

Waist harnesses.... gotta love 'em. One of the more subtle filters for Darwinian selection.... Thinning the herd so that the strong may survive.

[Sjoerd82]

I've experienced the same thing and was back on the water with a waist harness after three weeks.

Did use an impact vest for a good month or two. It helped me fixing the harness down so it wouldnt budge in the same rib again.

Painless(more or less) in three weeks. Don't worry about the summer man. You'll be out riding and won't even remember this whole ordeal. Breaking is better then bruising It's true. I've had both in the same season.

[H53Driver]

4 weeks off, then 4 weeks with subsiding pain (using the waist harness).