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harness choice, doctors tale of woes.

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OzBungy
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Re: harness choice, doctors tale of woes.

Postby OzBungy » Fri Dec 07, 2018 3:17 am

If your waist harness is riding up then you're doing it wrong. You have the harness incorrectly adjusted and your posture is incorrect.

The waist harness need to be snug, but not super tight. If it's too tight when it gets pulled upwards it will ride onto your ribs and chest and get stuck there. If it's a little looser then it can come up, but it will slide straight down to your hips again.

Some looseness allows the harness to rotate to help with toeside riding.

Many ride bent at the waist. It's called the "poo man" stance. This causes the harness to be pulled upwards. You need to have your back straight, arms straight, hips forward, front leg relatively straight, back leg bent to control the trim and edging of the board. The kite should be not much higher than 45 degrees (+/-15 degrees).

The stance is stronger and faster and less tiring. It pulls the harness down onto your hips. In a jump it keeps you nicely centered in the harness and it doesn't ride up.

If you're riding around overpowered with the kite above your head it might come up a bit, but it will come back down as soon as you bring the kite down.

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Re: harness choice, doctors tale of woes.

Postby Macster » Sat Dec 08, 2018 4:28 am

jumptheshark wrote:
Wed Dec 05, 2018 2:52 am
No doubt rib injury is more prevalent with a waist harness. There is also less abdominal strain in a seat when jumping. Then again, seat harnesses put a nutating force through the pelvis reversing the lumbar curve, which is problematic when loading, i.e. jumping, riding in chop or overpowered.

General ergonomics are better standing than sitting. Especially under load. I fear for the current crop of foil racers. I can easily imagine there will be more than a few with lasting back issues.

Many people kite with poor posture regardless of harness type. I generally see better posture in advanced riders who typically use a waist harness and ride with better lumbar and pelvic alignment.

IMO A propper fitting hard shell waist is a good option for surfboard and foil with a slider. A softer harness better suits the use of a harness hook for jumping on a TT. The hard shell can present a painful edge to ribs and spine in the event of a hard unexpected yank.

It's not as simple as the OP implies. Ride with good form, know the risks, pick a harness that fits properly, suits your style, body and fitness level. Stay fit and develop core strength and stability.

- am a back doctor.
Great advice. I use to ride ridiculously overpowered cause I was too lazy to go in and pump up a smaller kite. This would screw up my stance and put way too much unnecessary strain on my back.

I do sit ups, pull ups push ups and back strengthening exercises every day for 10 mins and touch wood, no dramas anymore.

Lastly I always wear an impact vest. This does help prevent the harness from riding up but in a big crash (kiteloop) I still get the harness hook mechanism folding over sometimes and smacking me in the ribs.

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Re: harness choice, doctors tale of woes.

Postby hudstur » Sun Dec 09, 2018 2:13 am

Mystic Foil Seat Harness, great low center of gravity.

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Re: harness choice, doctors tale of woes.

Postby davesails7 » Thu Dec 13, 2018 6:49 pm

jumptheshark wrote:
Wed Dec 05, 2018 2:52 am
General ergonomics are better standing than sitting. Especially under load. I fear for the current crop of foil racers. I can easily imagine there will be more than a few with lasting back issues.
I agree, the upwind racing stance looks bad, but it doesnt feel bad. All the load is from your hips down. There's very little bar pressure with the kite eased to go upwind. It's not any worse than sailing a laser.

This stance doesnt strain my back at all. Sitting in an office chair all day seems to be the worst thing for my back. At races, everyone comes off the water with sore legs, but I never hear back strain complaints.

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Re: harness choice, doctors tale of woes.

Postby jumptheshark » Thu Dec 13, 2018 8:46 pm

It is what it is.

Give it a few more years. sitting in an office chair probably didn't hurt for the first decade either.


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