Bad knee and fins

[NudeDiver]

I'm fairly new to diving and have a bad knee (the trade off from years of contact sports) Although I have gotten used to limping after certain activities I do try and avoid it whenever possable. A day after doing a couple of dives my knee will ache and I'll be limping. So heres the question, has anyone else had this kind of problem? Any ideas on ways to mininize the knee strain?

I have an extraordinarily bad knee. Massive trauma resulting in breakage of all leg bones, knee cap and "growth plate" when I was 13 (now 38). Multiple surgeries, plates, pins, cartlidge transplant, ACL, MCL work - you name it, I've got it. A couple of years ago, they broke my leg, sawed it in half length wise, picked it up, moved it over and bolted it back down. I limp even without diving - a result of one leg being about an inch shorter than the other due to my original injury. Real unpleasant stuff. When I move my knee, you can hear it creak and groan and make all kinds of interesting noises.

I was pretty worried about how well my knee would hold up when diving. I wore my fancy schmancy leg brace during the certification course in the pool. Didn't wear it for the open water dives. I did OK - no big problems - even carrying around 40+ pounds of lead and drysuit and other assorted gear. In Australia, I was doing 5 dives per day (50 dives in a 20 day period) and rarely felt overly fatigued or in pain with respect to the knee, although it did swell up quite a bit. Overall, I was pretty pleased with how things went. For my fins, I used Atomic Liquidblue split fins and have great results. Highly recommend. Hope this helps!

ND

 

[Hoyden]

Wow, I had no idea that there were so many other divers with bad knees out there. I think that you can see from the replies that fin recommendations from divers with bad knees tend to mirror fin recommendations on general - they are all over the place - (splits, force fins, paddles, etc). I have bad knees from my previous life as a jock (years of hard court tennis followed by a couple of years of rugby) and then I did more damage (to my "good" knee) while making a mistep carrying heavy doubles up some stairs after a cave dive in FL. I do alot of diving and find that blade fins of varying stiffness work best for me. If I am doing easy single tank diving, I use an old set of pretty soft US Divers Rocket fins. If I am doing harder single tank diving (more current) or easy rebreather or doubles diving, I use SP Jetfins. Hard rebreather/doubles diving and drysuit diving bring out the OMS slipstreams. I almost always use the frog kick, although on some easier singles dives where there is no danger of silting, I occasionally dolphin kick or flutter kick. This is what works for me - YMMV. I pretty much always have some knee pain - multiple days of diving in a row reliably produces some swelling.

Jackie

 

[old gaffer]

I switched from a blade to the Atomic splits and it relieved both my knee pain in one knee and also a tendency to get calf cramps. I have not been able to back fin with the splits like I could with the blades however so I do have that trade off.

Gaffer

 

[shoturtle]

It seems the consences it that if you have bad needs Split Fins are the best solution.

 

[Blair Mott]

I have a lot of customers who switch to Force Fins because they are looking for equipment that is easy on there knees and ankles. I know two members had some really good feedback concerning Force Fin on this thread, but I thought I would insert this link which has some good reading on the dynamics of Fins.
The Truth About Dive Fins
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/force-fin/244281-kinematic-comparison-dive-fins.html

 

[MtnPlayVA]

I've had 3 knee surgeries, one of which was an ACL using my hamstring. I dive with Mares Raptor split fins and haven't had any problems with my knees. I actually did my OW cert dives 18 days after the last meniscus clean up. A little swelling then but none since then.

 

[brandnew]

Thank you everyone for the inputs. I'm starting to borrow/rent different fins and trying them out. So far I have scheduled scupa pro twin jets, and oceanic v-12's and am looking for jets and force fins.

How long should I give each pair, I already planned to try out different kicks to see the effects also.

 

[meesier42]

to really get the feel of any fin it normally takes at least 5-6 dives, as a newbie, you will probably need 20-30 dives before you can even start comparing fins, as beginers normally are finning all over the place to attempt to compensate for their lack of buoyancy, trim, and positioning control. it just takes time and practice to learn and maintain these skills. try a bunch of fins for a while, then start doing your comparisions, keep and open mind about every fin that you try and let your legs/knees tell you what works and what doesn't

 

[pescador775]

Newbie, I read that your limp begins a full day after the dive. Try using fish oil capsules, aspirin and/or one of the sulfur containing compounds like Glucosamine. Your problem appears to be related to inflammation.

I haven't seen all the latest fin tests but I understand that the Scubapro twin speed is superior to the twin jet. My preference would be the Apollo biofin pro. When choosing a split fin look for one which is very flexible. The thrust and potential speed of these designs do not depend on stiffness, rather the opposite. A genre of flexible fins which have been rapidly evolving are the channellers. Among these are the Aeris Mako, Oceanic Caribe, etc. Some of these are FF type fins but it is a fact of life that FF fins are more efficient than OH (open heel), other things being equal. The Caribe is extremely flexible and the Mares Super Channel somewhat less so. Don't limit your selections to what tech divers or other special interests say as your case is somewhat special (but not necessarily constraining).

 

[redrover]

Very bad knee here too, severe osteoarthritis.
I was using the Scubapro Twin Jets, med stiff grey. Much improvement as in I could walk after a dive and quite happy with them. Learned the kicks in them and I’m not a zoomer anyway but a frog and glider.

Since then a new fin came out with an appealing review. About then I was getting annoyed in current and then had a dive with a knee tweak or something and when in the current it was one hurting puppy in all kicks.

So after a couple of months debating, that did it. Annoyed enough to go buy another pair of expensive fins – the Atomic Smoke on Water. My main concern was they would work well enough (better power in current and catch up faster) but hurt.

Haven’t had a lot of variable conditions to compare but so far I agree with the review. They are more power, certainly faster acceleration and the knee has had no complaints at all. They are quite noticeably stiffer. The Twins seem like wet noodles dry and kinda mushy kicking in comparison. Can’t say the Smoke on Water are any more precise (had no complaints there) just the fin stroke feels different. Nor speak of longevity where the Twins look virtually indestructible for the same $. Both are slightly positive, I wanted that.
Bottom line is I recommend them.

Oh, if you are getting to compare some wet I’ll say the first two dives with the Smoke on Water were a bit disconcerting. Not pain but it seemed I had no clue how to fin all of a sudden and flutter was the worst! Probably if I was just trying them I’d have not bought them. Third dive I seemed to have figured it out – well enough I forgot I was meaning to concentrate on it – it just happened. And in a recent opportunity to loan fins to a friend – he could use the Twins or rent. That’s how much I like them now.