Knee support? (Athletes out there?)

graphicgr8s · 10-02-2009, 08:32 PM

Originally posted by Ratmagiclady

Yeah, it's not bad.

Getting warning-pains after having had them off for a few hours, but got through the day well within my tolerances, and that makes all the difference. When you've had too much, you've had too much and everything that hurts gets hard to bear. Should have tried this a long time ago.

Guess the real test will be what shape I'm in in the morning.

At least you got stuff done.

Got rid of my leg pain and killed my back. I can't win this week.

Ratmagiclady · 10-02-2009, 09:35 PM

Originally posted by graphicgr8s

At least you got stuff done.

Got rid of my leg pain and killed my back. I can't win this week.

Erf. Don't wanna pull stuff out of line like that. I think that's how I did for my foot last week. Didn't even realize I'd been walking on it all wrong, because of the knees.

I should probably be pulling grips and winders off things and carrying as light as I can for a while, myself.

I'm hoping they have an extended autumn in mind, this year: I barely kept up with routine housework this summer, and there's a backlog of little projects I barely put a dent in today.

graphicgr8s · 12-04-2009, 12:18 PM

So how are the knees doing?

Ratmagiclady · 12-04-2009, 12:38 PM

Originally posted by graphicgr8s

So how are the knees doing?

Eh, working on them. It's hard to be sure just now cause I had an overstretched couple of weeks and have had all-body hurtings, just after my little bout with the H1N1 had me losing weight and strength when I didn't need to.

The kneebraces I got have worked, though they're already wearing out. (They were the cheapest ones in the store, but that's cause they seemed least likely to be too strong and end up being counterproductive) The routine is that I use them for a couple of days, to get the rest of me stronger, then have them off for a similar period to try and get the laterally-moving muscles a chance to get stronger: also I wear them when I know the knees are likely to curtail activities, say walking around. This has worked pretty well overall. As these things go, anyway. They've proven useful.

I hope to be getting a breather, now.

raz-0 · 12-04-2009, 01:07 PM

I can't recommend any particular knee brace. They all pretty much suck compared to the results of physical therapy. In general, you want to involve your doctor or therapist in picking a brace. The braces for dealing with alignment of the patella vs the ones for ACL damage are different.

As far as therapy, what I can wholeheartedly recommend is aquatherapy/pool therapy. For joint injuries it kicks ass. It eliminates most of the stress of just holding yourself up, which means you can work out that much harder. Using the water as the resistance element means it is very easy to instantly scale the level of effort.

My knee issues were with the patella tracking off to one side, and I wanted to avoid a lateral release. pre-therapy and during, I'd pretty much hold it in the right place, and ace bandage it up to keep it form moving much. Post therapy, I only need something when I'm ogint ot engage in activity where I move from very relaxed to very active quickly, or I'm going to be kneeling a lot. The former I just use a neoprene brace that compresses evenly all around. For the latter, i use that and a set of decent knee pads.

graphicgr8s · 12-04-2009, 01:08 PM

Just remembered this thread and wanted to see how things were.
George

Ratmagiclady · 12-04-2009, 01:32 PM

Originally posted by raz-0

I can't recommend any particular knee brace. They all pretty much suck compared to the results of physical therapy. In general, you want to involve your doctor or therapist in picking a brace. The braces for dealing with alignment of the patella vs the ones for ACL damage are different.

As far as therapy, what I can wholeheartedly recommend is aquatherapy/pool therapy. For joint injuries it kicks ass. It eliminates most of the stress of just holding yourself up, which means you can work out that much harder. Using the water as the resistance element means it is very easy to instantly scale the level of effort.

My knee issues were with the patella tracking off to one side, and I wanted to avoid a lateral release. pre-therapy and during, I'd pretty much hold it in the right place, and ace bandage it up to keep it form moving much. Post therapy, I only need something when I'm ogint ot engage in activity where I move from very relaxed to very active quickly, or I'm going to be kneeling a lot. The former I just use a neoprene brace that compresses evenly all around. For the latter, i use that and a set of decent knee pads.

We're on pretty similar pages, though anything involving a pool is both expensive and time-and-recovery-time-consuming, not something I can do regularly. (Quite often it also involves sun exposure, which I can't take, I have some exercises I was taught earlier in life and again when I lucked into a primary-care doc once who had sports medicine training. Part of the thing which exacerbates the arthritis and means I have some accumulated damage from poorer times is that in fact my joints have a lot of 'play' in them. This used to make me very flexible, but over time made things pretty bad. The kneebraces serve best at just letting me stay active longer before the pain gets too bad. The real work on the knees is when the things are off.

bigkuri · 12-05-2009, 05:05 AM

You do know not to use any knee support long term? It will just make things worse.
Get to the gym and start building the muscles around the knee as soon as it settles down, and get the knee out of that brace.
Take lots of glucosamine - brilliant stuff.

flyer · 12-05-2009, 05:24 PM

RML, maybe you should consult an ergotherapist. Sometime, trying to play doctor can cause more harm than good.

Ratmagiclady · 12-05-2009, 06:52 PM

Originally posted by bigkuri

You do know not to use any knee support long term? It will just make things worse.

It's already worse. I do only use the things intermittently, so I can get around. Function and live a bit. Also to be able to be strong enough to do the exercises (which suck and are about as boring and painful as imaginable)

Quote:

Get to the gym and start building the muscles around the knee as soon as it settles down, and get the knee out of that brace.
Take lots of glucosamine - brilliant stuff.

I'm not exactly in the 'just go to the gym' income bracket, actually. Though we're working on being able to pay for stuff like that, actually.

If I can get to where I'm selling a print occasionally, some options might open up.

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10-02-2009, 08:32 PM	#31
graphicgr8s Guest	Originally posted by Ratmagiclady Yeah, it's not bad. Getting warning-pains after having had them off for a few hours, but got through the day well within my tolerances, and that makes all the difference. When you've had too much, you've had too much and everything that hurts gets hard to bear. Should have tried this a long time ago. Guess the real test will be what shape I'm in in the morning. At least you got stuff done. Got rid of my leg pain and killed my back. I can't win this week.

10-02-2009, 09:35 PM	#32
Ratmagiclady Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: GA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 13,563 Original Poster	Originally posted by graphicgr8s At least you got stuff done. Got rid of my leg pain and killed my back. I can't win this week. Erf. Don't wanna pull stuff out of line like that. I think that's how I did for my foot last week. Didn't even realize I'd been walking on it all wrong, because of the knees. I should probably be pulling grips and winders off things and carrying as light as I can for a while, myself. I'm hoping they have an extended autumn in mind, this year: I barely kept up with routine housework this summer, and there's a backlog of little projects I barely put a dent in today.

12-04-2009, 12:18 PM	#33
graphicgr8s Guest	So how are the knees doing?

12-04-2009, 12:38 PM	#34
Ratmagiclady Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: GA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 13,563 Original Poster	Originally posted by graphicgr8s So how are the knees doing? Eh, working on them. It's hard to be sure just now cause I had an overstretched couple of weeks and have had all-body hurtings, just after my little bout with the H1N1 had me losing weight and strength when I didn't need to. The kneebraces I got have worked, though they're already wearing out. (They were the cheapest ones in the store, but that's cause they seemed least likely to be too strong and end up being counterproductive) The routine is that I use them for a couple of days, to get the rest of me stronger, then have them off for a similar period to try and get the laterally-moving muscles a chance to get stronger: also I wear them when I know the knees are likely to curtail activities, say walking around. This has worked pretty well overall. As these things go, anyway. They've proven useful. I hope to be getting a breather, now.

12-04-2009, 01:07 PM	#35
raz-0 Veteran Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Central NJ Posts: 470	I can't recommend any particular knee brace. They all pretty much suck compared to the results of physical therapy. In general, you want to involve your doctor or therapist in picking a brace. The braces for dealing with alignment of the patella vs the ones for ACL damage are different. As far as therapy, what I can wholeheartedly recommend is aquatherapy/pool therapy. For joint injuries it kicks ass. It eliminates most of the stress of just holding yourself up, which means you can work out that much harder. Using the water as the resistance element means it is very easy to instantly scale the level of effort. My knee issues were with the patella tracking off to one side, and I wanted to avoid a lateral release. pre-therapy and during, I'd pretty much hold it in the right place, and ace bandage it up to keep it form moving much. Post therapy, I only need something when I'm ogint ot engage in activity where I move from very relaxed to very active quickly, or I'm going to be kneeling a lot. The former I just use a neoprene brace that compresses evenly all around. For the latter, i use that and a set of decent knee pads.

12-04-2009, 01:08 PM	#36
graphicgr8s Guest	Just remembered this thread and wanted to see how things were. George

12-04-2009, 01:32 PM	#37
Ratmagiclady Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: GA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 13,563 Original Poster	Originally posted by raz-0 I can't recommend any particular knee brace. They all pretty much suck compared to the results of physical therapy. In general, you want to involve your doctor or therapist in picking a brace. The braces for dealing with alignment of the patella vs the ones for ACL damage are different. As far as therapy, what I can wholeheartedly recommend is aquatherapy/pool therapy. For joint injuries it kicks ass. It eliminates most of the stress of just holding yourself up, which means you can work out that much harder. Using the water as the resistance element means it is very easy to instantly scale the level of effort. My knee issues were with the patella tracking off to one side, and I wanted to avoid a lateral release. pre-therapy and during, I'd pretty much hold it in the right place, and ace bandage it up to keep it form moving much. Post therapy, I only need something when I'm ogint ot engage in activity where I move from very relaxed to very active quickly, or I'm going to be kneeling a lot. The former I just use a neoprene brace that compresses evenly all around. For the latter, i use that and a set of decent knee pads. We're on pretty similar pages, though anything involving a pool is both expensive and time-and-recovery-time-consuming, not something I can do regularly. (Quite often it also involves sun exposure, which I can't take, I have some exercises I was taught earlier in life and again when I lucked into a primary-care doc once who had sports medicine training. Part of the thing which exacerbates the arthritis and means I have some accumulated damage from poorer times is that in fact my joints have a lot of 'play' in them. This used to make me very flexible, but over time made things pretty bad. The kneebraces serve best at just letting me stay active longer before the pain gets too bad. The real work on the knees is when the things are off.

12-05-2009, 05:05 AM	#38
bigkuri New Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: London Posts: 4	You do know not to use any knee support long term? It will just make things worse. Get to the gym and start building the muscles around the knee as soon as it settles down, and get the knee out of that brace. Take lots of glucosamine - brilliant stuff.

12-05-2009, 05:24 PM	#39
flyer Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Ste-Anne des Plaines, Qc., Canada Posts: 2,013	RML, maybe you should consult an ergotherapist. Sometime, trying to play doctor can cause more harm than good.

12-05-2009, 06:52 PM	#40
Ratmagiclady Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: GA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 13,563 Original Poster	Originally posted by bigkuri You do know not to use any knee support long term? It will just make things worse. It's already worse. I do only use the things intermittently, so I can get around. Function and live a bit. Also to be able to be strong enough to do the exercises (which suck and are about as boring and painful as imaginable) Quote: Get to the gym and start building the muscles around the knee as soon as it settles down, and get the knee out of that brace. Take lots of glucosamine - brilliant stuff. I'm not exactly in the 'just go to the gym' income bracket, actually. Though we're working on being able to pay for stuff like that, actually. If I can get to where I'm selling a print occasionally, some options might open up.