Since there has been such vigorous boot discussion on here, I thought I would post this.

I need to buy new (or used) boots for my 14 year old kid. Unfortunately, he sprained his mcl this year and while he is maybe 80% now, I am wondering what effect if any this should have on boot purchse. Would you go more or less flex ?

Anything else to consider for a potentially tender knee?

He is a decent western-blue intermediate will probably get out 10-12 days this year, half east and west.

Ouch.

If he is 80% then he can still wreck himself with twisting motion where the injured legs' foot twists relative to the rest of the body, particularly if the toe is twisting away from the midline of the body. If it's the left knee, think of the action of standing on it while opening a door with the right hand -> ouch.

Knee brace + balanced in the boots. A ski tip hooking to the outside is to be avoided at all costs. Forward flex doesn't really enter into it, accurate fit does.

I am not an MD, all the above is IMHO.

He is in PT now and should be cleared for soccer practice again by December. He wants to ski this year quite badly but I am not so sure. Then again, he's now my best ski partner.

We should be at tline jan 25, hopefully by then he is good to go.

Cleared for soccer practice isn't quite the same as being ready to play; if you're worried about supporting muscle fitness after his time off I really can't argue with that.

Probably the strongest argument he could make at this point is that hooking a ski tip is far less likely than having the wrong cleat on the ground and weighted when he is jostled or pushed.

If it was only a hyper extension, with the proper PT, he should be good to go. If there was a tear, that's a different story. My spouse, who is an advanced level skier had a severe sprain in hers and she took it easy for half the season before letting the skis rip. She also suffered a fractured fibia a year later but is back in the saddle again after a half year of PT and misery. Soccer tears up more knees than any other sport I have seen in the past ten years. I work with high school athletes and hold my breath after every weekend with these traveling soccer teams. The kids are growing, their knees and the natural support is still developing until they reach their late teen into early 20s. Too much too soon can be big time problems.

Thanks. He got this in wrestling, oddly enough, not even competitive, just goofing around. Crazy. Diagnosis was no tear, but rather Plica Syndrome. His PT now is 15-30 minutes a day of stretching and resistence exercises. This is looking like a light ski season at best.