• Women skiers, this is the place for you -- an online community without the male-orientation you'll find in conventional ski magazines and internet ski forums. At TheSkiDiva.com, you can connect with other women to talk about skiing in a way that you can relate to, about things that you find of interest. Be sure to join our community to participate (women only, please!). Registration is fast and simple. Just be sure to add [email protected] to your address book so your registration activation emails won't be routed as spam. And please give careful consideration to your user name -- it will not be changed once your registration is confirmed.

Knee pain/fatigue...

KBee

Angel Diva
I'm in my late 40s, and can't catch up to the kid... Can I train to help easily fatigued, sore knees, or is it too late? Are there magic skis that let you ski 9 to 4 with no pain? Anyone know? Can you go to a PT for that? I'm actually fine, except when I ski, LOL.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
I'm in my late 40s, and can't catch up to the kid... Can I train to help easily fatigued, sore knees, or is it too late? Are there magic skis that let you ski 9 to 4 with no pain? Anyone know? Can you go to a PT for that? I'm actually fine, except when I ski, LOL.
How did you learn to ski? What region do you ski in the most?

What I know is that my ski buddy with no meniscus in one knee since high school who is over 60 has become a convert to the idea of taking lessons as an advanced/expert skier. He wasn't exactly a hard charger but was skiing pretty challenging terrain before I talked him into a semi-private lesson at JH with @snoWYmonkey several years ago. He's about to do a Taos Ski Week for the third season in a row. I was amazed at how much smoother he looked after only two days of the first Taos Ski Week. More importantly, what he learned stayed with him by the time we did our annual late season trip to Alta. He's skiing harder terrain and longer hours in the last 3-4 years. No equipment changes, just a few lessons a season with very experienced instructors (L3, 25+ years experience).

For my knee injury story (not a skiing injury) of why I started taking lessons regularly about six years ago, go here. I'm skiing more challenging terrain than I ever expected given that I didn't start skiing more than 10 days a season after age 50.
 

KBee

Angel Diva
How did you learn to ski? What region do you ski in the most?

With my parents and with lessons for 11, 12 years, 40 years ago. Then skip 20 years, except for 10 days or so. Now, lessons here and there. Ski Mt. Hood. Will ask for a sore knees lesson!
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
With my parents and with lessons for 11, 12 years, 40 years ago. Then skip 20 years, except for 10 days or so. Now, lessons here and there. Ski Mt. Hood. Will ask for a sore knees lesson!
Sounds like you were a much better skier than I was when I stopped skiing for over 10 years after only spending two seasons skiing on straight skis. Ironically it made it easier for me to adjust to "shaped skis" back around 2000 because I never mastered parallel turns with boots together like my ski buddy Bill. It took him a couple seasons after the first few lessons we took together, but once he got the hang of the more efficient technique I could tell his bad knee hurt far less.

Do you do any exercises to strengthen hamstrings? That's the key point I learned during knee rehab. That's pretty important for me since I opted to skip ACL reconstruction surgery. But in general, strong hamstrings help support knees.

How wide are your skis?
 

KBee

Angel Diva
Do you do any exercises to strengthen hamstrings?

Some, half heartedly. I think I need to focus on fitness more in general, and maybe relax more when I ski. Kid says I look tense/stiff.

How wide are your skis?

90. Kenjas, which I like because they feel so secure, but they're pretty heavy.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
90. Kenjas, which I like because they feel so secure, but they're pretty heavy.
Hmm, heavy is neither here nor there depending on what you mean. K2 skis are heavy in the sense of carrying in the parking lot, but they are far more forgiving than Volkl skis. I don't remember your stats, but demo'ing different skis may be worthwhile. I'm petite. When I started demo'ing about ten years ago, I was a confident advanced intermediate mostly skiing groomers. Didn't like any Volkl because they were too stiff. After improving my technique after the knee rehab, I still don't particularly like most Volkl skis although I can bend them for turns just fine. Much prefer brands that don't require so much work.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Yep, being tense is not helpful. I discovered last season that even being tense going straight was an issue. It was happening because I was worried about hitting sticky snow during a May trip that included Bachelor and Mt. Hood Meadows. My calf of my ACL-deficient leg would practically cramp up. Once I figured that I was tensing up all over, I could avoid the problem when I was skiing at Mammoth a few days later.

I collected some ideas for strengthening muscles that support knees in my fitness blog for older skiers. Did some of them during physical therapy for knee rehab. These exercises apply to any age.

https://over50skifitness.blogspot.com/search/label/knee

One way to get started to help support knees
 

tinymoose

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
@tinymoose didn't you also have knee pain when on the kenjas previously?

My knees have always gotten sore and achy skiing. Wider the skis, the more they ache. At the beginning of the season, they'll feel fine but the further we get into the season the more they ache midweek between ski days and by the end of the season they're generally achy all the time. It's not unbearable, they just feel stiff and a bit sore when going up or down stairs. It always clears up once ski season ends. Don't have this issue with any other sports/activities.
 

Christy

Angel Diva
I'd get this checked out. I think that's going to be a lot more efficient than self-diagnosis. I've had knee pain that only hurt during a specific activity--hiking downhill-- and it was a pretty straightforward PT fix (it was runner's knee). I've never had a recurrence.
 

liquidfeet

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
My knees used to hurt after skiing. I could reach down and feel the skin warm to the touch on the side of each knee. They were inflamed. I also got a big buzz from endorphins because a full day of skiing wore me out. This was years ago.

My knees no longer hurt, ever, from skiing. A full day of skiing no longer leaves my quads quivering and my body riding high on the pain-hiding effects of the endorphin rush. Getting out of the back seat was the cure. I am absolutely certain that skiing with my quads holding me up was causing the stress on my knees.

You may not think you are aft (I sure didn't), but if your knees are hurting, you might consider working on where you keep your feet relative to your upper body as you ski. Move them back and keep them back all the way through your turns. Later when this is embedded in muscle memory, you can allow those feet to move a little forward toengage the tails at the end of a turn. Keeping the feet back is easier to say than to do, by the way.

Strengthening your leg muscles may help too, but other benefits come when one is no longer skiing aft. Control of how the skis grip the snow improves exponentially.
 

Obrules15

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I just did something interesting last week. After reading some posts on the other forum about how boots can support you I just did some carpet skiing where I layed out on the front of my boot like a ski jumper. Way cool.

I had no intention of skiing like that but it was interesting to realize that my equipment supported me and I didn't have to fear falling because I was too forward. I had a lot easier time getting forward when I realized I didn't necessarily have to fear pitching forward and crashing on my face. Just Sayin'
 

liquidfeet

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
^That. What @Obrules15 said.

Pull your feet back and keep them back. Then ski.

As your skis turn to point downhill, that's when most people lose courage and hold their bodies back, allowing their feet to move on down the hill without them. Work on not doing that, at slow speeds, on low pitch terrain.

Success at keeping your feet "behind" you as skis turn to point downhill can be as thrilling (or more!) as heading down a steep groomer at unsafe speeds, in the back seat, adrenalin flowing through your body. You'll get that adrenaline rush right there on the bunny hill. It feels good to realize you're not only safe, but your skis feel more connected to the snow.

I promise you won't go faster because of this, nor will you fall on your face, despite the brain goblin in your head telling you disaster will strike. You not only have the boot cuff there blocking your knee from going all the way down... you've got the expensive part of your skis out in front supporting you.

An exaggeration, just for fun:
t6asj4dla0vxewt7mqmm.jpg
 
Last edited:

lisamamot

Angel Diva
I feel your knee pain. I am 53 and my knee caps aren't quite in the correct spot - about 10 years ago a sports med doc confirmed that, and that I have early arthritis. I was sent to PT where they tried to tape my knee caps back where they are supposed to be, but my knee caps weren't having any of it. Apparently they have been where they are for so long that they are not interested in moving; attempting to move them caused worse pain than what I was already experiencing. We decided to leave them be.

In my fitness class I modify as necessary; squats and lunges aren't as deep and no jumping. Skiing I don't often have a problem unless I am skiing quite a bit of back-to-back days which I generally only do on trips. They got pretty achy when I brought my long and wide (100mm) skis to Utah and ended up on firm groomers for most of the week. Going forward I may travel with two pairs of skis just in case I run into eastern conditions in the west.

It is still a work in progress finding out exactly what triggers the discomfort but as long as I can avoid the stabbing pain it's all good. More time in the hot tub on trips is part of my planned remedy going forward :smile:
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
I just did something interesting last week. After reading some posts on the other forum about how boots can support you I just did some carpet skiing where I layed out on the front of my boot like a ski jumper. Way cool.

I had no intention of skiing like that but it was interesting to realize that my equipment supported me and I didn't have to fear falling because I was too forward. I had a lot easier time getting forward when I realized I didn't necessarily have to fear pitching forward and crashing on my face. Just Sayin'
I vaguely remember having an instructor for a women's group lesson to do an exercise just standing around on a flat near the top of the lift. She asked everyone to lean as far forward as they could, with knees bent a bit. Then she said to lean back as far as possible. The question was which position felt more secure.

Walter at Massanutten sometimes asks during lessons for people to pay attention to their feet inside the boot. Meaning to think about subtle sensations that are only possible to notice on blue or green terrain.
 

MaineSkiLady

Angel Diva
I was sent to PT where they tried to tape my knee caps back where they are supposed to be, but my knee caps weren't having any of it. Apparently they have been where they are for so long that they are not interested in moving; attempting to move them caused worse pain than what I was already experiencing. We decided to leave them be.
Darn. That's too bad. I had the patella tracking issue as well. While it was semi-painful at first, eventually the taping therapy worked for me. Sorry it didn't work for you. :frown:
 

Latest posts

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
26,237
Messages
497,685
Members
8,503
Latest member
MermaidKelly
Top