anyone use these? my dad says i should wear one to prevent knee problems. does it affect your riding in any way? what kind do you use, one with the metal rod or just the rubber kind? <BR> <BR>thanks for the help

Leave it on the dock. Braces can become a crutch to your body and will actually make your knees weaker because you depend on the brace after awhile. If you have had a serious injury latley then that is the only reason I would get one. I damaged a ligment in my leg at the end of last season and Im going to wear the old brace/bandage(I've had knee injuries before) I have for a few weeks. After Im comfortable and got my knee build back up the brace is coming off. Save your money and buy you a good helment or something.

does anyone know where u can get the good braces i dislocated my knee last season and i just got a 50 doller brace from a store and it doesent seem to help

i dont belive that...if i was wearing knee braces last year i would have never pulled my acl and had to have surgery...i think knee braces with hindges protect your knee's...if you wore your knee braces 24/7 i could see a problem but if you wear them for only wakeboarding for a few hours on the weekend ..i cant see how your knees would adapt...protect your knees and save yourself from allot of pain, surgery and huge medical bills..i bought the EVS SX01 braces..they are even endored by scott byerly..they even come with detachable knee pads that you can wear when you go dirt biking

I've blown two acl ligaments playing football. Knee braces don't really protect against that injury. They do help protect your MCL and LCL though.

so do you recomend i get one to prevent injury? or just get one if i already have a hurt knee (which i dont)?

If you're having trouble with your knees sometimes it helps to have a looser binding. Snow skiers and wakeboarders blow the acl out a lot because the boots are so good at protecting the ankle and keeping it stationary that the knee is the first place to give.

If you got the change to pick up two $300-$800(what it cost for a brace to protect your knee to the fullest while wakeboarding and still maintain full mobility) braces then go ahead. I just think it is crazy if you were blessed with good knees.

keeping your knees strong by going to the gym is the best way to prevent knee injuries.

By Elane (ebone66) on Wednesday, January 25, 2006 - 11:48 am: <BR> <BR>"I've blown two acl ligaments playing football. Knee braces don't really protect against that injury. They do help protect your MCL and LCL though." <BR> <BR>Actually, The Don Joy Defiance ACL brace comes with $1000 gaurantee that if you tear your ACL while wearing this brace Don Joy will pay $1000 towards your surgery. Next time you watch a pro or college football game take notice of every offensive lineman's legs.... Every lineman will have a knee brace on underneath their uniform on both knees. This is to PREVENT knee injuries. <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR>(Message edited by nauty on January 25, 2006)

Braces can't protect the way your surrounding muscles can. <BR> <BR>I'd say Don Joy owes Carson Palmer $1000. Blew both his ACL and MCL while wearing a brace.

Just make sure your legs are in good shape before you start really going off in the Spring-not only strength but flexibility. My knees hurt in the dead of winter when I'm not exercising enough and feel their best in the middle of the summer when I'm pounding them every day. Skip them unless you need them to get back on the water after an injury. I've discussed the topic with my orthopedic surgeon and he agrees. Weird but true.

The EVS that Buywake sells are pretty good for non-custom off the shelf cheap braces, but no brace can do as much as strength training to build up the muscles around your knee. Some people choose to put their faith in a combination of both, but indeed many orthopedic docs discourage this as a routine practice. <BR> <BR>I jacked up my knee one time casing the wake, mashed the meniscus and severe bone bruising that had me in physical therapy and off the water for a whole season. I was wearing a brace at the time. However, this was the exact same type of crash that caused tibial plateau fractures in two of my friends who were not wearing braces, and I'm pretty convinced my injury would have been far worse if I had not been wearing one.

Yeah doc hit gold right there. Anyone related to sports medicine will tell you that they cannot stress enough how important strenght training and muscle building are. I picked it up after my first knee injury and that is why I take off the braces after a while. If you ever HAD to have one, you would cuss them everytime you put them on and wish you could do without.

"If you ever HAD to have one, you would cuss them everytime you put them on and wish you could do without." <BR> <BR>Not if you have one that fits well. <BR> <BR>I have to wear one and the CTi2 fits great, is lightweight and I hardly know it's there.

I'm no doctor but you would think that if the brace helps a hurt knee while riding,why couldn't it help a healthy knee as well?(only for riding)And yes build your legs and knees stronger.

i think there are a few orthopaedic surgeons posting in this thread..Surgeons love wakeboarders!!

also i had perfect strong knees.i ran short distance races.the problem i had and i contribute being so flexible that my knee go a little past straight ..so when i landed wakeboarding my knee was straight and maybe even a fraction over stright..i feel this cause my to hyperextend my knee and pull my ACL ...i had such a strong Acl that the ACL did not tear or stretch..it pulled right off the bone with bone with it..i was fortunate in that sense..i had a strong acl..because all they had to do was re-atach the acl..not do a reconstruction..which would have been worse..anyways yah maybe i needed stronger bones..the doc said i have soft bones for my age..nornmally 18 year olds pull bone like i did

The CTi2 is one of the braces I was refering to. If you have had reconstuctive surgery to your knee a few hundred dollars on a brace just for insurance would be a good investment. However nothing supports and fits your knee better than muscle

"The CTi2 is one of the braces I was refering to. If you have had reconstuctive surgery to your knee a few hundred dollars on a brace just for insurance would be a good investment. However nothing supports and fits your knee better than muscle" <BR> <BR>Kid, really, folks should take your "advice" with a big grain of salt. <BR> <BR>- CTi2s are more than a few hundred dollars. Try $1200 for mine. <BR> <BR>- There are two systems working to support your knee. Static (ligaments) and dynamic (muscles). If your static system is sufficiently sloppy no amount of muscle strengthening will be able make up for that problem. So yes, a brace can support your knee better than muscle alone. <BR> <BR>- Anyone considering a brace, whether as a preventative measure or post injury shouldn't rely on random screen names on the internet (me included) but rather they should go see a professional to get the most informed opinion possible.

Hey my name says wakedoctor not orthopedicsurgeon. I'm not a doctor. What doctors do is called practice. They all have different oppinions on things and that is why it is called practice. Im telling the kid what my doctor told me. And dear god Im sorry I insulted your $1200 knee brace like that ill send it a card. Ive never had reconstructive surgery and neither has the person that started this thread. I would think a doctor would give him similar advice.

Child, neither I nor my knee brace were insulted by your confusion about brace pricing. Sorry to burst your bubble. <BR> <BR>Thanks for clearing up that bit about not being a doctor, I never would have guessed...

"The Don Joy Defiance ACL brace comes with $1000 gaurantee that if you tear your ACL while wearing this brace Don Joy will pay $1000 towards your surgery." <BR> <BR>Joe H- Marketing BS. How many ACLs get torn in the NFL every year? You think they just haven't heard of Don Joy?

That's my point....take a look at the O-line on February 5th and count how many players are wearing Don Joy braces.

Oh, I think Don Joy and other brace mfgs are laughing all the way to the bank. If there was proof that braces significantly reduced the possibility of knee injuries surgeons ALL surgeons would require them post-op. Plus you'd probably see the vast majority of pro sport athletes wearing them, not just NFL linemen. <BR> <BR>Shoot, if they REALLY worked as advertised, any pro wakeboarder that didn't have them on both knees would be foolish, right? <BR>

Hey just like to put in my two cents, My son blew his knee out last sept on a bad landing off a double up, complete tear Acl, torn miniscus,fractured tibia, the surgeon that did the surgery said a brace may have minumized the damage. 4 months later thousand of dollars in surgery he is riding again and the doctor said wear the cti brace for 1 year and build up your leg muscles, best brace is strong leg muscles. <BR> <BR> <BR>(Message edited by wakeparent on January 26, 2006)

Sure, a brace MAY have minimized the damage. If a parent has the dough and opts to fork out $1000 for the possibility of injury prevention/minimization, go for it. I just think the vast majority of people are misinformed about the supposed benefits of knee braces and the mfgs are making a killing off their ignorance.}}

Now don't take this in the wrong way but anybody on here who thinks that a knee brace will prevent them from tearing an ACL while wearing a brace is wrong. I have done it two times, once with the brace and once without. It will help you while you rehab keeping it semi stable but not with keeping it from tearing.

thanks to all who responded. big help

Yeh Joe H your right, its all a conspiracy.... <BR>and if there was proof wearing a seat belt reduced injuries ALL states would require all people in the car to wear them..... <BR>

My son was 15 at the time, and no I wouldnt just go out and buy a brace because it would have protected he's knee a little more, thats alot of gas money. But now during the heeling process we will make sure he wears it for the next year. <BR>I think buying one just in incase is like walking around with a helmet on.

From what my ortho that did my ACL replacement has told me.........he's not going to recommend me wearing any kind of brace when I go back to activities (I'm cleared now). <BR> <BR>His comment is that once you do the 6 months of rehab that your "new" knee will be every bit as strong or stronger then your "old" knee and that you wont need the brace........it'll only weaken the joint. <BR> <BR>Now after talking and reading a ton on knee injuries and braces it's pretty clear that every doctor thinks differently on this.......so I'm not sure there is a "right" answer.

I don't know if my Dr. recommended me to use the brace during activities because of my age or if he does to everyone but I do know if I had not had it on the second time I blew my knee out it would have been much worse than what it is now. I am sure it helped it from hyper extending but in no way prevented anything from tearing

<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1><b>quote:</b></font><p>I think buying one just in incase is like walking around with a helmet on.<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote> <BR> <BR>That's exactly what I think. If you have any kind of ligament deficiency (complete tear, or even a slight stretch), I think a brace would be necessary. <BR> <BR>If you have healthy knees, you should not wear a brace, because your body will start to depend on the brace to do the things it should do. The little stabilizer muscles will atrophy over time and then even with the brace on, you may injure yourself. <BR> <BR>If you have healthy knees and you're worried about injuring them, work out your hip flexors, calves, quads, and hamstrings, and work on proprioception, before you get a brace.

<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1><b>quote:</b></font><p>because your body will start to depend on the brace to do the things it should do. The little stabilizer muscles will atrophy over time and then even with the brace on, you may injure yourself<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote> <BR> <BR>Thane,even if you wear it only for riding???

yes, there are muscles that you use for riding that you don't use walking around. The braces makes it so those muscles don't have to do anything, and then they get weak. <BR> <BR> <BR>I tried riding once, since I blew out my knee, with my Cti on, and it didn't prevent my knee from displacing again. I've also seen people blow out their knees while wearing a custom brace.

several major college football teams have started requiring linemen to wear braces to reduce/prevent knee injuries. they feel it is helpful.

After 2 ACL injuries, my knee was fixed correctly the 2nd time. First knee injury wasn't repaired completely. Thanks "Kaiser"! The 2nd injury was total rebuild and it feels great. My doc told me a brace was completely mental and a correctly repaired knee would be stronger than any brace out there. His advice was to keep in shape, work the legs and everything would be just fine. Must admit still use my donjoy from time to time, but my knee feels better than it has in years. He also said if I did wreck knee again it wouldn't matter if brace was on, he feels my ligaments stronger than brace and it would break first. $1000 bucks from donjoy? How about 15 Grand? That's about going rate for a great job for a rebuild! If your healthy and don't have knee problems I wouldn't worry about it. In my own personal case I'd say it's just years of wear and tear catching up. Oh yeah, props to Portland Knee Clinic, knee hasn't felt this good in years!

Sounds like a lot of people think there Ortho doctors. Brad your best bet may be to actually talk to a doctor about it.

Here's my Orthopod's .02: I only have to wear my brace for a total of 18mos from the DOS when active. <BR>I think what you're all forgeting is the mechanism of injury. <BR>Majority of football ACL injuries come from the foot being plant with rotation, hence the unhappy triad-> ACL, MCL and Medial meniscus injury. <BR>No brace in the world is going to stop the knee from rotating, not even the strongest legs in the NFL. And throw in the external forces....... <BR>All I trying to say is that even though we try to minimize to potential for major injury, it's going to happen regardless of the safe guards. <BR>

Don Joy's are 1250 a pop I just got fited for 2 of them !! Good thing INS. is paying

"If you're having trouble with your knees sometimes it helps to have a looser binding. Snow skiers and wakeboarders blow the acl out a lot because the boots are so good at protecting the ankle and keeping it stationary that the knee is the first place to give. " - Elane <BR> <BR>this is a ridiculous statement. <BR> <BR>1. looser binding allows foot to mover around more. <BR> <BR>2. foot moving around more causes more weird angles. <BR> <BR>3. foot slipping around in binding then suddenly stopping increases the pressure on the knees. <BR> <BR>4. blown knee from having on "looser bindings"

The best thing to do to PREVENT injuries is working out the muscles around your knee. I tore my MCL and PCL last summer and have been working out my legs consistantly to strengthen all those support muscles. Obviously there are things you can't get around like when you straighten your lead leg coming around from a quick tantrum (i guess you could make sure your knee is bent), but that's what i'd recommend for sure. You definitely don't want it to become a crutch!

when I fully blew my knee out, it was flexed.

I tore my ACLs and MCLs Waterski jumping in college. My doctor gave my a CTI for each knee and I wear them when my knees feel week which is almost all the time. I swear by my braces. I would wear them all the time if they didn't limit my movement. <BR> I think it is personal choice but I also work out my legs and knees. (by riding alot) <img src="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/clipart/biggrin.gif" border=0>

do any of you guys have bad kneeCAPS? <BR> <BR>my knee caps dislocate pretty easily, i've done each about at least a half a dozen times or so. the last time was pretty bad. so bad, they drew blood with the knee tap. they recommend an orthopedic surgeon, but at the time i had just closed on my first house and it was time to move. no time for surgery. at any rate, i guess i'm just wondering if there's anybody else out there with bad knee caps. i'm a little worried about this next season. but i'm a beginner, so its not like i'm pulling huge stunts or anything.