Bloody old age!. It gets us all. Some earlier than others. my buddy has to have a hip replacement and he is only 40....WTF!... (he is not a kiter!).

I'm experiensing lower back problem pains myself but i just can't seem to see myself giveing up kitesurfing just yet.
Maybe i'll give a go for a seat harness but i don't know which one. I'd like to have the same feeling in hook position (high) and also use it in waves (maybe combine it with my dynabar).
I know i tried a seat harness for a while (dakine fusion i think) and there where a few things i didn't like, the low hook position that was forceing me out of ballance in jumps and messing up my toeside ridding and those huge straps bettwin my legs that made it very difficult to grab my board.
I currently use a dakine renegade and a ocean rodeo (which despite the straps doesnt take the pressure from the back) but i'm open to more ideas.
Toby i can see that you're useing a harness with leg straps and high hook position, what's your take in that? have you (or anybody else) tried wave riding with that and how did it feel?

Sorry you're in a bad way goofyfoot but... I suspect your problems have more to do with your own body rather than the effects of kiteboarding.

I am 55. Have been kiting for 12 years. I kite all the time. At least an hour a day every day of the week for 6 months of the year. A couple of hours each weekend during the off season.

I am fitter now than I have ever been in my life.

The physical activity is good on it's own. The constant flexing and working of my low back from toe side riding and riding a variety of directionals has loosened up my lower back.

I used to suffer from chronic low back pain. In the past few years my back pain is *almost* completely gone. I credit the improvement in my back to switching to a waist harness several years ago.I think the seat harness exerted far too much leverage on my back.

I do have pretty good technique so I can ride all day without getting tired if I want.

I love riding in the waves and getting thoroughly pounded by the surf.

I once saw a tv program about an american guy who suffered a severe car accident and was badly handicapped as a result he started exercising in the extreme and regained and surpassed his previous phisical abilities I do not recall his name he was an elderly gent meanwhile, and his nickname was 'Banana Man'on account of his barefooting behind speedboats at the age of 80 or some such,check him out .
To our bad fortune we do not all have the same lasting abilitie in terms of phisical resilience. When I hear your story goofyfoot it sounds like your fitness threw a smokescreen over the potential stress that was done to your frame,so minor damage did not hamper you enough to take time out,your warning to the rest of us should not be taken lightly as the consequences are dear.
Thanks for sharing this and i hope you san solve some of your problems.

Yeah, getting old blows. I had back problems before I started kiting and got a seat harness. I'm doing ok

Oz - interesting you went the other way and sorted your back out.

I am not saying kiting caused the back problems but it played a role in the rate of progression.

I have heavily played many sports with some at an elite level in my 20's and been active and fit all my life.

As said, I had pre existing minor lower back pain (LBP) but could still smash out 100km road riding hills, and raced XC MTB and was very gym fit and cross fit when I took up kiting.

I think many hard and flat landings wore down on the back.

My hips were fine prior to kiting although a little stiff. I do link hip damage to kiting. I think back to some hip pinching incidents involving sucking up kickers and breaking waves on the surf board.

You can protect yourself with warm ups and post session stretching but stretching can cause more damage if you are not addressing underlying probs. Hip stretches need to be undertaken very carefully and most often make impingement related probs worse. I now recall often pinching my hips whilst doing Glute stretches prescribed by PTs (Physios).

The quality of PTs and Doctors varies widely with competence being unusual. Get multiple opinions

PTs think stretching and Tranversus Ab/core strength/Pilates will fix everything. When i reflect on my PT treatments they inexplicably ignored my hip symptoms and gave me stretches that caused more damage.

Too much sugar in your diet has links to inflamation.

If your doctor or PT doesnt order MRI's or other scans go see another one and demand it.

Use it or lose it principle has some merit but not if you are accelerating degeneration too much.

Treatment failures are hidden by most people simply altering their activities and intensity of.

My life is ruined relative to what it has been, that is if I cant beat this situation.

"Kiting" is a very diverse activity, the orthopaedic problems described are also very diverse in their types, severity and significance and people's bodies are soooooo different... I also feel for you, I wish you were healthier and pain-free but although the discussion here is interesting in a way, any conclusions made are really extremely un-scientific and unfounded. It is a relief that, thanks to an inner instinct or reasonable thinking or addictive behaviour or whatever, we do not tend to take decisions on our lives and hobbies (eg avoid kiting or a certain type of kiting etc) on the grounds of such discussions, even if we appear willing to do so when discussing... otherwise it would be a problem.

Asking a specialist should be - and fortunately usually is - the way to decide, although even a well trained physician may sometimes get it very wrong when trying to advise sportsmen regarding their sporting activities. Happily, the odds are that he will probably get it right most of the times, provided he/she is well trained and experienced.

My hips are stuffed but I am reluctant to solely blame kiting. For sure though, kiting free-style on a twin-tip and then driving a long distance in a fixed position does not help. There are so many other factors; genetic pre-disposition, earlier injuries, diet (sugar and acidic foods are bad) and an unbalanced range of activities. I have osteo-arthritis in the hips only and kiting has definitely unbalanced by leg muscles. I suspect the original cause was a knee injuries in my late teens playing football (soccer) which caused me to favour walking in a certain way. Another factor is long hours sitting & leaning forward in front of a computer for long hours. I'm sure diet and genetic are playing a role as well. Balancing the muscles through other activities is important. On the plus side, hip replacements are much more sophisticaed than they used to be and you can recover full mobility afterwards

I had a major accident in 1996 that left me with 4 crushed vertebreaes + crushed discs The doctor told me that if I could just walk normally again I could count myself lucky. I was doing mogul skiing + motocross + skateboard, waterskiing etc... I was pretty much depressed

Now 15 years later I have been kiting for 5 years now on a regular basis but I wear a seat harness and I am really careful as to land all of my jump. I try to avoid kiting for too long while being really powered in big chop in really strong wind.

Lately I strated seeing a kinesiologist and it is helping me. In my case they are doing a program that targets all of the abdominal muscle so that they can absorb most of the schock while kiting, And as funny as it might seem, alimentation can also play a big part in arthritis and inflammation. I am 45 years old and I dont want to give up kiting so I will try everything to see if it can extend my kitesurfing "period".

Jules

Yes, here many use seat harnesses for waveriding - no problem !

Hooked in riding that is

I mostly use a waist myself when in waves, but sometimes I am on a seat (if I were on a racebaord, or if I were to make max jumps on TT's), and go surfing in between or just after - and I REALLY love the different options because of way more upper body freedom with a seat

You get a more fixed hip position of course - that is the only downside IMO - but when you learn to manage, there are good advantages with a seat harness in waves

I really like this upper body freedom - gives you such a great feel of "being free" and no strings attached

Also awesome to be able to twist your upper body and head freely wherever you want, and you get a bigger power/depower range that suits waveriding quite well.

The contrary example is those riding unhooked, that are not the worlds best, they get such a clumsy bent over stiff stance and their upper body is totally locked and cramped because of holding on to a bar at the upper part of the body

Peter