Thanks Gebi, it is good to be back kiting!

[ricki]

Got a couple of kiting sessions in over the weekend. The first in about nine months with no ill effects. That is a very long time to be out of riding. It is a relief to move on. Despite all the PT and other stuff for a real long time, I think the turning point came recently. I went through a couple of resistance stretching sessions with Michael Gebhardt over the last two weeks, (Gebi on here). Plan to do some more to keep things on track too.

Gebi was an Olympic medal winning windsurfer for some years on the USA team, after which he coached Olympic hopefuls in various countries around the world. He is a regular at many Florida kiting events, usually near the front of the pack in races. He has been kiting in a big way for years and recently coached Doug Roberts for his speed kiting runs in Namibia. Through all that time he has learned a great deal about rehab'ing injuries. He studied this stretching technique with Bob Cooley. Bob has worked on other olympians including Dana Torres. Dana relates her experience with this stretching technique to the New York Times at the link below.**

I am not big on "out there," alternative procedures and am reluctant to buy into things like that. I believe in what delivers results however. In this case, with my current injuries, this approach did and in larger measure than I expected. I won't go so far as to say miraculous but I suddenly felt a lot better in terms of flexibility and able to load things up without discomfort or ready concern over reinjury. A couple of weeks ago I figured I might get back into kiting in another month or two allowing for stuff to continue to heal and cool down (torn up wrists, pinched nerves, sore neck, etc.). After the session I was thinking perhaps within a week or so. The session was pretty intense but the outcome was worth it. I am going to approach kiting with a bit more care ( no near term 8 hour sessions or high speed wipeouts ideally) to continue regaining lost ground. It might not be a great approach for everyone, but for folks with certain types of strains it might do some serious good. You could PM Gebi on here to learn more.


** http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/ma...pagewanted=all




Gebi throws a move at II09 earlier this month in Islmorada, FL

[ricki]

Had another session with still more progress. Anyone else out there try resistance stretching?