Good knee support / brace

TKD SC

Hi,
Does anyone know a good brand / type of knee support / brace; where to get and roughly how much?

It would be for the purpose of helping to keep the patella stable in martial art training. In town on Sat and I saw some heavy duty ones for around €50. I don't know if these would be a bit too heavy, or if ones that are lighter but wrap around mutiple times are better?

I used to have a normal enough one years ago but it always got very hot and itchy during training so I stopped wearing it. In summary, I'd like it to offer good support but yet not be too restricting also.

Any ideas would be appreciated.
Thanks,

Simon

Rogueish

You are looking for a lot in regards to a brace. In order that a brace stabilises the knee it must restrict the movement.

By the sounds of it you have a patellar instability/maltracking problem. If you do not want to wear the heavy duty brace you may need to tape the patella for stability and then use a light brace/support over the strapping to keep it in place.

But saying that if you could explain what the condition is in your knee it would be easier to recommend a brace/support.

TKD SC

Rogueish wrote: »

You are looking for a lot in regards to a brace. In order that a brace stabilises the knee it must restrict the movement.

By the sounds of it you have a patellar instability/maltracking problem. If you do not want to wear the heavy duty brace you may need to tape the patella for stability and then use a light brace/support over the strapping to keep it in place.

But saying that if you could explain what the condition is in your knee it would be easier to recommend a brace/support.

Hi.
Yes, there is a patellar instability & maltracking problem. It is patella alta (high riding) in a shallow femoral groove and tracking to the lateral side. It dislocated about a month ago and I'm starting back training soon, but would feel better wearing a decent support. I'm doing physio and building up the vmo muscle. I don't know if a heavy duty one would be suitable for martial art type training - ie, would it be awkward, slip, loosen, get itchy etc etc., or maybe they are good? Would taping really stabilise it? Where can you get that?

Thanks for your reply,

Simon

BostonB

My Physio taped mine for a similar problem. Also gave specific exercises to stabilise the knee. No support though. Like to do the exercises again but have forgotten them. Anyone have good links to knee exercises?

TKD SC

BostonB wrote: »

My Physio taped mine for a similar problem. Also gave specific exercises to stabilise the knee. No support though. Like to do the exercises again but have forgotten them. Anyone have good links to knee exercises?

http://www.permanente.net/homepage/kaiser/pdf/6946.pdf
http://bodybuilding.com/fun/henkin1.htm
http://www.kneeguru.co.uk/
http://www.charlespoliquin.com/members/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=284
http://www.aapsm.org/patellofemoraldys.html
http://www.bigkneepain.com/knee-exercises.html
http://www.chiroweb.com/archives/09/09/28.html

One leg squats (making sure structure of knee, hip, feet alignment is correct), straight leg raises while lying on floor with / without ankle weights with foot turned out - ie little toe towards floor and leg at maybe a 30 degree angle from other leg if that makes sense, one leg jumps / hops (again making sure knee doesnt turn inwards), wall squats sqeezing ball in between legs, half way down squats, full squats (have read so much on these and some swear it's bad for knees while others swear its the best thing for knees!), stretching of calfs, it band, hamstring and quads.

You can find lots on google quite easy - above is a few I've read recently.

Colm_OReilly

some swear it's bad for knees while others swear its the best thing for knees!

The fitness industry idiot litmus test

Glad to see you're on the mend buddy, dye get that article?

BostonB

TKD SC wrote: »

...

You can find lots on google quite easy - above is a few I've read recently.

Yes but having had the experience of doing the wrong exercise for a different injury I'd like to get peoples opinion. Hence the question. :cool:

Rogueish

Yeah, Patella Alta can be contributed to by a tight quadriceps. Stretching of the quadriceps is very important. It can pull the patella too far upwards. Check out your technique. I see *many* athletes whose stretching technique is less than optimal.

The taping will help the maltracking problen but not the instability. The taping techniques can be taught to you so that you can do them yourself before you train or your rehabilitation exercises. Whats the point in exercising the knee unless the patella is in the proper position and the muscles around it can benefit from the correction of the position. (The exception to this is if you have really good kinesthetic awareness - ability to isolate muscle contraction at will)

If the femoral groove is shallow then you are going to be at an increased risk of subluxing or dislocating your patella. A brace or support over the tape will help reduce the risk but not totally eliminate the chance of a subluxation/dislocation. What kind of a brace were you looking at? Some braces are not allowed in competition. Maybe this is not a factor?

In martial arts the kicking action involves very high forces of speed and strength (power) to be placed through the knee in an open chain position (if that is your kicking leg) which causes greater shear force to be placed on the knee joint.

Therefore your return to play rehabilitation should mimic the actions that your sport entails.This means that your physiotherapist must think outside the box in relation to your rehabilitation. Traditional uniplanar exercises don't quite cut it. Your physiotherapist must take into account your body and leg position during your front kicks, roundhouse and whatever other kicks are particular to your form of martial arts. Especially the rotational the aspect of both the kick and the turn into the kick.

TKD SC

BostonB wrote: »

Yes but having had the experience of doing the wrong exercise for a different injury I'd like to get peoples opinion. Hence the question. :cool:

True!
The quick list of ex's I wrote in myself I think are quite good, and safe and are ones I'm doing at moment. However, its one thing having a list and another thing doing them correctly! As Rogueish points out above, no point ex'ing in incorrect position. The whole alignment thing is v important. I had previously been doing one or two of the ex's completely wrong! - esp re: my knee buckling inwards. If you want to get back to ex's your knee I'd def suggest even just one visit to a physio to make sure you're doing the few ex's right and then go from there confident that you're doing them the most beneficial way.
All the best!

TKD SC

Rogueish wrote: »

What kind of a brace were you looking at? Some braces are not allowed in competition. Maybe this is not a factor?


Therefore your return to play rehabilitation should mimic the actions that your sport entails.This means that your physiotherapist must think outside the box in relation to your rehabilitation. Traditional uniplanar exercises don't quite cut it. Your physiotherapist must take into account your body and leg position during your front kicks, roundhouse and whatever other kicks are particular to your form of martial arts. Especially the rotational the aspect of both the kick and the turn into the kick.

Cant remember name of brace i looked at. Sturdy enough one for about e50 from elvery's. Apparently, Sportsmith off O'Connell St do good ones - Brute meant to be good brand. Want to be sure the brace can hold up to kicking etc. without moving around all over the place.

I'm gonna build up slowly re kicks etc when get back to training, but knee has never bothered me with kicking b4 anyway, will mention to physio though. Its more quick changes in direction I'm worried about or getting a bang on the knee in sparring / rolling.

Tks
Simon

TKD SC

Colm_OReilly wrote: »

The fitness industry idiot litmus test

Glad to see you're on the mend buddy, dye get that article?

Yeh, good article thanks - just saw today, hadn't checked my e-mail for while.

Hopefully back training v soon - will give you a shout beforehand anyway.