Skinning knee during popping up

[NateDawg]

Hi surfers, I'm new to this community, so thanks for reading!

I have a problem where when I pop up on my short board, I smash the hell out of my knees, particularly my left knee. My pop-up is one quick motion, and I have no problem actually standing up and getting waves (intermediate surfer, up to head high), but the action itself skins the hell out of my left knee. I am regular footed, FYI. It does affect my right knee, but to a much less degree. This happens through my wetsuit, and you can see the spot on my wetsuit where I am just smashing through the knee pads. Does anybody else have this issue? Solutions? Check out the video of my popup on YouTube below. My feet are slightly out of frame, but they don't touch the ground. Thanks!!

[jaffa1949]

Interesting, do you beat cadence with your lower legs when you paddle on your short board? But not your longboard.
Examine the worn patches on your wetsuit while you are wearing it, are the patches above the knee , at the hinge point or below the knee hinge?
Do you notice the abrasion after a session or immediately after a pop up?
Do you have traction pads?
Lots of questions because other than beating cadence to your paddling, I can't see an issue with your pop up !

[dtc]

yep, your pop up looks fine. I know I sometimes bang my right toe on the board (I'm natural footed) if I'm being lazy on the pop up, but I cant envisage how I could scrape my knee. The only thing I could think of is that, as you start pushing up, your hips come forward a little bit and that drags your knees (still on the board). The video doesnt show you doing that at all; but I just couldnt think any other reason.

Or, perhaps, it has nothing to do with the pop up and is created when you are laying down and paddling, perhaps you are sliding a bit on your knees or just letting your feet (bent up) drift back and forth and that moves your knee around

[NateDawg]

Thanks Jaffa1949 and dtc for the notes. The skinning happens on the top of the knee, where the thigh mussel meets the knee. After watching a few more clips of myself, I think it's likely from using my knees as a leverage point for the popup, and just surfing tons irritates it. But I will pay more attention to my paddling next time to see if that helps it out. If I find a fix, I'll post it! Cheers, Nate

[jaffa1949]

Watching your cadence beating with your knees when you paddle, see if the point of your knee, is where the knee touches the board on each stroke with the knee being abraded on the wax or the edge of the traction pad!
If not then avideo of you actually surfing, a side short and (as much asi hate them) a full frontal GoPro video..
Might show your action when you forget about doing it right!

[dtc]

quick way to find out if its from using your knees in the pop up - lay down on something rough at knee level (asphalt is good... but maybe something like a piece of fly/window screen/mesh.). You will notice when you pop up whether its painful!

[RinkyDink]

I have a slight knee problem I'm keeping an eye on so I'm conscious of what's going on with my bad knee a lot. There are a couple areas you might want to keep an eye on. Duck diving can sometimes involve your knees, depending on how you duck dive. I've also found my knees knocking up against my board when I turn my board quickly to get into a wave. I kind of dunk my shortboard under as I'm twisting around so after I get myself turned the board kind of pops out of the water into my takeoff--I feel my knees rub up against the board sometimes when I do this. Anyway, my point is that your knees might be getting skinned somewhere other than your popup.

[MonCherColonel]

I'm a bit late to this and you may have already sorted it, but I've had this problem too. My pop up is pretty similar to yours though my back foot lands a little earlier than the front. Like you, my knee sores are worse on my front knee (the right in my case) than my back, which generally doesn't suffer too badly. I figured out that it came from that very brief moment of friction with the deck when the legs are driving forward to land on the board. The front leg requires more drive than the back to swing it the further distance to where it needs to go, hence greater friction. If you put some lateral wax lines on the deck just where your knees are and then do a few practice pop ups, if the lines are smearing and there's wax on the top of your knees, I reckon this is the problem.

Because I almost never surf in water warm enough for just board shorts or a shortie, I don't actually find it too great a problem, so my knees may not be rubbing as much as yours. But I definitely notice it on those very rare occasions I'm not wearing the full wetsuit or when I'm doing pop up exercises on an old board in the garage. I find if I concentrate on lifting the knees at that split second when I push down on my arms, rather than focusing on what I'm about to do with my feet and legs, it helps. Also, just before the pop up, swinging the lower legs up to bring the calves vertical helps to create some momentum for the knee lift thereby reducing the rub.

If you've already fixed it, let me know!