Doc said braces a bad idea. Huh?

Perk

~SPONSOR~
Sep 17, 2001
303
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Two years ago after a nice little hyper extension / sprain, my doctor advised me not to get braces for my riding. He said they could actually do more harm than good. He said if I were into football, basketball etc. that he would give me the go ahead. :coocoo: I'm no doctor, but if a knee twisting in the wrong direction = bad, then wouldn't a device that prevented this from happening = good.
My wife says listen to the doctor, he would not steer me wrong. I say listen to the pro's out there who wear these for every race. They are not going to sacrifice a career, and potentially millions of dollars simply for the sponsorship or contingencies from Asterisk.
Has anyone else gotten this line from their doctor before?
 

Chili

Lifetime Sponsor - Photog Moderator
Apr 9, 2002
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Perk said:
Has anyone else gotten this line from their doctor before?

Yes, there is a large contingent, including many orthopedic surgeons who feel you are better off destroying your knee than taking the risk of breaking your femur wearing a brace. The most common arguement I've seen is that most knee injuries in MX are rotational injuries that the braces will not prevent as they are designed to stop hyper extension injuries.

It's a decision that I feel is so split it's very hard to make an informed decision one way or the other by examing the odds. My son broke his right femur twice, both times while wearing braces, whether the brace was a factor in either break is unknown to me. When he returned to racing this year I suggested knee pads instead of braces, he bought another pair of Asterisks and wouldn't ride without them.
 

Perk

~SPONSOR~
Sep 17, 2001
303
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I don't ride MX at all anymore and don't really take the hard impacts that you would see in a MX racer. I'm just a woods rider but I do ride pretty hard most of the time, just below a race pace for an average VET B racer. My knee injuries have all been from knocking stumps and roots and ruts. My hyper extension came at a 1st gear creek crossing. Rear tire hit a root and my momentum kind of shifted to the right. Planted foot into rut to correct and the bike pushed inward on my leg. That sucked.
 

GPracer2500

Member
Jun 3, 2007
5
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I've read up on this a bit. My understanding is that long bone breaks in the leg are no joke. A nasty femur break has the potential to be fatal (not so with a torn ACL or MCL). Plus, recover from such a break may be less complete and take longer than reconstructing a knee. I'm no expert though.

$0.02
 

Chili

Lifetime Sponsor - Photog Moderator
Apr 9, 2002
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So afar I've found that if you ask the guys that broke the femur they tell you they'd prefer to have destroyed the knee. Ask the guys that destroyed a knee and they say I'd rather break a femur, go figure :laugh:
 

DWreck

~SPONSOR~
Apr 14, 2002
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I had knee surgery for an ACL long before I started riding and my doctor at the time told me a cast was the only way to protect yourself from an ACL injury.

I still wear Asterisks. I figure they are worth it for the impact protection and ability to protect from hyper extension. I also do everything possible to keep my feet on the pegs.
 

WoodsRider

Sponsoring Member<BR>Club Moderator
Damn Yankees
Oct 13, 1999
2,812
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The orthopedic community is split on the effectiveness of knee braces. The data doesn't support one side more than the other. What is known is that if you are ACL deficient or have other ligament/cartiledge damage, a brace will give you more stability.

I wore a brace for one season of racing after ACL reconstruction on my right knee. Then I tossed the brace in favor of neoprene knee sleeves. That was 7 years ago. A few weeks ago I was playing in the backyard with my kids when I tore the MCL in my left knee. A brace wouldn't have prevented that.
 

Patman

Pantless Wonder
LIFETIME SPONSOR
Dec 26, 1999
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Just like opinions here I've gotten mixed info from doctors. In the end it's your choice and you should choose the path you think is best for your knees. I choose to wear my Cells and it has proven a good choice in several instances. There's lots of posts on this topic, I know I've commented several times with information from both my doc and real life experiences. Do some searching to help you decide.
 

rydquist0709

Member
Jun 28, 2007
1
0
I recently crushed my tibial plato(the lower half of my knee) the doc said I can still ride even with the plate and 6 screws. When I aske about a knee brace for riding he told me I didn't need it. In my case that is because even though they had to re biuld the bone all the soft tissue was good, except the miniscus. So my joint stability is fine, there for he said a brace for me wouldn't be "required" it would just be my personal prefrence.
 
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