Hi was talking to some helpful people at the nationals, and thought i might pass on some advice, in relation to the knee injury i am currently wading through. just in case anyone else is in the same situation

IT seems a few people are going to hurt this part of the body, and some already have.
doctors (or at least mine) have trouble diagnosing this injury, as soon as possible get to a specialist knee doc or sports doc.Doo what ever you have to, to get your gp to refer you! GET a MRI asap. forget waiting for the swelling to go down, it takes for ever.

some of the best surgeons i have seen the work of are

Mark Clatworthy
Titchens

and
Andrew Baunton
Manurewa Sports Physiotherapy
Ph (09) 266 0730
is also very on to it. with who is good or bad, ( he is the physio for the nz ski team.)

note i am not a doc, so this is just what i have learnt while trying to get the knee fixed. happened on 2nd april so things are taking time (grrrr) not yet booked in for surgery.
then you can expect a 4-6mnth recovery period of no kiting.
hope this helps even just one person.

I have had an ACL reconstruction and it took the docs nearly 2 months to Diagnose the problem. Chances are there will be muscle wasteage and you'll find it very difficult to regain the muscle as the other muscles around the leg will carry the load. Also the operation and recovery is extremely painful. Good luck, I hope the injury isn't too severe.

gidday
I ruptured my ACL a few years ago-and did not get it surgically repaired (not an option for the amount of time off work.) I delt with Dr Dale Speedy in manurewa and was able to get a serious knee brace through ACC. I guess i'll have to have the surgery eventually but in the mean time the brace still allows me to kite and wake board.

A wee bit off-topic in that it is not a knee injury but I this injury kept the doctors guessing as well, and knees and ribs are favourite things for kiters to wreck.
About this time last year I mis-timed a boost or two trying to tune into my 9m at the beginning of winter which resulted in a decent smash on to the water which I didn't think was too horrendous and carried on kiting.
But the next day I had a game of squash and was going for a shot when I "popped" on of my rib cartilages, which felt like a super shap shooting pain into the middle of my back.
The next three months was a circus of puzzled doctors and varied diagnosis, with recovery times quoted ranging from six weeks to a year.
The reality was somewhere in the middle, but the point I am making is that the GP's didn't know what was wrong. I had to keep searching and searching (specialists, x-rays, etc) to find out what had happened. It really frustrated me not knowing!!!
Now I dont want to offend any General Practitioners who may read this, who have to answer questions ranging far and wide, but if you do injure yourself you may have to keep digging for a while to find out what youv'e done.

I have just visited Shane M at the North Shore hospital... The poor fella bust his foot, out at Taka on Sat. He now needs to wait for the swelling to go down before they slice him open. If you are in the area, he likes flowers.. :roll:

If any one left a nappy down at Taka on Sunday, I have it..
It has a North safety leash attached.