Dirt bikes

Same!

Took a 10-year+ hiatus from dirt bikes. Bought a 2022 KX250 a couple of weeks ago, and got out to the track today. Pace wasn't atrocious for such a large amount of time off, but I like the idea of getting some coaching to get up to speed faster and safer.

Also felt like I wanted more protective gear. Need some knee braces and a some upper body protection.

 

I realize in the grand scheme of life, my injury is minor, and I don't mean to make it seem to be a bigger deal than it is. But ultimately, I ruptured my ACL and had to get a cadaver graft. I also chipped out about a square CM of cartilage on my femur from the impact. I'm active duty and so obviously the requirement to stay phyiscally active isn't going anywhere until I retire. I feel the fallout of that crash nearly every single god damn day. I went from never having to take Aleve/Tyelnol to being mandatory if I have to run more than 2 consecutive days. Some days the joint just screams for no reason, and I wasn't even physically active the day prior [to irritate it]. It's affected my ability to do decent squats, deadlifts, etc. It's undoubtely the first part in my lower part to start giving out. I've gotten a few hints after some physically active days of my right hip getting a little sore because of the subconcious compensation.

If I had some huge epic dirt bike weekend that I had been planning for months, drove 12 hours away to go ride and took 2 weeks off of work for, but forgot my knee braces and couldn't get any, I wouldn't ride. I'd sit the whole trip out.

None of us would ever dream of gridding up in a WERA race without wearing a helmet or leathers. And none of you should ever dream of [seriously] riding a dirt bike without a helmet and knee braces.

 

Torque between the 150sx 2-stroke and 250f 4-stroke is really comparable, usually favoring the 2 strokes a tiny bit. However, there is a huge difference in riding both.. Mainly, rev the 2-stroke more!

 

GA and IA. TN is an option, with my daughter who rides a resident there.

 

I agree... the TPI models are a lil soft on the hit hence the recos.

 

ah, I prefer knee/shin guards over braces. for me, I would rather rehab a joint injury, than have a brace lock my upper and lower leg together, causing a femur, or tib fib break. and I had a CATASTROPHIC KNEE INJURY. tib plateau had a chunk out, acl, mcl, pcl, both meniscus capsules blown out of the joint. only thing holding the leg together was skin, the LCL, and the patella tendon, which both needed laser shrinking due to their stretched nature, from the injury.


If you look up Dr. Mark, in Texas, he is an ortho surgeon that does a lot of the sx, mx guys, he prefers them not to wear braces. but, everyone has to have their own thoughts on this, and I respect that. Ski

 

Well, now I'm confused.

 

Even orthos don't agree on it. At least that's what I found doing a lot of research before going from wearing guards to Leatt X frame braces about 3 years ago and they have saved both of my knees several times over. Racing hare scrambles, enduros, woods riding as well as motocross track training five to six hours a week.

Some orthos say they would much rather plate/pin/screw a broken femur, tib/fib than fix ACL, MCL etc.,

The fear for woods riders is severing the femoral artery in a break situation and bleeding out before anyone is there to help.

I had a bad off last year where the full weight of the bike came down on my knee laterally and surely would have blown out the knee completely if not for the brace. The brace put the force into my femur and I had a black leg like you would not believe, but no break and I was racing two weeks later, against medical advice

My understanding is that the design of many of the new knee braces is to allow a little more flex to lessen the risk to the femur. I won't ride without my braces, but I understand while they lessen some risk, they could possibly increase others.

 

I strongly disagree. Knee braces are a way to transfer risk from one body part to another. They also limit lower body mobility. My view is to really work on feet on pegs technique and avoid dabbing as much as possible. I don’t think it’s wrong to wear braces, but I don’t see them in remotely the same light as helmets or boots.

 

Fun in the desert GS race 22

 

It's the steel toe boot theory. Steel toes protect your toes, until they don't after something that's weight is way more than the boots are designed for neatly cut off all of your toes.

But you were fucked regardless if something that heavy fell on your foot, so where does that leave ya?

I've never broken my femur but my knee issues would have me changing the option of breaking that the next time around than tearing another ACL.

 

So can I protect my knees and not add too much risk for a femur break? I’m going to focus on not riding fire breathing beasts and riding within my limits, but some knee protection would still be good.

 

In my big crash two years ago, the knee brace acted as a fulcrum where my fibula snapped. My foot had caught a tree and twisted off the peg, a Maisonneuve fracture as it's called in the business. What made it atypical was the break was transverse, not diagonal as is usual. And the fracture was right in line with the bottom of the brace. Had it been a classic diagonal Maisonneuve fracture, I'd have required plates and screws to get back up and running. In this instance, the brace improved the outcome of that crash significantly. I only hobbled around in a boot brace for two months as opposed to surgery, all the PT, and the hobbling around in a full cast.

 

I'll take a bone break over a serious joint tissue injury any day either is being offered.

 

If not for the accompanying broken foot, they would've had me trying to walk on my broken femur the day after surgery.

 

Case on point - JL breaks a collar bone, gets welded up, goes racing like, the next day.
If that had been his shoulder ripped out of socket, a collar bone pulled from the shoulder or something of the sort, he'd likely be done for the season...with many more seasons of pain and aggravated tissue issues for the rest of his life.
Broken bone? Set it and forget it.

 

well considering the shoulder isnt exactly a joint like the elbow, hip, knee...

we all mitigate our own risks the way we see fit.

I have done both, bone breaks, and joints... I'll take a knee joint, over tib fib, femur break, for 500 alex. Ski

 

He lack of knee mobility in tight gnar and sand is the main reason I stick to pads.

.

 

Having gone through two separate meniscus repair procedures, I'll take a mechanical fracture for 1000, Alex. Surgery is the easy part, physical rehabilitation is worse than listening to the President try to handle unscripted questions.

Can't comment on ligament repair, because I wear knee braces and shit.

 

Joints that rotate vs joints that flex/extend - two distinctly different mechanisms, but I'd still rather break a bone.

I've had about a dozen bone breaks and at least seven joint injuries. The only thing that bothers me about the bone breaks is the one with remaining hardware. All the joint tissue injuries persist(-ed).

Sometimes it's the luck of the draw, I guess. One whack could finish someone, but the same whack to another person and, meh, they walk it off.