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I'm due to have knee surgery soon (nothing too serious - keyhole for arthritis - I'm normally pretty fit). I race a Laser and have a Dart 15 for fun sailing and the occasional race. Does anyone know whether sailing a Laser is worse for knees than sailing a Dart? The consultant raised his eyebrows at sailing and I'm keen to find out which boat will have the least impact for the future!
After many years of abuse of my knees snow skiing, windsurfing and sailing a Dart 18 I had a piece of cartilage break up and lock my knee whilst crewing on our Dart18 in heavy winds in 2002 (at age 51). Credit to the wife (helm) that she got me straight back ashore and to the hospital with ease.
I also suffer from arthritis (as have all my father's side of the family).
A quick keyhole operation and some intense home physiotheraphy with bags of frozen peas (in a towel) and I was back sailing about 5 weeks later. The knee was very tender, from a nerve point of view, for about 6 months but has been fine since. I can hike on the 15 and trapeze/hike on the 18 without problem.
I am light framed (only just 11 stone) so have little body mass to protect my knees. However in the course of annual medical assessments at work our occupational nurse and I talked about my sports and she suggested that I took Glucoseamine Sulphate tablets daily as they help joints. Another colleaque at work saw that arthritis gave me pain at times and suggested I wear a copper bracelet.
I have found, over several years use, that both the tablets and the bracelet work well - if I miss using them for about a week stiffness sets in again.
Bracelets can be purchased in Boots and Glucosamine Sulphate is widely available (I use Healthspan through their webshop).
Also try to do regular swimming - distance rather than speed though - to help keep the knees supple and muscled. Running,jogging or cycling is far worse on the knees than sailing or swimming
As to what sailing I would favour the Sprint 15 as you can roll and turn across the soft tramp with less sideways twist or possible banging of the knees - which is the killer.
All the best with the op. One thing they didn't tell me beforehand is that they wrap the knee in tight pressure bandages after the op and when I came round I thought it was going to explode and something was wrong until they explained why it was so painful - but I still walked out with a walking stick 3 hours later.
Thanks Steve and Howard - I feel a lot better now! I've been taking Glucosamine Sulphate for 8 years and although I can't swear it makes a difference, something has kept one knee sweet for all that time. I'll try a copper bracelet next.
Thanks also for the details of the operation, which I'm having next month. Frozen peas it is!
