Knee braces

[mattsccm]

18 months ago I had an arthroscopy, a good chopping of the junk cartilidge in my knee. some improvement and 15 miles every day cycling has fixed it for normal use although its a touch fragile. Walking especially down hill causes greif and is enough to keep me to about 10 miles a day before seriuos limping starts. anyone know of any decent knee braces out there that reduce the load on the knee joint. something that sits between the lower thigh and my calf maybe. I am trying to keep the knee out of the system. Surgeon and GP useless and unsysmpathetic suggesting I look on the web! So I am . I suspect this isn't going to be cheap. Stiffened neoprene braces do nothing really.
Any ideas?

 

[jann71]

Can recommend one of these - (might be cheaper elsewhere) http://www.physioroom.com/product/Mueller_Hg80_Hinged_Knee_Brace_with_Kevlar/3108/37820.html

Bought mine in March, not cheap but I think money well spent.

 

[Fiona N]

Hi Matt
As someone in the same position - my arthro surgeon presented me with my left knee cartilege in a bottle of sterile water to make me consider it's absence when doing (what he called) extreme sports - I'd also recommend getting along to a good sports physio to make sure you do as much as possible with the muscles to protect the knee. Strong, well-balanced muscles are key here. I know that my knee problems manifest themselves when I allow my (cycling) quads to get too strong relative to other muscles which control the knee stability when on foot (and which you don't use so much when cycling).
Downhill never gets any easier though, once you've got bad knees - just use poles to the max.