onji

To get down to it, my knee is still quite sore from an injury I did last month and I want to get a knee brace for some extra support while it's healing.

When I put pressure on the knee during rotation it hurts, down stairs for example, or if I step on it during an azimuth rotation. Funnily enough it mainly seems to hurt when I'm walking around town, and not actually during snowboarding. So if anyone with some experience in knee injuries could recommend a good brace, it would be much appreciated.

ETM

I snowboarded with a bad rear knee for 2 seasons and it can be frustrating at times, you know its going to swell up so icing it afterwards is essential. As for Knee braces they are only as good as the hold they have on your upper and lower leg, they tend to slip around a lot. You really need a top $ one if you want it to have a chance of saving you from a bad twist in the wrong direction.
In saying that you sound like you aren't looking for lateral support, sounds more like you need to reduce swelling (ice) and do some physio to regain strength. Its amazing what a good knee workout can do for you.

PS see you in Rusutsu this weekend!

onji

Thanks for the input ETM. I've been trying to do some rehab on the knee, ice in the first 24hrs and then deadly hot baths every other day. And yeah it's my back knee too, so I've been forcing myself to do a bit more switch to give it a rest now and then.

Any ideas on what kind of exercises are good for strengthening the knee? I've been doing weighted squats & calf raises (which I think only works your quads and calves) but don't really know what will add to the muscle around the knee.

By the way I was at Rusutsu last Thurs, it was thigh deep and virtually no one in the tree runs, brilliant!

wkndwarrior

your symptoms sound very similiar to mine. going down stairs and getting up and down out of chairs, in and out of cars can be really painful. but snowboarding itself doesnt hurt. i got an MRI which revealed a torn meniscus. i wear what they call a level 1 brace (from sports authority). the kind that you can slide right onto your leg, no velcro. keeps the knee warm but doesnt really restrict movement much. works well for me. costed like 16$.

photobetty

I had to rehab a knee injury a few years ago and worked with a trainer for a while. I don't have brace recommendations, but I can speak to the exercises. Doing a balanced routine of all the leg muscles will help tremendously! Working the quadriceps, hamstrings, inner/outer thighs, and GLUTES in addition to properly stretching everything regularly will help support your knees. It's amazing how much the glutes actually affect your knees as well. A common problem that leads to knee pain is that any combination of the lower-body muscles are out of balance. Leg extensions, both single-leg and double, hamstring curls, dead-lifts, leg press, are great exercises in addition to your squats and calf exercises. (My trainer has a ton of other exercises that are a little harder to explain in writing, but if you need other ideas I can try.) Also, I'm sure you know, but I'll remind you just in case - be careful not to extend your knees over your toes in your squats. And with any of these exercises, even if you can only do a partial range of motion, you'll still be working to strengthen the muscle.

Post-workout stretching is just as important. For the classic standing quadriceps stretches, it's important to keep your knees aligned (i.e., don't pull on your ankle so that your knee points away from your body - keep it pointing down towards the floor, aligned with your standing leg's knee). Stretch each muscle for 30 seconds in a gentle stretch (no pain) and no bouncing.

Feel better soon!

onji

Nice one wkndwarrior. I've just made the decision today to see my ortho surgeon friend and I might get an MRI done. He had a quick look the other day (just hanging out, not an actual consultation) and he reckoned maybe it's the meniscus.

Thanks Photobetty! I'll add some of those to my workouts, I've just started lifting weights again today (pretty lightweight at the moment) and yeah I'm working what I can with the ranges that don't hurt for now. I've been pretty good with my stretches for post-workout.... But I sometimes forget pre-workout when I'm doing weights.

wkndwarrior

im actually going to ride right up until the week i get my surgery, which is the week of 2/20. so i only have a few weeks left to ride this season. i may try to go out once in late march if im healed up. good luck to you.

photobetty

That's good! According to my trainer, it's best to do a general warm-up (5 minutes on the treadmill, for example), strength training exercises, and then finish by stretching when your muscles are warmest and most pliable.

grafta

One leg balance exercises. One leg squats. One leg balance ball.

Machines don't help with balance or muscles working together. They're built to isolate particular muscles.

BarrettDSP

If you have health insurance you could be like me and tear your ACL 3 months ago and get a Don Joy brace. They make one specifically for snowboard/sking. These are the same ones you see many lineman in football wearing now. My insurance covered the bulk of the price for me but here is their site if you are interested. My doc has cleared me for my trip March 23-30 so I'm looking forward to how it holds up.

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