Best knee supports for out on the hills

New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
Vikkiwill 23 Mar 2018

I have started taking a keen interest in hill walking and I am doing the three peak challenge this year. I have an unstable knee and would love to know if anyone has advice on good knee supports for when you are hiking. Many thanks in advance! 

 james.slater 23 Mar 2018
In reply to Vikkiwill:

It depends on your 'diagnosis'. Do you know what the actual issue is? Personally I have very dodgy knees from a history of breaking things, heavy walking loads at work and a case of bad Osgood- Schlatters. My main issue now is the patella tendon on my left knee (related to the OS), for which I use a patella strap, bought from decathlon, but others are available! It sits just under the knee cap and helps to relieve pressure.

Post edited at 08:40
Vikkiwill 23 Mar 2018
In reply to james.slater: I have joint hyper mobility syndrome, osteoarthritis in my hips and my right knee has meniscus damage and wear and tear. The knee itself is a little unstable and I can’t control it the same as the left, ends up in that valgus knee position a lot! So a little different from you but thanks for the input

 

 oldie 23 Mar 2018

In rely to Vikkiwill:

I have had knee problems occasionally from repetitive stresses (skiing) and individual wrenches (mountain walking). The first bad one was skiing over 30 years ago and  I bought a neoprene sleeve with a hole over the kneecap with fairly rigid, hinged, bilateral inserts with two straps. Somewhat unexpectedly it enabled me to continue skiing normally.

I still have the same support and still use it: last time successfully at the end of a skiing holiday last year. It is labelled Snow and Rock and is at least superficially similar to the Bioskin Hinged Kneeskin on their website.

I occasionally carry a couple of cheap, simple, neoprene supports in case of a strain, but they are of comparatively little help.

Presumably the degree of support required varies. More rigid ones are available (I believe the NHS supplies tailor made ones for chronic cases). Lidl had a similar but much more flexible support recently.

Obviously it depends on your problem: I have never had mine diagnosed. These supports are presumably only of use to limit lateral movement. 

 

 overdrawnboy 23 Mar 2018
In reply to Vikkiwill:

Best supports are your quads and hamstrings, work them hard as you can and wear the knee supports and use poles for descending.


New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
Loading Notifications...