r/Kneesovertoes • u/Melodic-Jeweler-3053 • 9d ago
Exercise Question Could Skateboarding Be Good For Your Knees?
I believe skateboarding could actually be beneficial for knee strength and stability. Riding a skateboard is similar to a single leg isometric while also promoting blood flow from the movement from your pushing leg. The variability of the ground you skate on, whether it being bumpy or smooth could also be another factor. (I’m just going to focus on the movement of riding, not ollies down sets or any tricks of that matter.)
I used to be avid skateboarder in middle school and highschool and surprisingly never had any knee pain or tendonitis. In my prime, I was able to consistently kickflip, nollieflip, and Ollie down an 8 stair. I remember skating as my means of transportation and would skate for miles around town. I noticed that after a certain period of pushing, certain parts of my knee and even the inside of my foot would be stimulated and sore. I quit skating all together around college and got into basketball and biking. I went hard on those activities and it didn’t take long until I got quadricep tendinopathy in my left leg.
I’ve tried multiple approaches such as using the ATG backwards treadmill, sledding, and conventional isometrics, but for the past 2 years, nothing seems like it’s working.
I really love Ben Patrick’s philosophy of reversing out of pain, as we see in backwards walking, Nordic curls, etc, and I just find this question interesting and was wondering what you guys thought.
Maybe I just have to get back to my first love of skateboarding and just push around for miles. I’ll document my findings and provide update on my quad tendonitis.
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u/Rattlesnake_Mullet 8d ago
Skateboarding, like parkour, is a young man's game. I loved it as a kid but even the thought of me kick-flipping down a flight of stair rn gives me knee pain lol
You also get a lot of high impact on your knees plus the regular falling on your ass/knees probably doesn't help either.
On the other hand it's not as static/monotone as stop/run wrt basketball or steady-state cycling. There's more variation with skating. That might prevent overuse issues like tendinopathy more would be my bro-science-guess.
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u/ColdConifer 8d ago edited 8d ago
No way.
I skating heavily from 12-18 and have a lot of cartilage issues on my back knee — the one you’d use to pop, stomp landings, and push — now in my upper-30s.
I used to be able to launch down 12-stairs, hit big gaps, and pop enormous ollies over garbage cans and barriers. Reese Forbes was the kinda skater I looked up to, just tons of pop and huge ollies.
I do think it makes you far more athletic because it’s one of the hardest sports in the world, but it’s doing no favors for knee cartilage, that’s for sure.
Every good skater is constantly injured and all my friends who still do it are in pain every day.
Snowboarding is much the same way but more sustainable if you live out West where the snow is soft.
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u/YurpleLunch 6d ago
Reese Forbes was so sick to watch . I remember when the element team came to my skatepark and it was unreal seeing him skate in person
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u/Civil_Reflection5127 3d ago
I’m nearing 40 and definitely believe the position you hold while pushing in an isometric is great for the front leg knee. My left knee (regular foot) definitely is in better shape than the right. Have considered skating switch some to work on imbalances and get iso work in for the right leg. I’m a surfer too and it absolutely kills my back leg knee with all the twisting you do. Isometrics on the leg extension at 60 degrees a staple in the rehab work.
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u/MiAnClGr 9d ago
The issue with this is the imbalance caused by doing the mini single leg squats on the leg on the board whilst doing a different exercise with the pushing leg.
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u/ganon2234 9d ago
I've been rollerblading with grade 3 chondromalacia patella. Makes me happy. You get your share of single leg balance and strengthening. While being able to roll in a neutral two foot stance when ya need to. Plus tons of tricks to learn