what is the leading cause of blown out knees in our industry?

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pro94lt

pro94lt

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honestly at 42 if your wondering, i think the damage is done. start tying in instead of spiking up... I went to a climbing class when i first got into this seen all the old climbers in their 40s and 50s and they could not walk... scared of ropes these guys would spike up a tooth pick but scared of ropes and their knees showed it... can you tell me anything harder on the knees than climbing???????
 
DLCRL

DLCRL

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I think a lot of that may be how many pounds per square inch your piercing the tree w/I'm not having problems my weakest link is my lower back. Not often but once in a while when I lift something wrong especially in the off season, I spend couple of days being sore.
 
jomoco

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That set up looks painful.

Actually you'd be surprised how comfortably I can place my knee, shin, or foot into extremely tight v shaped crotches.

It does kinda give yu that exoskeletal indestructability feeling with the lower half of your body.

Don't knock it till yu try it Zale buddy!

Kinda pricey though, no doubt.

jomoco
 
DLCRL

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honestly at 42 if your wondering, i think the damage is done. start tying in instead of spiking up... I went to a climbing class when i first got into this seen all the old climbers in their 40s and 50s and they could not walk... scared of ropes these guys would spike up a tooth pick but scared of ropes and their knees showed it... can you tell me anything harder on the knees than climbing???????
Yes I can, I think old school carpet layers are harder on their knees than any other labor profession I can think of.
 
DLCRL

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They use something called a kick plate I think which they knee into place (think knee to the crotch), to stretch carpet to corners in tight areas, and I think a lot of them years ago didn't religiously wear knee pads.
 
ChoppyChoppy

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Don't scare me. I'm 32 and most days I feel like I'm 70. Dr says my back would be considered "bad" if I was 80, never mind my age.

Same dr says I'm "obese" too and that's why my back is shot... never mind me breaking it a few years ago. What do they know? He's a little chinaman about 5ft tall and 85lbs soaking wet. I told him I make turds about that size after Taco Bell. He didn't laugh, not sure why.
I'm 5ft 10in and weigh 210lbs with jacket, sweatshirt, t shirt, long johns, jeans, pockets packed with junk and boots. claim I should be 150-170lbs to be "normal".

42 is not young but it also isn't ancient. Once you hit 50 though, you will feel the difference. Wear and tear gets everyone. Don't smoke, don't drink, eat healthy food, stretch everyday and get plenty of sleep. I do 3 out of 5.
 
DLCRL

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I weigh 155 soaking wet I'm 6ft. about 8 years ago I fell 40ft. I was in and out of consciousness woke up in the hospital. They did X-rays MRIs while I was out, when I came to they told me two things I had very strong well developed back and I must have landed flat because if was angled I would've broke several vertebrae, but my back was in the same condition as when I woke up that morning, so a broken wrist was all I suffered.
 
NCTREE

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Yes I can, I think old school carpet layers are harder on their knees than any other labor profession I can think of.
Yes sir! My father is 63 and has been laying floors for over 40yrs and has had surgery on both knees. I did it for 3 yrs as a full time job and one of my knees gives me problems from time time. It's was from using a knee kicker. I think I did more damage to my body in those couple of years then the past 10 yrs climbing


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mike515

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I'm 5ft 10in and weigh 210lbs with jacket, sweatshirt, t shirt, long johns, jeans, pockets packed with junk and boots. claim I should be 150-170lbs to be "normal".

I bet climbing would be easier if you were 150-170. I'm 6 ft tall and about 160.

I had a guy working for me a long time ago who was always complaining about his knees. He was a good sized guy. His doctor told him it was his weight and he insisted the doctor was wrong. I would watch this guy work (he was a groundman) and it would kind of bug me because he was so dramatic. He would stop in the middle of doing something and hold his knees for 5 or 10 seconds. It got old quick. He always claimed that he couldn't lose weight. So one day on lunch I had enough of it. I told him "You know what? I'm going to guess the doctor is right. And the reason you can't lose weight is because of what you eat. You're on your third Mountain Dew today and I just watched you eat two candy bars and a bag of chips for lunch. You won't lose weight until you change your diet." He eventually quit because he couldn't do the work anymore. I didn't see him for about a year and a half. When I did see him, I didn't even recognize him. He was my size. I was in awe! He told me that he thought about what I said and decided to give it a try. He felt much better and his knee problems were gone. I was pretty happy for him.
 
DLCRL

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I bet climbing would be easier if you were 150-170. I'm 6 ft tall and about 160.

I had a guy working for me a long time ago who was always complaining about his knees. He was a good sized guy. His doctor told him it was his weight and he insisted the doctor was wrong. I would watch this guy work (he was a groundman) and it would kind of bug me because he was so dramatic. He would stop in the middle of doing something and hold his knees for 5 or 10 seconds. It got old quick. He always claimed that he couldn't lose weight. So one day on lunch I had enough of it. I told him "You know what? I'm going to guess the doctor is right. And the reason you can't lose weight is because of what you eat. You're on your third Mountain Dew today and I just watched you eat two candy bars and a bag of chips for lunch. You won't lose weight until you change your diet." He eventually quit because he couldn't do the work anymore. I didn't see him for about a year and a half. When I did see him, I didn't even recognize him. He was my size. I was in awe! He told me that he thought about what I said and decided to give it a try. He felt much better and his knee problems were gone. I was pretty happy for him.
It comes pretty easy for me, I can still scramble on to roof tops and swing around w/the best of them. But I'm in shape I've probably less than 10% body fat, I think I've a super human metabolism I eat like a kid, sodas, pie, cookies, burgers, fries and Italian food make up my diet, I've not worked in 2 weeks I'm a 155lbs.
 
ChoppyChoppy

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I don't climb. I have equipment to drop trees... ie feller buncher, or hand cutting from the ground with a saw, but I'm a logger, not an arborist. We don't do residential tree cutting.

Don't get me wrong I have no illusion that I'm a lean mean tree killing machine, but I'm not "obese" either. I know that is what the charts say, but they are hardly "real world".

I'm a big framed guy and it doesn't account for that at all. Also it never account for fat content. I got measured in a tub of water a few years back and I was 22% body fat, which is perfectly healthy. "normal" is around 20-25% I believe?
When I was in basic training I got down to 173lbs and I looked sick, like cheeks sunk in and all. My Mom was no kidding concerned went I went to visit and kept trying to fatten me up.
190-200 is where I have stayed since early high school which was over 15 years ago.
 
DLCRL

DLCRL

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In tight quarters sometimes you just have no other choice, too far for a crane or not enough space to set up if you need a really big one.
 

JBA

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I'm 55, have to wear ergonomic 700 buck knee braces in order to climb with or without gaffs!

But it wasn't treework that wrecked my knees by any means, it was thinkin I could keep up with pro's on a moto-X track, and failing, sometimes spectacularly!

If you do have seriously bad knees?

Today's braces can keep you climbing, relatively comfortably, IME.

View attachment 393042

jomoco
I hate spectacular fails on motocross tracks. I broke my femur at the Troy motocross amateur day back in 96. Weather gets below freezing and I can feel exactly where it was broke.
 

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