How do I get a good knee brace?

[klogan]

    I hope to god this knee instability/pain is temporary… Anyone had good luck experimenting with drug store braces?

I'm trying to recover from my herx/flare fiasco in february – been on abx for 8 months and when I tried to increase the dosage all hell broke loose.  Worse than ever before, lots of new joints involved. Trying to stay hopeful.

I'm on prednisone 5mg 4days a week, doxy 50mg MWF

[Todd WI]

I wore a neoprene sleeve ?brace? for a knee injury.  I was surprised by how much it helped.   I?m not sure that it provided much support, but it gave me confidence in the knee and helped prevent painful missteps. It also kept the knee warm, which was good for my condition, but may not be for yours. 

I suspect the neoprene sleeve may be a no-go if you have any serious inflammation in the knee as the compression fit could be quite painful.  One step up from that is a version that attaches with Velcro above and below the knee, its very similar in terms of support/heat, but you might be able to adjust it to fit more comfortably around inflammation.  It?s a relatively cheap option to try.
As for mechanical braces, I suspect you will have a hard time getting something that fits right from the drugstore.

[JeffN]

Try your drug store or I have found braces for my son online, just google knee brace – lots to chose from

[Maz]

[user=87]klogan[/user] wrote:

    I hope to god this knee instability/pain is temporary… Anyone had good luck experimenting with drug store braces?

I'm trying to recover from my herx/flare fiasco in february – been on abx for 8

 

Hi klogan,

My knees have been the most persistant. Sometimes the larger joints are more challenging for the abx to penetrate where there is a lot of inflammation. I'm currently going for ultrasound treatments for my knees and ankles and it's helping with pain/inflammation a lot. Whereas before I had quite a bit of pain while ascending stairs in my right knee, this is now gone (after about 3 treatments).

I'm also having physical therapy to improve muscle tone, because I was getting some swiveling/instability of my right knee. The PT explained this instability was due to poor muscle tone and the patella slipping out of position. This is also now a thing of the past (after about 6 PT sessions and daily exercises at home).

There are some simple, gentle exercises you can do at home and I'd be happy to write them out if you think you'd like to try them?

Peace, Maz

[klogan]

Good hint, Maz. I know a bunch of excercises because I had some knee problem in my youth and went to PT. I was just thinking I should start doing these – I am getting much less excercise in general – boo hoo, boo hoo. I am used to hiking a lot, but not at the moment…

I am in PT right now for my shoulders and hands, I am sure they will show me knee excercises too.

Sigh.

Guess it's time to join a gym.

Thanks!
klogan

[Dena]

I have bought wrist braces at drug stores and think I have a representative sampling of all of them.  Depending on how bad the flare is, I chose which one to use.  So, I would try the drug store first.

My ankle is bad so I wrapped it in an ace bandage and have ordered some things from FootSmart on line.  Should be in any day now.

This is cheaper than vsiting a pro, but sometimes a physical therapist is happy to recommend something without charge.

[Author]

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