Skiing vs Snowboarding & knee injury…

We're planning on a skiing trip in a few weeks but my knee injury has flared up again. I've had physio,X-rays and an MRI scan on the knee and the doc has basically declared that the cartillage at the back of the patella is worn and this is what is causing the pain when I use stairs or do any lunging activity. Luckily its just my right knee.

So, is boarding any easier on the knees?

not much chance of twisting a knee snowboarding (expect if your having to a scoot a bit)

might land on them a bit though. i normally wear knee pads.

This is what I thought, but more importantly can one favour one leg over the other? Eg: to take the pressure off my right knee can I lead with my left leg mostly or is it 50-50?

I can safely say…snowboard. Skiing puts alot of pressure on zi knees, the required bending of zi knees won't do you any favours, and if you crash you are more likely to damage knees as i have learnt with much pain included. I would'nt ski myself as it will probably end in more pain and, when you bugger knees skiing, it bloody hurts like hell.

As said though, snowboarding results in alot of knee impacts, well it does if you crap like me, so perhaps some pads and a little caution??

you can ride switch but it takes a while to learn. piste riding is mostly weighting the front knee.

As Jambo says you will need to try to ensure that you have your "knackered" knee at the rear (if you can since some people can't ride either way). the main benefit is the lack of twisting force, you will still have the force through your knee. Mr MC thinks if you can cycle you can board. I have a completely torn ACL in my right knee and first thing surgeon said was "you'll never ski" (at this point I never had!!!) so I went boarding, rarely have a problem. I would recommend getting some knee pads though as you will probably do a lot of kneeling (and falling over if new!) and initally that hurt a lot but after 2 years stopped using them.
Get your quads and hamstrings strong as well too help 😉
good luck!!!

A ski and snow board instructor I know told me that boarding is bad for you as it puts you in a very unnatural and twisting position.

Whether that has an impact on your knees I dont know!!

This may sound harsh, BUT I would stay off both till your knee is repaired, otherwise you are going to pay for it in later life, talking from experiance, I used to fell run and alpine climb in my teens through to my 30s and my knees were becoming shot to the point that I was advised to stop, took up cycling and its helped a great deal but every now and again they remind me.

piste riding is mostly weighting the front knee

Only if you don't know how to ride properly 🙄

My Knee surgeon friend told me skiing keeps him in buisness.

Snowboarding is easier on your knees!

jd-boy is probably right. But again from experience, when I injured my knee skiing [turned out to be cruciate ligament damage] after only a couple of days of my holiday I went and got boarding lessons and was able to board for the remainder of the holiday without as much pain as on skis. I would wear a pretty heavy support/strapping though. If you can bare to avoid it altogether you may save yourself future problems. Mine took over a year and lots of medical attention to get back to anything like normal. Good luck whatever you do:-)

hmm….so boarding it is then! I've toyed with the idea of not going at all and may just cancel, but will tryout the local dry slope on board first. Thanks all!

Skiing= Knee and occasional ankle injuries
Snowboarding= Broken wrists / back injuries
Take your pick? 😯

Statistically there are a higher number of knee injuries skiing (more than double) but less ankle and upper body injuries.

Canadian report

Always used to get that water-running-over-my-feeling aftercare weeks skiing. Can't remember which one and it was more than likely because I wasn't really all that good a skier. But I took up boarding, and hey presto, much better at boarding, and never had knee pain. First week was a world of pain everywhere else with falling over all the time, but since then, pain free 🙂

http://www.ski-injury.com/specific-injuries/wrist

http://www.nsaa.org/nsaa/press/0506/facts-about-skiing-and-snowboarding.asp

Thedoctor- really? Keep the weight on your back foot on the piste and you'll be spending a lot of time on your arse. Or do you know some magic technique I don't?

Typical snowboarder on piste!

The other replies would suggest I'm almost alone in this POV, but if you've not boarded before, or are fairly inexperienced (which is what it sounds like if you're asking this question), then it's really not a good idea to start when recovering from injury. Yes boarding is easier on the knees, but it's not like it puts no strain on them at all – you can't entirely take the load on one knee and rest the other, since that will totally throw your balance off. Meanwhile you'll not be in total control of anything that's going on, so really want to be close to fully fit to avoid further injury. Don't do it.

I would say that if you ride properly much of the weight when snowboarding is on the back foot.

Thedoctor- really? Keep the weight on your back foot on the piste and you'll be spending a lot of time on your arse. Or do you know some magic technique I don't?

Nope, to get the best out of your board your weight should be evenly distributed ie keeping your weight central over the board, but you knew that right 😉

Nope, to get the best out of your board your weight should be evenly distributed ie keeping your weight central over the board, but you knew that right

That was my problem. I did one day of snowboarding 20 years ago, was skateboarding alot at the time so thought it would translate easily…it did'nt….Skis on the other hand, easy peasy.

if you do ride, i would get some basic knee pads even on a piste, esp. for learning.You'll thank me.

aracer, I forgot to add that the doc said my knee would never be the same again. Once the cartillage is gone, its gone and I just have to avoid things that aggrivate it, i.e the lunging from years of playing squash. Hence I want advice to gauge whether to board or not as I know skiing hurts!

never mind knee pads, if your starting on a board get wrist braces.

Can't imagine it'd be much different on a board, you'd still need to keep yer knees bent a bit..dunno how much tho'.

>not much chance of twisting a knee snowboarding (expect if your having to a scoot a bit)

I beg to differ – even just coming to a halt, then your weight moving forwards on the board will twist them if you fall to the front or back. If your knees are fine, you'll shrug it off, if they're not, you may get some grief from 'em. But it depends on your problem – it'd utterly screw mine, but in Lazgoats case it might be ok

Mine's a different problem – missing a lump of meniscus cartiliage – but several weeks of snowboarding lessons on hard boots years ago (plus a board with daffy bindings at one point) really *didn't* do my knees any favours, the twisting messes 'em up (see the bit about stopping above). I resigned myself to the fact that cycling's generally fine, and I don't want to do anything to them that would stop me cycling.

I used to ski, then dislocated my knee and tore out a chunk of cartilage along with rupturing one cruciate and severing the other. There is no way my knee can take the forces from ski'ing (I know I tried and tried). Snowboarding on the other hand places hardly any of the stresses on my knees that ski'ing did, as it is mostly front to back stress, whereas ski'ing is mostly sideways. As for lessening the load on one knee whilst on the board – well – you need to have your weight centered. To my mind that means both legs have an equal load.

Oh and after the initial pain of learning to board I wished I had started boarding long before the knee dislocation (it wasnt done ski'ing by the way)

>This may sound harsh, BUT I would stay off both till your knee is repaired<

What he said…

I ski and board and I'd rather be on a pair of skis in a bad fall than strapped to a board. If you need to use a lot of surface lifts on a Board (Pomas, T Bars) these place huge stresses on the knees ime.

Lot of bad advice on here imo. Listen to your doctor / your own body.

I agree with not doing either. I spent time riding with an injured knee and there were days I was in agony and close to tears. Granted you are unlikely to get twisting injuries but the constant impacts (and I'm not talking about jumping) will take their toll.

the first week of snowboarding might just be the most painful, miserable experience an Adult male* human can subject themselves to**

have some lessons first – to see how your knee reacts, it's very tricky to 'favour' one leg more than another. when you know what you're doing you move your weight around to control the board, and when you're learning you won't have the control.

(**if done properly, ie; no lessons except being dragged to the top of a steep icy red by your 'mates' and abandoned for the day. This is usually considered more than enough experience to start hitting the park on your second day. By the third day you will have whiplash, agonising leg cramps, and a hernia. you won't be the only newbie on your trip, so you'll be forced to man-up and deny any pain or fatigue. Any lessons and or rest days and you can consider yourself a lightweight. On returning to the uk you will discover that you've factured your coccyx and one wrist).

(*women are of course allowed patience, sympathy, lessons and rest days, they're not stupid – they tend to react with a blank expression and blinking when advised to 'man-up')