Have you been wondering what compression gear is for and why people wear it? We understand… If you're unfamiliar with the science of compression, you might see a pair of compression pants and think they’re just another pair of leggings. But really, compression pants are so much more!
The benefits of compression apparel go far beyond looking good. Studies show that compression gear can help improve athletic performance, proprioception and balance, and circulation, which in turn reduces swelling and inflammation. Less swelling and inflammation after activity = a faster recovery time, allowing athletes to progress faster in their training.
Athletic wear has been quite popular since the early aughts, but its popularity has been steadily increasing. Forbes and Just Style attribute this steady climb, projected to continue into 2025, with the COVID-19 pandemic, which they feel shifted attitudes about comfort and fitness. Those who buy activewear, also called athleisure for this reason, also often buy it for comfortable loungewear. According to SportsCasual.com, women in the United States, particularly ones who are interested in fitness and yoga, are the chief consumers of athletic wear.
These statistics address a common misconception about sports wear and compression gear. Sometimes people think that compression wear is only for elite athletes, and that regular people who engage in an average or moderate amount of activity have no use for it. But the truth is, compression gear and its benefits are for everyone! What started as a treatment for varicose veins has developed into a massive industry, one that has really only begun to be studied.
For example, we hear a lot from people who are active for work: on Ski Patrol, ski and snowboard instructors, and more. But believe it or not, we actually have a lot of team members who work in blue collar trade jobs!
When we looked into the demographics of who our pants are helping most, we were surprised to find trade workers among the top ranks. This is likely because when we think of the strongest and most active people, we are inclined to picture pro athletes, particularly heavy weight lifters or football players. It’s easy to overlook the everyday people who keep our world going, putting up buildings, mending roads, or fixing the roofs of our homes.
Due to both the repetitive strain and the amount of strenuous activity, some occupations are more susceptible to musculoskeletal injury and pain. Osteoarthritis is a massively widespread disorder and the The Center for Disease Control writes that “mining, construction, agriculture, and sectors of the service industry” are the occupations at the highest risk for it. Indeed, this is likely because “these occupations are physically demanding/heavy labor tasks, lifting or carrying heavy loads, exposure to vibration, high risk of joint or tissue injury, and prolonged periods of working in awkward or unnatural postures such as kneeling and crawling.” Thus, a study from 2020 found that men in jobs requiring heavy manual labor are at a “twofold” risk for developing knee osteoarthritis.
Construction workers are particularly at risk for knee pain, being “the highest risk for joint pain and disorders of any occupation.” Ranking alongside construction workers for knee pain and knee injuries are carpet layers. In fact, did you know there is a condition often referred to as “carpet layer’s knee?” This condition is really called knee or prepatellar bursitis, which is when the inflammation of a small, fluid filled sac that is intended to reduce friction and cushion pressure points between your bones and the tendons occurs. If this condition becomes chronic, it may require a surgery called a bursectomy. (If you are a carpet layer, never fear! The CDC has a great guide on preventing knee injuries for you.)
Well, when doing any sort of activity outdoors, keeping your joints warm and supported is proven to help reduce injury. Occupational cold exposure has been proven to increase risk for musculoskeletal disorders. So, if you’re working or playing outside, make sure to wear a good thermal base layer.
Taking breaks when possible and using proper personal protective equipment (PPE) is also essential for maintaining joint health at work. Use knee pads, good footwear, and other recommended supports.
Of course, we also have to recommend that tradespeople try our knee stabilizing compression pants. Bracelayer’s compression pants have built-in knee support for active people seeking to prevent or recover from knee injuries, reduce pain, and improve performance. Our compression leggings are proven to keep you on your feet for longer.
Did I mention that we have an Alpine collection of fleece-lined, thermal compression pants that are perfect for a base layer? Wear them outside all day long under your jeans or coveralls, or on their own, if you'd rather!
Skiing and snowboarding are considered to be some of the most dangerous sports around. It’s hard to nail down precise numbers, because it’s not as though everyone who gets a lift ticket will experience an injury. What is known is that knee injuries are most common on the ski hill. A 2013 literature review collected reports that claim knee injuries make up from 27% to 41% of all skiing-related injuries. A multi-season study at an alpine resort in 2013 reported 43% of injuries being knee-related. Another retrospective study of injuries at another popular skiing destination over the last five years reported 31.2% of injuries being to the knee. These injuries also range in severity, with the most common being a sprain of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and/or the medial collateral ligament (MCL).
So, what are your options? So, what are your options? Wearing knee support skiing is crucial to continuing to do the sport you love for years to come. But which one?
All knee supports have pros and cons; the important thing is to figure out which one best suits your knees and needs.
Whichever of these options you choose, your body will thank you for the extra support. It’s never too early or too late to start loving your knees properly. As the largest joint in your body, they carry you through everything. They deserve proper care.
It’s up to you to choose what feels right for you and your body, but we do have a suggestion to make. Each of these options has drawbacks, of course. But what if you could combine the benefits all in one product? Then, you’d really have the best knee support for skiing and snowboarding.
Enter: Bracelayer® compression pants with built-in knee support. Unlike knee compression sleeves and braces that are always falling down, Bracelayer® compression pants stay right where you put them, providing targeted support to the knees and hips. Right where you need it the most!
Our Tri-Tech support layer contains medical grade, perforated neoprene, as found in most conventional compression knee sleeves, a Stabiluxe™ compression fabric base, and compression mesh overlay. The Alpine pants, available in KS and KX designs, are constructed on a thermal Stabiluxe compression fabric base, making them the ultimate knee support for skiing.
In fact, they might even be the best thermal base layer for skiing. Even if you aren’t yet experiencing knee pain, the rate of injury makes it apparent that skiers need knee support. You’re always going to need a base layer to keep you warm under those ski pants, so why not make that layer one with extra support. Preventative care is one of the best ways to keep you skiing longer and stronger. You won't regret taking knee support skiing.
If you’re already experiencing knee pain, then what are you waiting for? Don’t just take our word for it. Check out what other cold weather athletes have to say about Bracelayer® pants.
]]>There’s a number of reasons why cyclists might experience knee pain, often chalked up to an improper fit with your bike, but the most common reason is overlooked. Knees are the largest joint in your body and support most of your body weight most of the time. Even if you’re a very small person, that’s a big load to carry. And the more active you are, the more susceptible you are to injury, and the strain you put on your knees.
Wearing some form of knee support for cycling, regardless of what stage of pain you’re at, is one of the best things you can do to care for your body. Whether you’re a new cyclist just experiencing your first ache or a seasoned rider pushing through decades of pain, it’s never too early or too late to give your knees extra support. You’ll likely save yourself from a more serious injury and more serious pain if you do.
With all the different kinds of support available now beyond knee braces and knee compression sleeves, like KT tape, patella braces, knee wraps, and more, it’s hard to know what the best knee support for cycling is. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by choices, checking out our blog post comparing the different types of knee support is a good place to start. But even with some guidance, it still might be hard to nail it down.
Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a specific kind of knee support tailored to cyclists? Good news: there is.
Bracelayer’s KXV Greenline are compression pants with built in knee support designed just for cyclists. These unisex compression tights have a Tri-Tech support layer around the hips and knees for extra support and stability and a built-in chamois seat pad to keep you cushioned where you’re most tender. They also have vents just below the knee to keep you cool on long rides. Greenline’s design is sleek and understated with neon green logo on the elastic waistband, but reflective logos will keep you visible when weaving through traffic.
Compression wear has a number of benefits, most of which we have explored at length in other blog posts. Adding this one piece of gear to your cycling wardrobe will help give you balance and stability, support your knees over the long haul, and increase your endurance. All the support you need in one convenient pair of compression leggings that will stay in place, unlike compression sleeves and knee braces. No need to stop and re-adjust: just get on your bike and ride!
But don’t just take our word for it. Check out what other cyclists have to say about Bracelayer® pants.
Disclaimer: This blog post is for educational purposes only. Our information is sourced from national organizations of authority and peer-reviewed publications, but please keep in mind that we at Bracelayer® are not medical professionals, just people who know a bit about healthy knees. Consult a doctor if you are experiencing pain or planning to make lifestyle changes.
When it comes to preventing knee pain, there are a number of approaches to take. We’ve put together our top tips for knee pain prevention just for you. Some are for overall joint health and some are specific to your knees.
First and foremost, ensuring that you take care of your overall health will, of course, lead to healthy knees. Eating a healthy diet, limiting or ceasing drug and alcohol consumption, not smoking, and watching your weight are simple and effective ways to look after your body.
For more targeted protection, there are a couple of things you can do to love your knees.
Using compression pants for joint support has been proven to reduce injury, speed recovery time, and improve balance, stability, and proprioception. Why? It’s simple. When your joints are in line, held firmly in place, and able to take an increase in pressure, it's less likely that an off-step or a fall will occur, which greatly reduces risk of injury.
Standard compression pants provide all these things, but Bracelayer® compression pants have built-in knee sleeves that go the extra mile in knee pain prevention. Our Tri-Tech support layer wraps around the knees and hips for even more stability, pressure, and protection. With Bracelayer® pants, you get compression for your entire lower body, but extra targeted compression for the joints that really ail you. Our pants combine compression pants with knee sleeves, with the added bonus that you don’t have to worry about those compression sleeves sliding down. Bracelayer® keeps everything firmly in place.
Though compression gear is often used for recovery and rehabilitation after injury, you don’t have to already be hurting to experience the benefits. Bracelayer® compression pants help you play stronger, stay active longer, and prevent knee pain. Put your mind at ease by knowing you have support every step of your journey.
What’s the common denominator? And is there anything that can be done about it?
]]>Disclaimer: This blog post is for educational purposes only. Our information is sourced from national organizations of authority and peer-reviewed publications, but please keep in mind that we at Bracelayer® are not medical professionals, just people who know a bit about healthy knees. Consult with your doctor if you are experiencing pain or planning to make lifestyle changes.
Studies show that women experience more knee pain and knee injuries than men. Women are also at a much higher risk of diseases that cause joint pain, particularly osteoarthritis. But why?
Some studies suggest it is because of differences in the makeup of women’s nervous systems. Others suggest women have more joint pain because they have smaller and thinner bones and cartilage. When I took a look into this phenomenon, there seemed to be one very crucial thing in common. Women seemed to most often experience knee pain in times of hormonal flux: during menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause.
What’s the common denominator? And is there anything that can be done about it?
Plenty of women report knee and joint pain before and during menstruation.
The hormone estrogen seems to be one of the main contributors both to women’s joint health and pain reception. According to Everyday Health, the “plummet” of estrogen levels before a period and the “rise” after is likely to be the cause of joint pain.
Though they note it’s hard to make a blanket statement about how menstruation affects women’s knee pain because cycles can be so varied, a 2016 study found that women’s knee joint laxity did decline during their periods. To put it more simply, women’s joints are looser and more stable during menstruation. As of 2022, results are inconclusive about whether or not this is solely due to hormonal changes, also largely because women’s cycles vary widely and are often irregular.
Another study notes that pain sensitivity also fluctuates during menstruation, which causes women to feel more pain all over their body. That doesn’t mean that additional pains, like knee joint pain, aren’t present outside of this time, but that it’s more intense during it.
Knee pain during pregnancy:
There are a number of factors that cause knee pain during pregnancy. It’s not just the added strain of carrying and growing a new human being in your body, though of course, it is a major factor. Gaining weight quickly can impact joints, as they’re used to carrying a lighter load. This is perhaps why women in their third trimester of pregnancy report the most knee pain – 73.68% of them!
Since your body is carrying more weight than it’s used to, and your abdomen has expanded outward to make room for the baby, your body’s sense of itself gets thrown off. This bodily sense is called proprioception, and it’s a major factor in a person’s knee joint health at any age, gender, or activity level. Pregnancy affects your proprioception because added weight and dimension are likely to alter your posture, which in turn alters your balance, and thus leads you to misstep or even hyperextend your knee.
It turns out that older moms, in their 30s and beyond, are more likely to experience severe knee pain. And unfortunately, it’s more likely that it will last longer. As we age, the distance between our joints becomes smaller, and our cartilage wears down. The added pressure of baby’s weight (and the weight that baby doesn’t take with them) only speeds up this process.
And of course, major fluctuations in a pregnant woman’s hormonal profile contribute to this. Estrogen “peaks” during pregnancy and “dips” post-partum, according to Dr. Tarvez Tucker. Weight and mass distribution certainly affect hormone production too, during and independent of pregnancy, but there are many factors that contribute to endocrine health.
A couple of interconnected bodily changes causes knee pain during and after menopause. First, know that according to researchers Dr. Anna Fenton and Nick Panay, “a spectrum of musculoskeletal symptoms occur at menopause.” In this spectrum, osteoarthritis is one of the most common. Osteoarthritis overwhelmingly impacts women more than men.
Again, estrogen is a major factor. Since estrogen is a key hormone in women’s joint health, and menopause means a great reduction in estrogen production, menopausal women experience more joint problems. In particular, because of the sudden loss of estrogen, menopause causes the articular cartilage, a very important part of the knee, to degenerate. In turn, the degeneration of articular cartilage can lead to various forms of arthritis.
A study published in Sports Medicine shows athletes who are women are four to six times more at risk for injuries to the anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, than athletes who are men. The study suggested that women’s cyclical hormone fluctuations were a major contributing factor, but more research and trials were needed. As of 2023, the results are still inconclusive. There’s definitely some sort of link between women’s menstrual cycles and knee pain and injuries, but the exact one does not seem to be known.
No matter what stage you’re at in pain progression – that is, if you’re not yet experiencing joint pain or have for years – preventative measures are always a great idea. Being proactive about your joint health will make you stronger and hopefully keep you active longer. Love your knees and they will love you back.
So how can you prevent joint pain and degeneration? We have a few tips for you:
If you’re a woman experiencing knee pain, compression pants (also called compression leggings) might be your new best friend. Compression pants are a garment made out of strong synthetic materials that provide support to muscles and joints and promote circulation. Though compression pants are still mostly used by athletes or people recovering from severe injuries, you don’t have to be an athlete to wear them. Compression pants are for everyone!
Standard compression pants are great for increasing stability, balance, and proprioception. Remember how important proprioception is to joint health?
However, standard compression pants don’t provide targeted compression for the joints that hurt you the most… but Bracelayer® compression pants do!
Bracelayer® compression pants provide targeted support around the knees and hips. They have a built-in Tri-Tech support layer where you need it most. Though they were originally designed to be worn under knee braces for extra support and to keep them from sliding down, Bracelayer® pants are great for anyone who has or is expecting to have knee pain.
Basically, Bracelayer® pants are compression pants and compression knee sleeves all-in-one. And because both these features are in one stylish, yet understated pair of pants, you don’t have to worry about your knee compression sleeves rolling down during exercise. Simply put them on and go!
Shop the complete collection of Bracelayer® knee stabilizing compression pants here!
]]>Disclaimer: Our team at Bracelayer® Apparel are not doctors. We do, however, set out to help people with knee pain find relief, increase their stability and balance during physical activity, heal from and prevent further injury. We have compiled some results from these studies because we think our community will be interested, but we are in no way experts in sports medicine.
All athletes know that one of the biggest threats to their competitive career is a knee injury. Knee injuries are one of the most common of all sports-related injuries. Professionals, high school athletes, and people looking to live an active lifestyle all know in the back of their minds that a painful knee injury could strike at any time.
However, while knee injuries such as an ACL or PCL Tear once meant the end of any athletic career, most people are now able to bounce back. But it often takes more than a year to get the knee back in shape for elite-level training and performance. As of 2023, even patients who have undergone total knee arthroplasty (a total knee replacement) are successfully returning to their sports, and are encouraged by their doctors to do so.
Recent medical advances are now making knee surgeries less invasive and greatly decreasing recovery time. And the advances are happening at ever-increasing intervals.
With some knee conditions surgery isn't needed to heal the tear, but to stop the pain. Sometimes the only way to handle the pain is strong prescription drugs or invasive surgery.
A relatively new procedure now offers a minimally invasive option. In a process called genicular nerve radiofrequency ablation (RFA), doctors can treat chronic knee pain by inserting specialized needles into the knee that send out a particular radiofrequency. This radio frequency targets the nerve cells in the knee and “freezes” them. The radio waves basically keep the nerves from reporting the pain reflex back to the brain. This allows people to improve their quality of life, be free of opioid painkillers, and forego invasive surgery until it is absolutely necessary. Like most of these other new techniques, there is still a lot to learn about RFA. Future studies will show just how effective RFA is.
In the past few years, great advances have been made with the use of robotics in surgery. Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA) is no exception.
Robots have actually been used in TKA since the 1980s. It seems like AI is all the rage right now in 2023, but it's been a major component of medicine for a long time now. In TKA, robotics are mainly used to ensure proper alignment of the prothesis, reduce complications, and act as a support tool for surgeons at the table and pre-operation.
Of course, robots won't completely replace surgeons anytime soon. These robots need surgeons assistance to run, and the team needs support to tackle this steep learning curve.
Traditional ACL surgery is brutal. The reconstructive surgery, the procedure of which has been in practice for over 100 years, required a tendon graft from tissue in the quadriceps or hamstrings and that holes be drilled into the bone. For a long time, it was believed that ACL tears couldn’t be stitched back together and left to heal.
Then, the BEAR method came onto the scene. BEAR stands for Bridge-Enhanced ACL Reconstruction, and it was invented by an engineering student turned knee surgeon, Dr. Martha Murray. The BEAR method involves a "sponge-like" implant to be placed inside the tear (after it has been soaked in the patients blood), which is then sewn shut. Over time, the idea is that the implant will be absorbed and replaced by new tissue.
In 2019, the procedure had just produced some of its first results after undergoing human trials. Since then, an outpour of studies (mostly lead by Dr. Murray) confirmed that BEAR lead to an earlier resolution of symptoms and return of function and a stronger psychological readiness to return to activity after surgery. Dr. Murray also proved that BEAR's results were "non inferior" to traditional ACL surgery. It's been less than a decade since BEAR's invention, so more time and research will be needed to prove which is the best option. The surgery is already helping people like 28-year-old Frances Yu, a patient of Duke Health, return to an active life.
For now, it seems that this type of surgery is much less invasive than the traditional approach and it allows for the patient to be active in a much shorter time. We will certainly be looking out for more news of Dr. Murray's innovation in the future.
Lately, it seems like stem cells are always in the medical news in one way or another. Their adaptability and capacity for regeneration have made them a proven tool in a number of procedures. Currently, two new stem cell procedures are being used to treat both full and partial ACL tears.
With the first of these stem cell procedures, instead of opening up the body, the stem cells are inserted into target areas through a simple needle. The stem cells trigger the regrowth and healing of the tendon. The most incredible part of this therapy is it allows athletes to return much faster to training and full competition than surgical treatments.
Stem cells are also being inserted into the graft before or during traditional ACL graft procedures to speed healing. This approach is similar to the sponge-like apparatus used in Dr. Murray's BEAR method.
This one is interesting! In 2016, the medical journal The Lancet published an article on using nasal cartilage in grafts for tears of the articular cartilage, which is a type of cartilage that manages the impacts of loads on a joint and has a very limited regenerative capacity. This means that cartilage injuries are exceptionally difficult to manage in that they contribute to the rapid development of many different degenerative joint conditions. Before this new technique, doctors often struggled to repair the cartilage.
This first human trial was a success, but the attempts since then seem minimal. There was also some research done on the procedure with large animals. These transplants are still in the early trial stages, but they are very promising. Participants in the 2016 trial reported reduced knee pain as well as improved knee function and mobility.
While no athlete wants to suffer a knee injury, it is exciting that so much research is being done on this issue. These new advances may soon make major knee surgery a thing of the past.
However, even with these innovative treatments, athletes still will need to make sure they are taking proper care of their knee as they recover. This means keeping it protected, stable, and clean.
The better care you take of your knees during the recovery process, the faster you can get back out into competition. And the longer you wait to have that invasive knee surgery, the more likely you are to receive the most up to date procedure and benefit from all those knee surgeons and patients who came before you, enabling these advancements to take place.
Let Bracelayer® help with your knee injury recovery or prevention. We make the best compression pants for active and recovering knees. Our Tri-Tech support layer, featuring our original antibacterial Stabiluxe™ compression base, provides targeted compression that is designed to keep your knees stronger for longer.
There's a reason patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS) is also called Runner's Knee. Runners are at high risk for PFPS, iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS), and patellar tendinopathy (PT). These are just a few of the injury types that runners can anticipate — and hopefully prevent!
]]>If you’ve even dashed across the street to avoid holding up traffic or catch a bus, you’ve felt the jarring vibration of your bones when your feet hit the pavement with speed.
Just like cars have complex shock systems to help hold them together through bumpy patches and uneven ground, your body has knees. They work in much the same way. Even if you avoid pavement, if you run frequently, your knees are going to be under more stress.
There's a reason patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS) is also called Runner's Knee. Runners are at high risk for PFPS, iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS), and patellar tendinopathy (PT). These are just a few of the injury types that runners can anticipate — and hopefully prevent!
So, what are your options?
Knee braces:
If you’ve sustained a serious knee injury, your doctor may have had you fitted for a custom knee brace. DonJoy, Ossur, BREG, and Bauerfeind are manufacturers that create knee braces tailored to fit you. These braces are a great option for people recovering from injury or even surgery, and can certainly help reduce pain and aid stability.
These expensive braces come with their own challenges and complications. Even though they have been designed to fit your knees, they still might slide down, which is an irritating and distracting problem at best. Knee braces are also heavy and affect your balance, which makes them not the optimal choice for running.
Compression sleeves
Knee compression sleeves are another popular option. They are quite affordable and widely available at nearly every pharmacy, and are much lighter than a custom knee brace. Compression sleeves have been proven to provide stability and balance to their users, which also aids your proprioception, or body’s sense of itself. When your proprioception is functioning at its best, you are much less likely to make a small step out of alignment that comes with a long journey of pain.
Like knee braces, you may notice that compression knee sleeves roll or slide down your leg during activity. They provide much less support than a knee brace, but are also much lighter and won’t throw off your balance. And yet, many people still aren’t fully satisfied with the performance of their compression knee sleeves.
Kinesiology tape
Recently, athletes have taken to using kinesiology tape (KT), the kind used by doctors and physical therapists to rehabilitate injuries. Kinesiology taping is one of the most medical-grade options, but that also means by nature that it takes skill and to use, unlike other knee support options.
KT works in a way that is fundamentally opposite to compression garments. It’s intended to lift tissues and allow for more space and natural movement. Yet, sometimes people use KT with their compression sleeves for added support and muscle recovery.
The main thing to keep in mind with KT is that what gets put on must get taken off. You know how ripping off a bandaid feels? Now make that bandaid huge and much stronger. Yikes!
Compression pants
Compression pants (also called compression tights) are another good option because they won’t keep sliding down your knee like compression sleeves or knee braces. They provide uniform lower body compression that increases stability, circulation, and proprioception. However, if you opt for a compression pant, you lose the targeted compression on the area hurting you the most.
What is the best knee support for runners?
Compression sleeves, athletic compression pants, kinesiology tape, and knee braces are all great options for runners' strained knees. But are any of them the best option? Nope.
Hypothetically, the best knee support for runners would combine all the benefits of these pieces of gear, but none of the drawbacks. It would provide all-over compression for improved circulation, stability, and balance, but targeted compression for the knees too. It would have an extra neoprene layer around the knees and hips for maximum support. Maybe it would even be built from an anti-bacterial fabric to keep you feeling fresh after running (and sweating) long distances.
The good news: what I just described – the best knee support for runners – already exists.
Shop the full Bracelayer® collection now!
Bracelayer® compression pants provide the best knee support for running. They’re constructed on our one-of-a-kind anti-bacterial Stabiluxe™ fabric and contain a Tri-Tech support layer around the knees and hips. Bracelayer’s pants have designs with heating and cooling technology. Our Alpine pants have a fleece lining to keep you and your joints warm in the winter and our KS1 Vent pants are made from Stabiluxe™ cooling fabric with ventilation panels behind the knees.
But don’t just take our word for it! See what runners who have made Bracelayer their go to knee support have to say.
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If you’re just starting your fitness journey, you might not be using compression gear yet. Even if you’re a seasoned athlete, you still might not be using compression gear! But now, you might be experiencing some aches and pains for the first time during physical activity. Maybe you’ve heard your gym buddies, teammates, or running group talk about how compression gear has improved their performance and you’re curious to try some out. If so, you’ve come to the right place!
Compression garments were originally designed for people with medical conditions that affect their blood circulation like Chronic Venous Disorder (CVD). They were first used to treat varicose veins (a symptom of CVD) and since have been used as a treatment for a wide variety of medical issues. Compression gear is most commonly used to help heal scars, aid muscle recovery, and support a joint after an injury.
Most often, compression gear is targeted to the lower body. Compression pants provide either uniform compression over the entire lower body or targeted compression on hips, knees, or ankles. Since they need to be form-fitting in order to do their job, compression pants are also often called compression tights or compression leggings.
Compression gear has been adopted by athletes because of its medical uses. Improved circulation and blood oxygen levels reduce swelling and inflammation, which in turn improves muscle soreness post-exercise. Pressure on muscles and joints has also been shown to increase proprioception during exercise, which is the body’s sense of awareness of its positioning. To put it simply, increased proprioception means an athlete is less likely to make a step, land a jump, or dodge something in a way that is out of alignment with their body, which reduces the chances of injury.
The benefits of compression pants have been frequently studied and debated in the last few decades. Some researchers believe that the effects of compression gear are largely psychological, but a recent study (2022) shows that the benefits of compression garments are not placebo. The bottom line, however, is that there are no adverse effects to compression gear. You aren’t going to hurt yourself or slow your recovery. By wearing compression athletic gear, you are only ever doing something that will take care of your body — and that is always a good thing!
Knees are one of the most commonly injured joints, likely because they are the largest joint in the body and weight-bearing. Knees are also the joint most affected by osteoarthritis, a hugely prevalent disease affecting about 528 million people worldwide. (And if you're an older adult suffering from any form of arthritis, you might want to check out the National Council on Aging's guide for managing your health, too.)
You don’t have to be an athlete to experience knee pain. There are a number of factors that can cause a person to develop knee pain, including repeated stress or injury that doesn't necessarily need to occur during sport, pre-existing diseases, joint or otherwise (like diabetes), genetic predisposition, and age.
If you’re experiencing knee pain, compression pants can help you find relief and also help prevent re-injury. If you’re only starting to experience pain, you can also prevent future injuries by wearing compression gear during movement. It’s never too early or too late to support your body, and you will be thankful that you did!
Bracelayer® compression pants are different from other compression pants by bigger names like Nike, Under Armour, or 2XU because they have built-in knee support in addition to regular compression. Bracelayer® pants are designed to combat knee pain, provide joint stability, and aid in recovery.
If you already have a custom knee brace, but would like a little extra support (or perhaps notice that your brace is often sliding down), Bracelayer® pants are perfect for you. Our pants were designed by someone who has dealt with decades of knee pain, the struggles of using a custom knee brace, and the lack of mobility that comes with knee injuries. Bracelayer® compression pants are designed to help you stay active longer.
Whether you need to relieve knee pain or prevent it from occurring, you can trust the combination of compression and built-in knee support that Bracelayer® has created for you. Our pants feature targeted support around the knees and hips, provided by our unique TriTech Support Layer.
But don’t just trust our word on it. Trust the word of people whose lives have been changed by Bracelayer’s compression pants. Or try them out for yourself!
]]>The knee is one of the largest and most important joints in the human body, tasked with the important job of connecting the upper leg (femur) with the lower leg (tibia or shinbone) to facilitate motion. At its most simplistic definition, one may consider the knee to simply be two leg bones joined together by muscles, ligaments, and tendons. But the knee is much more than the sum of its parts. Indeed, it’s the precise, nimble, effortless way that the joint’s composition works in unison to create movement that makes the knee such a crucial component of the human anatomy.
So, let’s start at the beginning. When talking about the knee, one should start by learning the basic components of the joint.
The knee is composed of three main structures:
The muscles that propel the knee’s natural movement and rotation are connected by tendons to the knee bones. Tendons are bands of connective tissue on the end of muscles, connecting muscle to bone. Muscles and tendons work in unison. The muscle contracts and the tendon’s tough, cordlike tissue, which is connecting that muscle to the bone is pulled, causes the bone to move.
In addition to muscle and bones, the knee joint is comprised of tendons and ligaments, two similar yet slightly different types of connective tissue in the body. How do they differ?
Ligaments are bands of connective tissue with collagen fibers, which connect knee bones to each other and help to provide stability. Tendons specifically connect muscle to bone.
Tendons and ligaments also vary in other ways. Ligaments crisscross in direction, as they attach bone to bone to stabilize joints. Since they help with movement, tendons have a bit more elasticity than ligaments. Ligaments are tight and help to stabilize the knee.
There are several types of tendons in the knee including the patellar tendon, which attaches the tibia to the patella. The quadriceps tendon attaches the quadriceps muscle to the patella. Many types of ligaments and tendons can be found throughout the body.
The knee also contains menisci and cartilage which function as shock absorbers, allowing the knee to move with less friction.
There is also the joint bursa (synovial bursa), a closed fluid filled sac in front of the knee, just below the surface of the skin. It cushions the bones, tendons, and muscles. It smooths out motion between the skin and bone, with the fluid allowing muscles and tendons to glide over ligaments and/or bone.
There are various bursae in the knee performing this function, including the pre-patellar bursa. And there are hundreds of bursae throughout the body, each acting in a similar capacity for various parts of the anatomy.
Fact 1: Surprisingly, our kneecaps don’t harden until somewhere between the ages of 3 to 6. As noted by Healthline this may be because toddlers are still learning to walk, and the softness of a still undeveloped knee may provide extra cushioning for all those falls. It may also be to make the birth process easier. They do have cartilage that will eventually become part of the kneecap. But it’s not fully formed until later in childhood when it begins to ossify or turn into bone.
Fact 2: According to the UK Readers Digest, the patella (kneecap) is a type of sesamoid bone, a bone embedded within the tendon. In the case of the patella, the bone is within the quadriceps tendon. They differ from other bones, which are connected to each other externally, instead of being embedded in tendon. Other sesamoid bones are found in the feet and hands.
Knee pain is quite common, often associated with aging or daily wear and tear from walking, standing, bending, lifting, etc. People who participate in more athletic activities that involve motions such as pivoting, jumping, or running, whether professional or amateur, are also likely to suffer from injuries or conditions involving the knee.
Torn meniscus (meniscal tear): One common injury is a torn meniscus. This condition is often caused by forcefully twisting or rotating your knee, especially when your full weight is on the joint.
Hyperextension: This occurs when the joint’s angle is stretched, straightened or opened beyond its normal, healthy range of motion. This can cause tears to the tendons or ligaments or cartilage damage. A sprained knee is one common type of hyperextension injury.
ACL tear: Because the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) helps give the knee stability, tears of the ACL often makes the individual feel as if their knee is “giving out.” It is a ligament that stretches through the middle of the knee to keep the tibia in place.
Knee bursitis: This is inflammation, swelling, or pain usually caused by overuse or injury.
It is encouraged that people walk briskly or do other light to moderate physical exercise on a regular basis to maintain the condition of joints and limbs, as well as to ensure their overall health.
It is commonly suggested that you do stretching exercises before and after workouts or other physical activities to prevent injuries such as these. You should always contact a doctor before beginning any new workouts that may be strenuous.
Check out our infographic below for a visual breakdown of the anatomy of your knee:
It's indisputable that regular exercise is beneficial to anyone’s general health and well-being. You don't need to be an Olympic athlete to understand that regular training lowers your risk of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Exercising is also shown to improve mental health.
Our bodies are built for motion. Our bones, muscles, and joints are all designed to work together in harmony. Movement helps make your body stronger. Just like running a car regularly ensures everything remains lubricated and in good order, exercise helps keep your joints mobile and muscles and bones strong.
However, as we age, our body becomes more susceptible to injuries. Like older cars, our muscles, bones, and joints need more regular attention and support to help them stay healthy. Preventing injury and caring for your joints isn't just reserved for elite athletes. It is something that everyone should care about.
As the largest joint in the body, knees are one of the most easily injured body parts. A knee joint is made up of bones, cartilage, ligaments, and tendons. All of those parts can be injured. A severe injury may even need surgery. Recovery can take weeks, if not months, and keep you from following your exercise routine.
Recognizing why our knees are so susceptible to injury starts with understanding the body’s biomechanics. Knees are built to bend only one way. When your knees move in a different direction, you risk injury. Most knee injuries affect more than one part of the joint, but often the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).
Even in a best-case scenario, injuries are inconvenient. They stop you from enjoying your exercise and from progressing your training at the rate you would like. Strengthening the muscles around the knee joint and correcting potentially damaging movements is one way of prevention, but this isn't a quick process. Adding knee sleeves and compression pants to your workout gear is a simple and effective way to help you exercise safely.
Swelling and pain are among the most common signs of a knee injury.
However, even without swelling and pain stopping you from exercising, you may feel that your knees are less stable than you'd like. The feeling that your knee is giving way can cause you to move the joint differently from its intended range of motion and actually further predispose you to serious injury.
Compression sleeves are scientifically proven to be one of the most effective and convenient ways to prevent this. Knee sleeves and compression pants support proprioception and, consequently, improve balance and stability
Proprioception is the sense that lets us perceive the movement, location, and action of parts of the body without looking directly at them. The term includes numerous sensations, including the position of joints and their range of movement. The concept was first described in 1906 by Sir Charles Bell, who referred to it as the body’s "sixth sense." It has since also been called kinesthesia. It is because of proprioception that we know how to walk without double-checking the exact location in which we put our foot. This sense lets you reach for your coffee mug without looking at your hand, and allows you to touch your nose with your eyes closed.
Proprioception works because of sensory receptors in your body and your nervous system. Joints, muscles, and tendons have most of those receptors. As soon as you move, your brain receives details about your action and your position. Aided by your eyes, vestibular system, and nervous system, your brain then pieces these signals together and creates your perception of how you are moving.
Without proprioception, you would find it hard to walk in a straight line, or you might struggle to understand your own strength and use too much force when doing something that requires fine motor skills.
Compression pants or leggings increase blood flow and circulation to the hips and extremities. Athletes use them to speed up recovery and rehabilitation times. In healthy athletes, well-fitting compression pants improve muscle activation, which can lead to increased performance. Wearing compression tights permanently during exercise has no adverse effects, so there is no reason to wait until you are injured.
Knee sleeves also provide compression. Basic cloth sleeves simply help the joint and the surrounding muscles stay warm but offer only a minimal amount of support. Neoprene knee sleeves, on the other hand, are often much more substantial, depending on their thickness. Not only do they provide more warmth to the joint than cloth knee sleeves, but they also offer improved stability and greater injury protection.
One of the major disadvantages of knee sleeves is that most tend to slide down as you are moving. If you are using them in a Crossfit gym, that may be inconvenient at best. However, as a runner or a cyclist, sliding knee sleeves are ineffective and interrupt your training.
Combining compression knee sleeves and pants solves that problem and integrates the benefits of both pieces of kit. You don’t need to be injured to see the advantages: improved proprioception and movement awareness prevent muscle fatigue.
Numerous studies have shown the benefits of wearing knee braces not only for injured athletes undergoing recovery and rehabilitation. Healthy athletes have improved their sense of knee joint position with the help of a neoprene sleeve. Function and performance remained at least the same, proving that wearing a knee sleeve does not have any negative effects on performance.
People with osteoarthritis not only reported pain relief but also immediately showed improved function of their knee joint during walking and similar activities.
Good levels of proprioception and movement control are key to healthy motion and exercise. Muscle fatigue has been proven to negatively affect proprioception. As you push yourself harder and your muscles start feeling the pressure, those sensory receptors work less accurately. Your knee joints lose their sense of position.
This means that as you increase the distance you cycle or the amount of weight you lift, your body finds it harder to protect itself. As a consequence, the harder you exercise, the more likely you are to become injured. Most injuries in competitive sports happen towards the end of the game.
Neoprene knee sleeves can help prevent those injuries. A study published in The Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science In Sports showed that braced and supported knees handled fatigue better. The researchers ran four rounds of fatigue tests on their subjects. Round one established a baseline. In rounds two and three, participants wore a neoprene sleeve on one knee. Round four was once again completed without sleeves.
The results were stunning: with the sleeve, participants’ proprioceptive skills were improved compared to the first non-fatigued test. Despite the increase in muscle and joint fatigue, they were better able to control their movement than they had been at the beginning of the experiment. The braced leg managed to hit the target given, whereas the unbraced leg struggled as fatigue increased.
Noticeably, despite the increasing levels of fatigue on the second and third rounds of this test, the knee wearing the sleeve did better than it had on the initial pre-fatigue test. Note that fatigue is a major contributor to injuries, and it becomes quite clear that compression knee sleeves are effective in preventing injuries and keeping you going.
Female athletes participating in jumping sports such as volleyball, basketball, and soccer are at a greater risk of knee ligament injury than their male counterparts. Out of all injuries recorded, tears of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) are among the most common.
More than half of those injuries are not related to contact or collision with another player. Instead, many of them can be traced to motor control issues and may be preventable. A study on female college athletes demonstrated that compression tights stimulated hip muscles, which had positive effects on both hip and knee joints when landing from a jump. In both joints, unwanted interior movements were limited.
Some of the variables tested by the scientists improved by up to 40%, suggesting that compression tights have a role to play not only in rehabilitation but also in injury prevention.
Although knee joints are among the most susceptible to injury, they don’t work in isolation from the rest of your body. To assess the effects of knee sleeves and compression tights on complex processes like walking and running, it is worth looking at more than one part of your legs.
One study looked at whether knee sleeves would alter the coordination of segments of the lower limbs – thigh, shank, and foot – when walking or when hopping on one leg. Researchers here wanted to see how knee sleeves influence the coordination of the three parts of the leg. They tested both men and women who were not used to wearing a sleeve.
For the one-leg hop, the researchers found that the knee sleeve altered the pre-flight and the landing phase. The ‘flight’ phase itself remained unaffected. Where walking was concerned, the sleeve altered the weight-bearing phase – the time the foot spent on the ground. The researchers noticed that wearing a knee sleeve not only improved proprioception in their test subjects’ knees but also their ankles.
By improving proprioception not only locally in the knee, but also having positive effects on the surrounding joints, wearing a knee sleeve can help prevent injuries.
Bracing yourself against injury and preventing strains to your knee joints is key when it comes to enjoying uninterrupted exercise. As consistent training and practice are key to progressing towards your exercise goals and promoting overall wellness, avoiding lengthy interruptions through injury should be at the top of your priority list.
Our bodies are designed to move and even have a sixth sense to help us understand where exactly we are in space. That sense, proprioception, allows you to run over uneven ground without falling. Proprioception allows your knee and ankle joints to make up for any unevenness you encounter. It also prevents you from moving your joints in a way that makes them more susceptible to injury.
Consider proprioception your injury prevention sense. If it is working at its best, it is highly efficient. However, even if you take your exercise seriously, your proprioception may not always be working at its nest.
Take exercising at the end of a busy working day, for example. Perhaps you have spent the day sitting in front of a computer without moving much. Your body may still be tired. Exercise will help blow the cobwebs away, but tiredness may predispose you to injury because your sense of proprioception is not at its best.
This is when knee sleeves and compression pants can make all the difference. Combining them into one knee-stabilizing compression pant, as Bracelayer's unique design does, means you get the advantages of both in one piece of gear. Compression around your hips and knees improves blood flow and muscle activation. As a consequence, surrounding muscles better support your joints.
The Tri-Tech layers around your knee and hip joints aid your sense of proprioception.
They enhance your joint’s ability to ‘read’ the ground you are running or cycling on and direct your joint to move in the best possible way.
Especially as you are nearing the end of your exercise session, when joints and muscles are starting to feel tired, this support is crucial. Even if your training regime is relatively gentle, your joints deserve a helping hand. Knee stabilizing compression pants are perfect for that. They help improve your balance and stabilize your joints.
Stable movements within the knee joint’s normal range of motion are healthy movements. They go a long way towards preventing downtime from injuries and keep you exercising for a long time to come.
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Wrong! Healthy knees are possible whether you’re an amazing athlete, getting older, or just feel like your knees don’t work "right." If you’re trying to avoid a knee replacement or would just like your knees to feel better, you’ve come to the right place.
What Happens Inside your Knee?
Your knee is an amazing joint, but it also carries a major load. Knees absorb the pressure of your body weight. They experience wear and tear from normal use — just by carrying your body weight around! Athletes feel even more pressure and pain in their knee joints during high impact activities and because of overuse.
Inside your knee are menisci or areas of cartilage. As your knees experience stress, the menisci begin to wear away. This causes your surrounding muscles and ligaments to weaken. Since the cartilage is meant to keep your bones from grinding on one another, your cartilage wearing down causes the swelling, pain, and inability to use your knee. This grinding can eventually lead to osteoarthritis and other degenerative knee problems.
Your knee is made up of tendons, ligaments, and bones, all of which work together. Strengthening your muscles and tendons help your bones stay healthy and strong, improving your overall knee health. A healthy diet can help strengthen your muscles and ligaments. Your diet should include:
Taking care of your body before, during, and after workouts is important for your knee health. Warming up and cooling down your muscles reduces the risk of an injury, while providing proper compression helps support the knee, also preventing knee injuries during your workout.
Warming up before exercising moves the blood through the joints and muscles, strengthening your knees and preventing injuries. Stretching also helps give your knees a greater range of motion, which improves your results when exercising. As you move your knee, it releases synovial fluid, which is like a lubricant for your knee joint. This helps protect the knee joint, and gives it a greater range of motion during your work out.
Warm-ups that focus on your knees include:
If you have any type of knee injury or you worry about overworking your knees, it's also worth considering wearing a compression sleeve. Properly compressing with knee sleeves and compression tights help increase blood flow and reduce pain. Knee compression gives your knee more flexibility, range of motion, and endurance while allowing you to work out at a steady and healthy pace.
Your exercise routine should focus on weight training and resistance band training. Try avoiding any workouts that put too much strain on the knees, including high impact cardio exercises, such as running and jumping, or squats with heavy weights. Instead, incorporate weight and resistance band training for weight loss and strength building while being gentle on the knees.
When weight training, consider starting with low weight dumbbells. This isn’t a weight lifting contest — the idea is to go slow and steady. Get your body used to the low weights before increasing them. The faster you increase the weight, the harder it is on your knees.
When using weights, consider the following:
Every time you work out, you create tiny tears in your muscles and ligaments. This is how your body gets stronger. Your body has to work overtime to repair those muscles and ligaments, which then results in more cell growth and stronger muscles.
After working out, always cool down. It gives your muscles time to stop contracting and to start repairing by enhancing the body’s blood flow, especially to the areas that need help, such as your knees. Give your body plenty of time to cool down and recover. Don’t do any strenuous activity immediately after working out, keep everything slow and steady.
If you’ve injured yourself or your feel strained after working out, allow plenty of time to recover using some of the following:
Healthy knees help enhance your body’s overall wellness. Your knees carry your body and control how your body maneuvers. Knee pain can make you feel miserable and incapable of handling even the simplest tasks. Knowing how to care for your knees not only during an injury, but all of the time will help you age gracefully, keep you active, and give you the chance to live life the way you imagined even into your golden years.
When you’re an athlete who is already dealing with the frustration of having a knee injury, the last thing you want to be doing is constantly tugging up a custom knee brace. Even if you’re not back in the gym yet, struggling to keep your knee brace where it belongs — around your knee, stabilizing it — can be a real problem.
As is so often done nowadays, you have probably gone online to find some sort of solution — anything but duct tape to keep your knee brace in place while you go about your daily life or physical therapy.
Let’s look at how to actually keep your knee brace from slipping down.
To understand how to stop your knee brace from slipping, it’s a good idea to understand why your knee brace is falling down in the first place. Even when you are wearing your knee brace correctly, more often than not, there will be distal migration or sliding of the knee brace down the leg. This is a very common problem.
Fundamentally, you’re fighting gravity. All the straps on your knee brace are desperately battling against that constant force that only those who have experienced outer space-like environments have escaped. All-day, every day, gravity is doing its best to pull your knee brace down.
Another major issue that causes knee braces to slip is that the circumference of your thigh is greater than the circumference of your calf. If you think of strapping your knee brace to an upside-down traffic cone, it’s pretty easy to imagine why it’s prone to slip down.
Thankfully, when it comes to your conical-shaped legs, there is the gastrocnemius muscle. This muscle is what creates that little “shelf” on the back of your calf. Ensuring that your brace fits correctly and a strap can be snugged down right above the gastrocnemius muscle is essential in your battle against a migrating brace.
Another major and fundamental issue you face with your brace is the hinge. Many companies use a polycentric hinge, which centers the hinge over the knee. Unfortunately, this hinge does not allow for the roll and glide movement of the knee. If you’ve not gotten your brace yet, or are looking for a new brace, make sure you talk to your physical therapist, orthopedic specialist, and doctor about the exact kind of hinge in the brace — push to get a roll and glide hinge.
Knowing how to put on a custom hinged knee brace the right way is the first step to prevent the brace from sliding down the leg. Most custom braces will have 4 straps and the order in which you put them on does affect how the knee support will fit on your leg. When you are being fitted for a brace, the technician will show you the proper way to put it on, but you can also always refer to the manufacturer guidelines for a refresher. For example, here are the manufacturer directions on how to put on your DonJoy knee brace the right way.
Bracelayer® Tri-Tech compression is constructed with an internal layer of thin, medical-grade, perforated neoprene. The pliable and textured nature of this layer helps 'lock' hard shell knee braces into place and the anti-bacterial, moisture-wicking Stabiluxe™ base ensures maximum comfort. It draws moisture away from the skin to help stop the distal migration (or sliding) of the knee brace down the leg.
One person seeking advice for how to keep knee brace from slipping down through the Knee Guru forum wrote:
“I have tightened it so much that I have pressure ridges all up and down my leg--and I can't even walk from the bedroom to the living room before the things fall down around my ankle and the opening for the patella is on my shin!”
Ideas started tumbling in, with people suggesting everything from an ace wrap under the brace to self-adhesive tape. In other places on the internet, you’ll find people building makeshift solutions. One video blogger suggests using sticky-back, hook velcro and attaching a thin rubber material to the back of it. The velcro part can then be attached to the inside of the knee brace, while the rubber will have more grip on your pants or skin, preventing the brace from migrating.
Another suggestion floating around out there is the idea of wearing a compression sleeve over the top of your knee brace, with the hope of pressing it tighter against your skin or clothing to cause more friction and prevent gravity from tugging it down. There is also the idea of combining several of these options. Though everyone seems to be trying to develop a solution, nobody seems particularly happy with what they were doing.
Yes, adding a compression wrap is much better than wearing a knee brace around one’s ankle, but it's still far from ideal. It might seem inevitable that a knee brace will start slipping down your leg as you go through physical therapy or when you are back out on the field, but it’s not.
There are companies that sell knee brace undersleeves, but these can also roll down and move independently from each other.
With the right compression pants, you can prevent the distal migration of a custom knee brace.
The right compression pants mean that it will no longer be necessary to tug up your brace mid-stride on your morning jog. Additionally, the right compression pants can limit skin trauma caused by the friction of knee brace straps.
The innovative Bracelayer® compression pants are designed with a supportive layer around the knee, which also insulates your IT bands, hips, and lumbar. The layer is made from compression fabric and has a thin layer of medical-grade perforated neoprene on top, which is then covered with a compression mesh.
The pants are also thin enough to comfortably sift under DonJoy, Ossur, Generation II, CTI, and any other custom knee brace.
With the mission “to improve athletic performance, speed recovery, and reduce pain through the targeted compression and stabilization of key muscles and joints,” Bracelayer® has designed exactly those compression pants. Pants that provide support for your knee, while also preventing your knee brace from slipping.
The solution for how to keep knee braces from slipping down is simple. Before Bracelayer® was founded in 2015, things might have been more complicated. You might have had to use a compression wrap below your brace or pulled sleeves over the top. Now, the variety of styles of Bracelayer® knee sleeve compression pants mean that you can save your wraps and etc. for another occasion.
]]>Bracelayer® Compression Pants with built-in knee sleeve are the ultimate solution to stop your custom knee brace from migrating down your leg.
I've been wearing a custom, rigid, hinged knee brace due to an ACL injury, which resulted in severe stability problems in my left knee, for over 20 years. I have experienced a few chronic issues with these braces over the years, which I will discuss shortly, but all-in-all, customized knee braces are a true lifesaver for those wanting to maintain an active lifestyle while dealing with knee advanced problems.
When knee ligaments are damaged the result can be severe knee instability and pain, not to mention all the other ways it can impact one’s daily routine and lifestyle. And the best, non-surgical option to combat knee instability is to get fitted and wear a custom knee brace. Most custom braces are rigid and have one or two hinges. Sometimes, the orthopedic technician fitting you for your brace will make a knee and leg cast and use the mold to have the custom-fitted knee brace made. Or they may simply take detailed measurements of the joint and leg as a reference for the custom knee brace manufacturer.
I’ve been wearing a custom knee brace since I was 15 years old to combat severe knee instability. My knee troubles stem from an injury during a high school basketball game. I was taking the last step for a layup when my left foot planted in some water that had been spilled on the court. My knee bent left and there was a loud but muffled popping sound. The pain was fairly intense and the swelling was immediate. By the time the game had ended and we drove back to our town, which was about an hour away, my knee seemed to be the size of my head. I could barely bend it due to the swelling.
I suffered a complete tear of my left ACL during that basketball game. The ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) is a commonly injured knee ligament, particularly in sports that involve jumping, planting & twisting, and changing direction. The ACL connects the thighbone to the shinbone and plays an integral part in knee stabilization. It was a devastating blow for a young person whose life revolved around sports.
My bones were still growing, so the orthopedic doctor suggested that I wait to have surgery, which I did. Unfortunately, during that time I was overly active and would continuously “blow out” my knee during volleyball and hockey games and while snowboarding.
During this waiting period, I ripped up a good amount of additional meniscus and cartilage which was removed during my first ACL reconstruction the following year, when I was 16. They used a patellar tendon graft for this reconstruction, but within six months I knew it hadn’t held. My knee was continuing to blow out at all too frequent intervals. In hindsight, I could have taken it a lot easier and probably held off even longer to have the ACL reconstruction — but teenagers are full energy, stubborn, and “invisible.” And as my mother would say, “hindsight is 20/20”.
I tried not to let my injury slow me down, but over the course of the next twenty-plus years, I had a number of knee operations. These included a few arthroscopic surgeries to remove more damaged meniscus and cartilage, as well as two more unsuccessful ACL reconstructions using a hamstring tendon graft from my left leg and then right leg. Most recently, my surgeon performed an opening wedge high tibial osteotomy, where my tibia plateau was cut in half and a wedge-shaped disc from my pelvic bone was inserted into it. This surgery is intended to realign the knee and allow the patient to carry more weight on the healthiest part of their knee.
Throughout the course of all these knee surgeries, l have been able to maintain an active lifestyle, largely thanks to custom knee braces. My first three rigid, hinged knee braces were made in Richmond B.C. by Generation II Inc. (now Ossur). These braces were the Generation II Extreme Custom ACL knee braces, which featured a single hinge on the outside out the knee and a nice secure fit.
The next type of brace I tried was an Össur CTi Custom ACL brace, which has a double hinge design. Unfortunately, I couldn’t use my CTi brace for very long, as I had my high-tibial osteotomy surgery done shortly after having it made. The surgery changed the angle of my knee leg enough that the custom brace no longer had a custom fit and couldn't be used.
I now find myself sporting a DonJoy Defiance III custom ACL knee brace, which is a great choice for anyone with severe knee instability. It also has a double hinge design and fits like a glove. I am in the market for a new brace again next year and will most likely go with another Donjoy Defiance knee brace.
There is a number a great custom knee brace manufacturers including DonJoy Global, Breg Inc. and Össur. A good starting point is to talk to a local orthotics shop. They can help show you the different models and point you in the right direction.
The number one job of these fancy, carbon fibre, hinged accessories is to combat severe knee instability and, if fitted and made correctly, they do their job very well. That being said: they can be bulky, clumsy, restricting, and can take a while to get used to wearing.
But the two biggest problems that I have experienced with all the different custom knee braces that I've used over the years are:
1) The migration or slipping of the knee brace down the leg during activity or when worn over longer periods of time.
2) Skin trauma caused by pinching and rubbing from the knee brace straps.
These chronic problems are two of the driving forces behind the creation of Bracelayer® Apparel Ltd. We wanted to create a functional compression pant that could be worn on its own to provide levels of knee support not found in traditional compression garments but could also be worn under custom knee braces to stop them from sliding down the leg, give some protection for knee brace strap irritation and trauma, and also also give some protection to the other knees.
Bracelayer® Knee Compression Pants help solve both of these issues by incorporating a thin layer of perforated neoprene around the knee, IT bands, and lower lumbar area.
This layer of perforated neoprene is thin enough to fit comfortably under custom knee braces, but is also strong enough to provide relief from from those straps pinching and digging into the athlete's skin. It also provides grip, even while sweating and during prolonged periods of sport, to keep the knee brace firmly in the place where it is designed to be.
And the best part about wearing our Bracelayer® Knee Sleeve Compression Pants under your custom knee brace is that you are giving your other knee a layer of support, stability, and protection that it deserves.
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Knee injuries are, unfortunately, all too common in sports. As a preventative measure, some athletes will turn to knee sleeve protection to reduce their risk of getting injured. Others wear knee compression devices to relieve pain, control swelling and inflammation, and experience added joint support.
Cloth Knee Sleeves are the thinnest type of knee sleeve available. They provide mild compression and some warmth to the joint and surrounding muscles. A cloth knee sleeve can be made from any number of materials including polyesters, cotton, acrylics, and will usually contain Lycra or spandex for their elasticity. They provide limited injury protection and knee support.
Neoprene Knee Sleeves are more substantial than cloth knee sleeves and come in a variety of thicknesses. Neoprene sleeves, such as the Rehband Knee Sleeves, are a popular choice for powerlifters and CrossFit enthusiasts. Although much bulkier than a cloth knee sleeve, a neoprene knee sleeve provides improved knee stability along with more warmth and greater injury prevention, which makes them a staple in weightlifting and CrossFit gyms.
Knee Wraps are typically worn for performance and heavy powerlifting. Wraps provide extreme compression but can also be cumbersome and require significant attention. They are best used during short periods of intense activity, such as lower bodybuilding exercises such are squats and deadlifts.
Most athletes in need of knee compression find themselves choosing between the first two alternatives: cloth knee sleeves or neoprene knee sleeves. One of the biggest problems with all these knee sleeve options is that they tend to roll down and require continual adjustment. To solve this problem, some people turn to wearing compression tights with knee sleeves on top — and have limited success.
Yes, it is. But now, there is a much better option. Bracelayer Knee Stabilizing Compression Pants provide all of the benefits of traditional compression tights along with the warmth and stability found in neoprene knee sleeves, all while maintaining a low profile.
Our compression pants are moisture-wicking and have anti-bacterial properties to keep you feeling fresh and odor-free. Around the knees, hips, and along the IT band is a thin layer of perforated neoprene to provide targeted compression, stability, and warmth to active and recovering knees. Since the perforated neoprene is only 1.5 mm to 2mm in thickness, the brace layer of our compression pants is thin enough to wear under custom knee braces or knee wraps.
So stop playing around with individual knee sleeves and get the all in one solution — Bracelayer® Knee Sleeve Compression Tights!
Bracelayer® Knee Stabilizing Compression Pants have medical grade ventilated neoprene knee sleeves built into each leg.Bracelayer® Knee Compression Pants are the all in one solution for athletes looking to replace their knee sleeves. Bracelayer® compression tights have medical grade ventilated neoprene built right into each knee. They are built on a moisture-wicking and anti-odor Stabiluxe™ base. They also pair great with custom knee braces.]]>