Them Mighty Knees (With Their Protective Knee Braces)

Them Mighty Knees (With Their Protective Knee Braces)
As major joints go, the knee is quite an impressive
article, and it is obviously important for keeping us all
on the go - be it on two or four legs! It is a complicated
mixture of ligaments, tendons and bones allowing, not only
the hinge movement, but also some degree of rotational
movement as well. Therefore the knee has four major
ligaments that are involved in the complicated process of
keeping the knee stable; and us humans mobile. It's
generally the ligaments that are most at risk. Most will
probably not give the knee a moments thought, until it
starts to give us gyp! Then maybe a little painkiller; more
seriously, an operation and a lengthy recovery period; or
perhaps the all important knee brace! This is an area which
is almost as complicated as the knee itself, and the knee
brace certainly provokes a lot of debate in medical and
physio circles: a serious injury to a top athlete's knees
might be considered newsworthy stuff! After all Beckham and
Rooney only broke toe bones. The world may very well have
come to an end if it had been the knee that was the problem.

So knee braces: what is it all about? Are we talking some
simple bandage-like construction? Actually no! Knee braces
come in two basic types, which provide very different forms
of assistance: the functional knee brace, whose purpose is
to support the knee once damage has already occurred; and
the prophylactic knee brace, whose more controversial aim
is to actually prevent the damage in the first.

The functional knee brace has been used to allow movement
and to support damaged and torn ligaments. Whilst several
studies appear to have been carried out on the usefulness
of functional knee braces, these studies have only been
done on the effects of low, not high, impact sports. For
this the evidence is less clear. The advice: consult a
doctor of physio, as the efficacy is usually dependent on
the type of ligament injury sustained. This is great for
Granny and the twisted knee; not so great for the Olympic
challenger.

However, it would be much more useful to prevent this sort
of trouble before it starts, and the prophylactic knee
brace is designed to give support to the most commonly
injured ligament, thus preventing a costly and time
consuming operation. Its use as a preventative measure came
into being through American football players in the NFL in
the 1970s, and has shown some degree of protection in
certain forms of ligament damage. And it's not just
athletes who have espoused the benefits of this device:
those involved in high level motor bike sports have also
argued for its use as part of the standard protective gear.

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Charlie Cory makes his living from computers as a
consultant, and has been creating web sites and marketing
them for a number of years. His website about Knee Brace
Support gives you a wealth of information about Knee
Support and related matters.
Visit http://www.braceyourknee.com for more information.