Ankle Blocks - Knee Pain - Fix?

[hammerhead]

Help! Never had knee pain in any of my boats...till now. It's pretty obvious to me that my latest conversion fit is the cause, so I need to tweek the outfitting. My question is; Does anyone find the addition of ankle blocks decreases pain/pressure on the knee? I am currently running a Dagger/Perception saddle, with a bulkhead, thigh straps and no toe or ankle blocks. Regards...

[hazardharry]

get to work.

[keez]

After 3 knee surgeries and 7 sprained ankles (rugby), I swear by ankle blocks.
As Harry said "get to work".

[Bob P]

The OP's original question was however, about knees, not ankles. Ankle blocks will only put more pressure on the knees, not less.

[Sir Adam]

2 ideas:

1) Check all the "angles" of your body in your new boat vs old ones. Figure out what has changed (my guess is effective angle of your legs), and fix it if you can (higher seat? Bring the knees in a bit more? Hard to say without images of both new and old)
2) stretch more;)

I find I'm far more comfortable in my cquirt boats if I've stretched and am under a certain weight.

[C1NCR]

I find my weight is very important to comfort. If I am close to or under 190 I am great-much over that and I am good for about 20 minutes

[keithmasill81]

Ill echo what Bob P said. I generally find that if my saddle is low enough to cause my knees discomfort getting my ankles as close to the bottom of the boat as possible helps to relieve some of the pressure. I do still use ankle blocks in those boats but only enough to barely support the natural curvature of my foot and ankle area when it is more or less pressed flat against the bottom of the boat.

No harm in trying them and seeing if they work.

[Einar]

My knee pads come up the side of the chine so that when I lean the hull radically my centre of gravity is over my knee. It is another choice, it might help move your pressure points on the knee.

I tend to use toe cups instead of ankle blocks, but have used both. I would consider it a cumulative experiment, bit of both, blocks and knee pad position till you get the best deal.
Making a chine-mountable radius us a not much work on a band saw or even by hand

[the great gonzo]

Knee pain can be due to many things, look, next to ankleblocks and saddle height also at knee spead, lower leg angle, how close or how spread your feet are, knee twist and such things. I for one am in quite a bit of pain really quickly if my feet are up and I have to push against foot pegs, but can, all other things as far as outfitting being equal, be in very comfortable if my feet are loose and flat and I can move them around.

TGG!

[KNeal]

Good responses here. Especially what Bob P., Sir Adam, and The Great Gonzo said about body alignment. So, what is causing the pain? Are you sitting lower? Are the upper legs tighter against the lower legs? Is there a bulkhead that is squeezing the knees more tightly? Are the lower legs/feet spread more outward? Are the feet turned outwardly? Are you sitting in the boat more crookedly?

[hammerhead]

Great Stuff. The ankle blocks are out. Tried a Temp fit...more discomfort. I feel the primary cause is the bulkhead fit & maybe leg twist/misalignment. The seat height seems OK. Thanks for the Tips! Regards...

[hammerhead]

Oh Yeah, Great Tips that bear repeating are; Warm-ups, Stretching & Nothing(or not much) below the knees. Cheers!

[McPherson]

I use a different approach that I call "shin blocks". It distributes the weight across a much larger area, provides much better circulation, and takes most of the weight off of the knees. I personally can't do ankle blocks. They cut off circulation to my feet and I'm out of the boat every 10 minutes with pins and needles. My shin blocks actually stop a few inches above the ankle.

Here's a couple pics of my old Detonator for an example...

[hammerhead]

McPherson, That's an interesting take that I haven't seen before & may help. Turns out that I have a torn medial meniscus & MOST of the pain was being caused by that one specific injury. Hopefully, if & when I get the cartilage tear taken care of...most of my pain & problems will go away. In the interim any boat fit advice & input on dealing with knee pain will be greatly appreciated. 35 Years of paddling, hockey & skiing and No knee pain...until I hit the Big 50. This has been a big adjustment & I have been learning a lot. Peace...

[ezwater]

Knee blocks pushing against the inner surfaces of the thighs helped me with knee pain. This is in addition to knee cups, which can tend to pull the lower part of the knee joint from side to side against the upper part of the joint. I prefer a rather narrow range of knee motion in the outfitting. YMMV