Question about knees and knee braces.

woogity

woogity

Active member
k, first of all i dont know what forum to post this in. so im posting it in ski gabber cuz it is related to skiing.

but my questions are...

today i went shreding up at brighton, most epic, and i hit my knee pretty hard on a rail.

would a descent knee brace protect against my knee hitting something and preventing injury?

and my second question is...

if you dont have any knee problems, would wearing a knee brace give more support and protection?

or is there absolutely no point in wearing a knee brace cuz i dont have knee problems.

i just dont want my knees to get way messed up.

thanks NS.

 
The best way to prevent a knee injury is strengthening. In terms of major stuff like an ACL/MCL tear the stronger your knee is the less likely you are to tear them. If you just want to protect from impact i guess wear knee pads or take it easy till the swelling goes down
 
There are a few things you can do...

Yes, strengthening is always a given, but I feel like you are looking beyond that and are concerned with impacts.

These braces are bomber for full protection, though really expensive and fairly bulky:http://www.asteriskbrace.com/

What I have done for protection for the past couple of years is wear lycra wrestling-style knee pads with my base layer. These are like $10 and work great to add just a bit of comfort, impact protection, and support.
 
Anybody that says, or thinks that wearing a knee brace as a preventive measure weakens your knees, is a fucking idiot. And they have no idea what they are talking about.

A knee brace will help you knees as far as protection because it protects from the top of your boot, all the way up to your mid thigh, and if you have a knee cup it protects your knee area as well. It also protects the side of leg and you knee wont hyper extend, or if you somehow get hit from the side it protects from that as well.

Knee braces dont weaken your knees. The do protect, Yes you should wear them even if you dont have a problem.
 
God input but just a question. What kind of brace do you wear, and have you ever torn your acl or mcl?
 
I tore my ACL 100% and my MCL 50% 2 years ago and since then I've worn a neoprene knee brace with plastic brace rails on that knee. I don't even notice it anymore when i'm riding but it has definitely helped when i've tweaked it since the injury and what not.
 
Anyone able to recommend something similar to the full protection of the asterik but not quite as expense/bulky? Id really like a pair, tired of tweaking my knees everytime i wreck hard and their already kinda messed up, but just don't have much cash right now.
 
In multiple studies such as the moon study which is the largest that has been done, it has been shown that knee braces do not lower the incidence rate of reinjury. It would be silly to wear one if you have not even been injured and the most significant effect that braces have for people recovering from injuries is a constant reminder to take it easy. If you feel you need that you can just get a neoprene sleeve.
As said above, if you are worried, which makes sense, stretch and lift and make sure that your muscles are balanced. Weak hamstrings are a common root of knee injury.
 
Im gonna go ahead and support this statement.

strength training and flexibility are definitely more important if you are currently uninjured, and are totally fine. However, knee braces are very effective at protecting from hyper extensions, side impacts, etc. why do you think ALL lineman wear them? granted, if your legs are weak to begin with, they wont be as affective, but they definitely do what they are supposed to.

I have two custom DJs after a number of knee injuries, and there have been a number of times where my legs got twisted, and i would have tweaked something, but the brace prevented it from happening. The also help counteract the forces of higher DIN bindings, where your knee might pop before it lets go.

They are a good idea, and should really probably be much more popular than they are.
 
Knee pads are good to protect against an impact injury. If you have torn an ACL, however, you need a fairly custom brace the prevents hyperextension. I think that you may also use a brace of this type to prevent ACL damage - Next time your watching football , take a look at the O and D linemen. They almost always have double knee braces. Some college programs seem to wear them more than others, so I think that there is a preventative function for a knee brace.
 
No, you shouldn't.
If you've had an injury before, wear one. If you have never had a knee injury, it won't protect against one. If you torque your knee hard enough to do first-time damage, then it will happen whether or not you're wearing a brace. Braces aren't there to protect against injury, they're there to strengthen an injured, weakened knee because that injured joint doesn't have the strength required to protect itself from the stresses that a healthy knee can withstand.
This is something I have discussion at length with my Orthopaedic surgeons who specialize in Sports Med.

 
College programs usually require them on lineman and on the front leg of their quarterback because it makes the coaches feel good.
Their reasoning is that if it might help an athlete that they are paying to play, then why not put them on the guys who are most likely to get a knee injury (and their most important player).
Football and skiing are different though. If you've never had an injury, go ahead and wear knee pads if you want, but don't wear a supporting brace.
 
Off the shelf "knee braces" are the worst thing in the world for you. If you have knee problems see a doctor and get a custom fit knee brace (I wear a CTI2 on both knees from wakeboarding injuries).

If you don't have knee problems, work out your legs and knees, strengthen yourself. If you're super paranoid, buy a neoprene brace for injury prevention, stay away from asterisk, web, etc braces, those braces have real structure and can lead to problems down the road if they dont fit you properly.

For reference, I've had two surgeries on each knee and had lengthy conversations with my ortho about this very subject. Anyone promoting the asterisk/web stuff is a fucking idiot.

Ask a doctor, not some mongoloid on the internet.
 
i have the asterisks , they are dope, but i think wearing them too much would weaken your knee because its obviously supporting alot of your body weight, weight not on your knee, weight your ligaments dont see and thus not making them stronger. but its a trade off because of the extra safety with them on, i will wear them a few days a week, but not every day.
 
You can get them here. I have some very similar and there are plenty like this. They are warm comfy, though obviously will not prevent serious injury by any sense. At least they give me some false confidence and I like that. I can bash small trees and shit much easier :)

And, I have used the black diamond tele style. Very nice, good if you insist on a hard shell. But they cost more.

I first thought about the asterik because I was ready to shed my CTI2 custom molded brace and wanted something with knee impact protection. I didn't get them because of the bulkiness and not wanting to hike in a brace and have to change back into it and shit. I always thought it was good of me to hike up something like Teton Pass's Glory with the brace on the pack until it was time to charge. When you are working out, keep braces off; when you charge into potential danger, it's fine to put it on, that's what they're for.
 
There's nothing worse than re-injuring a bruise. 2 years ago, i got a monster sized bruise on my hip from a rail. The next day of skiing i went out reasurring myself i wasn't going to hit any rails. Keep in my mind I've never claimed to be smart.

After a failed switch-up i landed twice as hard directly on top of my injured hip. The pain was excrutiating. It's 1 of those falls where u think to yourself "yeah i'm done for the day" immediately after you fall.

So, instead of a 2-3 day healing period it turned into 2 weeks of skiing gone. Fuck i'll never do that again
 
if you dont need a knee brace dont use a knee brace. I tore my acl 1.5 years ago and have never worn a brace and I'm just fine. When i comes to acls there isnt much you can do prevent a tear besides strenght and flexibility.
 
this is what i was going to recommend.if you are just looking for protection against hitting your knee on something, don't go for a brace- go for an actual knee pad.they've saved my knee caps multiple times from being destroyed on hard surfaces, and are nice and warm
 
haha I hit my knee on a rail two seasons ago, and now my knee cap is sort of bowled in. It seems fine otherwise though.
 
I tore my ACL wearing a neoprene knee brace, obviously it did nothing to protect my ACL.

I got this from the Doc after surgery.

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This will help not tear your ACL but the best thing to have in your arsenal strength. If you're worried about hitting your knees on something get knee pads.
 
Hey, just read an article by a college defensive assistant coach, who said his D linemen wear braces to prevent injury from cut blocks thrown by O linemen. ie O linemen basically roll into the knees of the D line. Nasty. He said that the guys don't like to wear them because they are bulky and may limit mobility, but feels that they do prevent injury. May not apply to skiing.
 
my old ski coach wore a knee brace ( i think without an actual injury, just preventatively) when she used to jump for the us aerials team. on a crash she fractured her leg right over where the knee brace ended. Had she not been wearing the knee brace, it would have blew out her knee instead, but the force was instead redistributed to above the knee brace. She almost died because shit got messy. Anyway the lesson learned is that, knee braces dont fix everything.
similar idea goes for wearing wrist guards.. the just break your arm instead once theres a decent amount of impact
 
Neoprene sleeves are not meant to hold your knee in place should you twist awkwardly. They are meant to keep the supporting muscles from fatiguing (think compression shorts) or from becoming stiff from cold. If you twist hard enough that your supporting muscles can't hold the knee in place, a neoprene sleeve won't help at all.

The best way to keep from tearing ligaments in your knees is to strengthen your legs. Even a CTi brace isn't gonna help you if your stabilizer muscles aren't there.
 
Knee braces dont have anything to help from smashing your knees on stuff. There for preventing the knee from hyperextension and twisting. Knee braces also cost like 1500 bucks for a custom one. I recently got a Don Joy ill be using this winter after tearing my ACL and Minicus wakeboarding this summer.
 
until you tear your ACL i dont wanna hear any fucking whining baby, i had a hematoma on my hip for the whole season when i learned to slide rails sally
 
whoa fucking negative nancy. dont tell me your story, i dont wanna give you any sympathy. i dont want to feel bad for you at all. fuckin prick. asked this to prevent injuries. grow the fuck up.
 
Does anyone know where to get kneebraces like this that arent $350? Im going to need one this winter for my knee but Dont know which one or where to get one. Im looking for one that wont be extremebly bulky.Thanks!
 
most of the time these braces are custom made to tailer to the exact specs of the thigh and calf. if you dont have an exact fit it will take away from the effect of the knee brace.
do u have health care coverage? i am covered under my moms healthcare(claim...mommas boy 4 lyf3) until i am 2 and things like knee braces (as far as i know) are covered. id look into this first.
 
Yeah, I have a doctors appointment soon for PT so Im going to talk to my doctor about custom knee braces for skiing. thanks for the info!
 
i think probably for the situation im in, its probably best to go with knee pads right? i just dont want them to get bonked around. and maybe later try out a knee brace...
 
after i tore my acl i got one of these and after surgery they said this wopuld most likely prevent your acl tearing they lied it tore again but i can still ski this year somehow, im putting off surgery again til spring
 
well i still need it to ski this winter so i geuss it comes in handy but yeah its very unlikely what happened i hope it doesnt happen to you
 
on that brace donjoy has a lifetime ACL guarentee, which means if you tear your acl with that brace on they pay for all the surgery and everything. Makes me think that they are fairly confident that it helps prevent acl surgery seeing as mine cost me right around 10 grand all said and done (thank god for my dads insurance)
 
or you can go to Sports Authority and just get a pair of McDavid neoprene sleeve braces, these have worked pretty well in just avoiding knee pain. The asterisk knee braces are pretty big and bulky when compared to other knee braces out there, they're also designed with motocross in mind. If you are looking for a more sking specific knee brace i would suggest a Cti brace http://www.ossur.com/lisalib/getfile.aspx?itemid=12672but ultimately unless you have actually seriously injured your knee either ACL, meniscus, MCL, whatever, knee braces are virtually pointless and expensive. just get in the gym and do various types of exercises, lifting, yoga, cycling, to build up your body strength to simply avoid injury
 
Holy shit, I didn't think it was possible to pack so much bullshit into a single thought.

1) DonJoy does not guarantee your ACL from not tearing while wearing the brace.

2) Your brace did not cost $10k, unless of course you're including the ACL surgery and aftercare into that figure.

3) You're an idiot.
 
Um, you should do your homework before talking shit (and I've done this before too)

I read that statement his ACL surgery costing $10k, which was less than mine all in.

And Donjoy does have some sort of Guarantee:

http://www.donjoy.com/kneeguarantee/

Like I said before, I'm a fan of the wrestling knee pads. I hope the costly ones have figured out how to put a pad on the kneecap by now.
 
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