Knee Braces and Running Shoes

I recently started taking a boxing class, and between two hours of running around the gym, jumping ropes, and bouncing around throwing punches, my knees are really starting to take a beating. My right knee doesn't hurt yet, but it doesn't feel normal, either.

I'm thinking of switching to wearing a running shoe with lots of shock absorbing material in the heel. But, I also think I should look into getting some kind of sports knee brace. I know the Oshman's website lists over 30 of these types of product. Does anybody have any personal experience or advice of a product they can recommend? Either in the category of shoes or knee braces?

I should mention I'm height weight proportionate - 5'5" and 145 lbs. I used to weight all of 115 lbs. in high school, but now I'm 42 and how many of us weight what we used to weight in high school? My point is I'm not 250 lbs putting a huge amount of force on my knees while I'm running.

Bruise

I have a prescription knee brace from an ACL injury. This does a good job of protecting my knee. I can also tell you that when I injured my knee I used an off the shelf one - does little except remind you that you have a weak knee.

Most of the off the shelf ones are simply not strong enough to protect your knee from any of the dynamic forces that come from moving the rest of the body around.

The prescription ones are made from fiberglass, carbon fiber and titanium. They have super strong (and several of them) velcro straps. They are also made from a cast mold that is taken of your leg.

How did this come up in this forum anyhow?

J

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JohnJ80 said:
How did this come up in this forum anyhow?

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Well I figure running shoes and knee braces are just gear you can buy at a sporting goods store just like knives and other gadgets.

From the lack of response here I can't help but think not too many flashlight fans are active in sports /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif.

Bruise

I guess there are more people active in sports than you asume - I moved your thread to the Cafe. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

As I am an absolute greenhorn when it comes to boxing my advice might be completely offtrack. What I could imagine -let's try to think your knee is ok- is that you might have some muscles that are not used to being trained, while they feel sore you think it's your knee. As you've just started with Boxing this could be the case. I've had that happen to my knees and did some doctorshopping until it suddenly disappeared (diagnosis: insufficient muscle /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ohgeez.gif , I should have listened to them) I did lots of stuff around that time and couldn't imagine tha to be the case - I was proven wrong.
Second it depends on where your knee hurts and how. As long as you don't have fundamental knowledge on how your knee works and where your pain could come from (the reason doesn't have to be your knee itself, could also be your feet for example) I would not just grab any knee brace from the shelf, let someone who knows this stuff (eg. orthopaedist) take a look at it. I don't know how old you are but your knees have to hold your whole life, don't mess with that by saving some $$. It's not worth it.

Klaus.

You may want to check with a foot doctor on getting foot orthotics. A lot of time, allignment problems with your feet can cause all kinds of knee, hip, back problems.

Knees are pretty complicated. If you haven't been working out, then you definately need to exercise and strengthen all of your leg muscles. If you ever have an injury and take PT, they make you work not just the damaged joint, but the surrounding muscles too. The idea is that the stonger the muscles are, the less strain on the joint and ligaments.

I have back problems and crave soft, cushiony shoes. Running shoes offer the best shock absorbancy, but have no lateral support. For boxing, you especially need lateral support, so much so that shoes designed for boxing have very little cushion.

Ortho inserts might help, but I'd recommend getting your knee checked out. I injured mine playing HS football and have had trouble ever since. If there's any problems there, it might be worth changing your whole workout routine (maybe giving up the boxing). Knee injuries are not fun.

Off the shelf knee braces can actually do more harm than good. While they *may* give a little more support, they can also interfere with proper circulation and can cause you to cramp up badly. Also, unless you get a good fitting, they can interfere with proper movement.

There's a reason why the braces at Oshman's are $35 and the brace my orthopedic surgeon made for me was...well...more.

I agree with kitelights in that you really need to work out in addition to the boxing. Work on every muscle group in the knee area. Since my surgery I did a lot of work on strengthening the knee and haven't had any problems since. Add the fact that I am nearly *cough* double *cough* the weight of bruise lee and if I ever let my knees get weak I'm in a world of hurt.

(Just for the record I am 6'4" and my doctor considers 275 to be my "ideal" weight)