By Sue C on Friday, June 02, 2000 - 01:13 pm:

Has anyone found any really functional knee braces aimed at patello-femoral tracking?

How about other braces/ stabilizers for other joints?

I need to exercise, but I'm so apprehensive about dislocating or subluxing joints that I'm avoiding it. Any suggestions?

By Lynne on Friday, June 02, 2000 - 01:13 pm:

I WAS wearing a full knee brace with steel side-joints.. what a pain! When I saw my doc last week, he said to wear whatever seemed to work and I'm now using a
neoprene wrap with open patella.
It's not as restirictive but it's much more viable for everyday use. Also, I started PT yesterday and they are taping my knee in place prior to my exercises to stabilize
it.
Hope this helps..

By Sue C on Friday, June 02, 2000 - 01:13 pm:

Do you find that your patellas just slide right under the supports of the neoprene brace? Mine do every time my knee joint bends backwards and as I try to do any PT
or exercise. One hinged knee brace seems to do the trick for a little while, then it starts sliding down and off my leg.

My PT and I tried taping once. What an odd sensation of floating knee caps! And they kept on floating all over, so that was the end of that experiment.

By Jonathan B on Friday, June 02, 2000 - 01:14 pm:

I had a DONJOY GOLDPOINT(through the NHS) kneebrace which I have to say did an excellent job,the problem was I only had one which put my balance out{not
the braces fault}.
it also had special wedges to restrict forward movement.
might be an option but use two
hope that helps.Good luck Jonathan B

By Sara-UK on Wednesday, June 14, 2000 - 08:01 am:

Has anyone found a leg brace that stops the whole knee from dislocating? Or a brace that stops the ulna (wrist) from dislocating? I've tried about 30 different braces; hex-lite, neoprene, etc. etc. etc. - I'd be REAL grateful for any other suggestions. Keep smilin' :-))

By Jon on Friday, June 16, 2000 - 08:12 am:

I have had lower back trouble for years and would like to find a competent specialist within the United Kingdom NHS to try sclerosing injections. It is becoming a little urgent as the feeling in my toes and more personal bits of me is becoming reduced. I live in the East Sussex area in Peacehaven near Brighton or is there a group in my area? When it is really bad I cannot use my legs. I was thrilled to find that this site exists.
My injury occurred when I was bent forward very suddenly by someone being thrown on the back of my neck when I was doing Judo as a fourteen year old. I was knocked out and had a fit due to spinal shock and have never been the same since.

By Evonne on Wednesday, September 06, 2000 - 02:10 pm:

Sue C., so your knees bend backwards as in hyperextension? That's what mine do and yes, I experienced the same problem with my patellas with open patella braces. More so on my left, because of numerous cheerleading and sports injuries with sprains and ligament/cartilage tears (PCL, ACL, MCL) - related to it bending backwards on its own, anyway). I just use either closed-patella braces or ACE bandages now in addition to my Townsend brace that I use on my left knee.

By Cheryl on Monday, November 20, 2000 - 11:11 am:

I have just been diagnosed with Hypermobility syndrome. I have particularly bad knees. I am only 33 but latey my knees, especially my right knee hyperextends so bad that I can hardly walk after. The pain is excruisiating. Everybody keeps telling me not to buy a knee brace, but I want to. I feel I need the stability. Can anyone reccomend a good knee brace? What does eveybody think about knee braces? Do they work?

By Lin on Tuesday, November 21, 2000 - 07:15 am:

cheryl, sounds like me, i have been hpyermobile all my life but was just diagnosed because of chondromalacia patella. same excrutiating pain when walking, i used a cheap brace with lots of support and the open patella so many dont like, and i aslo limped for a while, i didnt extend my leg fully for fear and the pain when it overextended. Lin

By Kati on Friday, January 11, 2002 - 04:33 pm:

i have a brace that provides similar benefits to the mcconnell methods of taping. it is manufactured by don joy, and works much better than taping. it has a piece of sticky tape about four inches by three inches that has a round piece of velco attached to it. you put the tape on your knee with the velcro over the patella, and then slide on the open-patella brace (much like an over the counter brace). once the brace is on, there is another piece of velco attached to neoprene that you stick on the patella velcro. you can then pull the knee cap in any direction like the taping (inside, outside, whatever). it is difficult to explain, but works very well when exercising. however, on the downside, it costs about three hundred dollars, which is a lot with out insurance. make sure the tape does not get wet: it will pull several of layers of skin off when you try and remove it(i speak from experience). my pt told me this, but it doesn't say anything about it in the directions that come with the brace. give it a try.

By David Rolph on Sunday, March 10, 2002 - 06:31 am:

Having read your comments about knee bracing I have been told by the delightful hospital that the original knee brace that i was wearing was in fact a rehabiliation aid and that i was loosing the strength in my upper thigh, oh what a surpise. Tommorrow i have got to go the hospital to be insulted yet again to have a BREG fitted, won't that be fun. Can anyone tell me the advantages and disadvantages of the BREG