Re: RC: fighting knee injury

[Bonita Young <corky@foothill.net>]

I too have to deal with an old knee injury.  The one thing I found out
when I started riding endurance was that I absolutely could not ride in a
western or western type endurance saddle, the fenders on that type of
saddle turned my knee the wrong way and I was in  a lot of pain in about
2-3 miles.  My solution was to ride in an english   type of saddle with
plenty of knee rolls and I have no problem.  Of course there are many
types of knee injuries so I don't know if this will work for you.  Good
luck!
Corky Young

Lucy Chaplin Trumbull wrote:

> > McClain wrote:
> >
> > I have a knee with an old injury...t is painful to ride very far,
> > 5 miles or more...I would sure welcome any suggestions anyone may
> > have on how to reduce knee strain, tricks with leathers, stirrups,
> > braces,ect.
>
> Sherrie
>
> I've been fighting a knee strain since May when bad Karen Chaton
> made me trot and trot and trot and trot at Scott's Flat (I'm
> blaming her entirely. It's *obviously* her fault. She is a lousy
> mentor. Should be more responsible. Told me endurance would get
> better the more I did... she lied, etc...etc... ;-)  ).
>
> Anyway. First I was told by the doctor to baby it for a month.
> I "kind of" did this and it didn't help much. Knee still hurt.
> Like your's, I don't think anything's torn or broken, it's just
> strained and really, really p*ssed at me. It doens't hurt a lot.
> Only when I trot really...for 50 miles. In your case, your's is
> an old injury, so it prolly wouldn't help you either.
>
> You could experiment with stirrup length - raising them/lowering
> them/fiddling endlessly with them. We've done this with my husband-
> recovering-from-a-broken-leg/knee and it's taken lots and lots of
> adjustment, but we seem to be getting there. What feels good for
> a while, will need changing after a few miles/rides, so don't give
> up on this. Plus it'll give you lots of mounting and dismounting
> practise.
>
> You could experiment with different saddles (huh, easy for me to
> say). Buying a saddle with adjustable stirrup hangers would be
> perfect. Do such things exist? In my case, trotting on some inclines,
> my knee doesn't hurt at all, at other time it hurts a lot. It all
> depends on the angle. So lots of adjustment would be a wonderful
> thing.
>
> You could try getting on an off a lot, if you think that walking
> and stretching your knee out would help. Say ride for four miles,
> walk for five minutes. Might help. Then again, it might not.
>
> You could try taking glucosamine/chondroitin and MSM (this is
> what I've just started, in despair of anything else working).
> You get to try and swallow lots of pessary sized pills every day.
> I'll let you know if it seems successful - I'm only a week or so
> into this experiment.
>
> You could try riding with a knee brace. This might help stop it
> getting more strained, but if it's already hurting then it prolly
> won't. I say this, because three weeks after Scott's Flat, Karen
> talked me into doing Camp Far West (see what a bad mentor she is??).
> About 15 miles into the ride, my not-at-all-recovered-knee woke up
> and realised what I was trying to subject it to and got p*ssed
> with me all over again. The result of this was having to finish
> the second half of the ride (30 miles) at a walk/canter (the only
> two gaits I could do). I wore Karen's knee brace. It didn't help.
> The damage was already done.
>
> Admittedly, doing a ride this way did work. I still finished in
> 11 hours (Trilby beat me, which apparently is quite outstanding.
> Not many people can say that). But something to consider? If you
> can walk and canter...then do the ride at a walk and a canter.
> Persuade your horse that the trot is overrated.
>
> You might consider buying a gaited horse (you can see how my mind
> has been working over the past few months, ignoring the fact we
> have two non-gaited arabs in the paddock and another one potentially
> on the way... was this just another excuse to acquire another horse?
> Moi? No, never...)
>
> You might consider going to a knee specialist and finding out about
> "really good knee exercises to strengthen your knee and make the
> pain miraculously go away". I haven't done this,. Instead, I've
> resorted to riding my greenie who doesn't trot much. I'm figuring
> that by riding her at a walk a lot, with short trotting stretches,
> I'm gradually strengthening my knee until it will be strong enough
> to deal with life without complaining. This is probably dillusionary.
>
> In conclusion, maybe none of the above will hurt. Knees are stupid
> bad things and everyone's knee injury is different. But I hope this
> gives you some ideas of things to try...
>
> --
> **************************************************************
> Lucy Chaplin Trumbull - elsie@calweb.com
> Repotted english person in Sacramento, CA
> http://www.calweb.com/~elsie
>
> with Mouse and Provo
> **************************************************************
>
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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=