KNEE BRACES

[Supafast]

Hi All, I was wondering if any of you wear a knee brace while riding. I was in a park yesterday with my ks18xl the grass field had lots of bumps, today i feel pain in the sides of my knees. i'm a beginner. But 50lbs of weight between knees can't be good for knee health.

Maybe a knee brace would put less strain and also help in a crash. I'm thinking of buying this kind to keep patella in place. see photo.

any thoughts? would it become uncomfortable or hinder maneuverability?

[RoCan]

Squats daily has helped me. Also bouncing on one foot imitating the bumps. Newly used muscles just need building up a bit. Won’t take long 

 

re: brace, I think might be a negative when you stop using it as muscles relied on it.

Edited July 22, 2019 by RoCan

[tessa25]

I have a hinged knee brace I am using until my knees are stronger. It's only purpose is to prevent yet another acl surgery. It does not help the muscles actively.

[Rehab1]

I agree with both @tessa25 and @RoCan that relying on knee braces instead of strengthening the quadriceps will only atrophy that muscle group in the long run. There is a plethora of  quality quad exercises on Youtube. Just take your time and don’t over exert yourself while performing the exercises. Listen to your body. 

I myself wear bilateral ACL knee braces but only when I’m planning to ride off road. 

[eucinsea]

My issue with knee pain when learning to ride was due to Supination it turns out. 

 

I started working on standing properly and magically my knee pain went away. Bad thing is I dealt with knee pain for years and had scopes xrays etc and turned out I just needed to relearn to walk lol 

 

 

[chrisjunlee]

On 7/23/2019 at 10:33 AM, prasket said:

My issue with knee pain when learning to ride was due to Supination it turns out. 

 

I started working on standing properly and magically my knee pain went away. Bad thing is I dealt with knee pain for years and had scopes xrays etc and turned out I just needed to relearn to walk lol 

 

 

Could you elaborate please? I think I'm hitting this as well. How did you relearn to walk?

[giggidditygiggiddity]

On 7/22/2019 at 7:44 AM, Supafast said:

I was wondering if any of you wear a knee brace while riding.

I unironically picked up a similar looking pair mainly to wear under my knee pads.  I've only worn it throughout a day to see if it's comfortable with the knee pads and I feel confident it'll work.  Still waiting to test as I'm just waiting on my ks16x as my first euc.  I mainly work standing up and this being the first time using the brace it does give me a sense of added oomf to my knees.

[eucinsea]

On 7/24/2019 at 10:29 PM, chrisjunlee said:

Could you elaborate please? I think I'm hitting this as well. How did you relearn to walk?

For sure!

Mostly it has been my being mindful about how I am standing and walking and forcing myself to walk from big toe to heal vs rolling on the outside. I have used a jump rope making sure I land properly when jumping, not a big fan of that but does seem to help. I went and looked at all my shoes and noticed that you can tell I wasn't standing flat by the outsides wore down more so I either had the soles replaced on nicer shoes or bought new ones.

My massage therapist has also been working my Psoas muscles to loosen them up. She is actually the one that called out the issue and gave me the suggestions to work on it. 3 months later after starting and little to no knee pain vs having to take CBD or pain reliever daily to help.

 

Oh by the way, I think I rode with you last Thursday with Mael and Lucas.

Edited July 29, 2019 by prasket
BTW note

[Daley1]

People spend thousands of dollars on their new wheel but buy cheap or no safety gear in the initial stages when they are most likely to fall whilst they are learning to ride.A little knee or foot pain is expected early on as ur muscles develop but to ensure everything doesn't get banged up after a fall and u can still ride, u need to get some good quality knee and wrist guards and a helmet.Not mitigating risk is a sure way to get a big kiss from the Asphalt god !

[Supafast]

thanks for all the input guys. I just had my first fall today, I wasn't going fast but it was on pavement. I was wearing knee pads(plastic cup tops). I'm sure if i had been wearing knee braces underneath it'd have been much comfy fall. got little bruises slight bleeding from side of the unprotected part of the knee and left ring finger, the wrist guard did great job in protecting my palms. just bought some gloves to wear under the wrist guards!. 

 

 

[Rywokast]

20k+ km never any pain after the first month.. purely conditioning

[Supafast]

18 hours ago, Rywokast said:

20k+ km never any pain after the first month.. purely conditioning

 you've logged 20,000kms on your ewheels? i think it should be a Guinness world record!

[Rywokast]

48 minutes ago, Supafast said:

 you've logged 20,000kms on your ewheels? i think it should be a Guinness world record!

conservatively, yes.. i dont have a car and now EUC is my only method of transportation.. plus my main source for fun haha.. i may have owned 13 EUCs but i have also had multiple of a few of them... 3 KS16S', two gotway ACMs, a V5F and a V5f+, two teslas.. im kind of obsessed lol.. though im not sure if it would be any sort of record ive only been riding a little over two years while a lot of people on here more than twice that long.. i had no idea EUC's existed until two years ago lol..

[Supafast]

On 8/4/2019 at 7:07 PM, Rywokast said:

conservatively, yes.. i dont have a car and now EUC is my only method of transportation.. plus my main source for fun haha.. i may have owned 13 EUCs but i have also had multiple of a few of them... 3 KS16S', two gotway ACMs, a V5F and a V5f+, two teslas.. im kind of obsessed lol.. though im not sure if it would be any sort of record ive only been riding a little over two years while a lot of people on here more than twice that long.. i had no idea EUC's existed until two years ago lol..

I wonder where will I ride in rainy season. We get 8 months of rain in Vancouver 😫

 

[Rywokast]

17 minutes ago, Supafast said:

I wonder where will I ride in rainy season. We get 8 months of rain in Vancouver 😫

 

 i know the pain.. on vancouver island.. we get less but still a fair bit it sucks

[Supafast]

On 7/24/2019 at 10:31 PM, giggidditygiggiddity said:

I unironically picked up a similar looking pair mainly to wear under my knee pads.  I've only worn it throughout a day to see if it's comfortable with the knee pads and I feel confident it'll work.  Still waiting to test as I'm just waiting on my ks16x as my first euc.  I mainly work standing up and this being the first time using the brace it does give me a sense of added oomf to my knees.

Glad someone is on the same page. My ks18xl is heavy. The forces and vibrations of the wheel could cause long term injury to the knees. Especially after a fall. I'm waiting to try the knee braces and ill wear the plastic knee guards on top. 

[Daley1]

Hey @Rywokast,

what did u do to ur Ks16s that u needed 3 of them ?

 

[Rywokast]

2 minutes ago, Daley1 said:

Hey @Rywokast,

what did u do to ur Ks16s that u needed 3 of them ?

 

nothing.. i owned two at a time, then sold one of them to get a tesla when it came out, and then sold the second one to get a V2 KS16 with the lift sensor/metal handle and larger pedals

[Daley1]

good ,glad u didnt or couldnt kill them!

[Rywokast]

11 minutes ago, Daley1 said:

good ,glad u didnt or couldnt kill them!

noooo haha, ive heard of people with 10,000 km on a single one.. i have too many wheels to kill one in the near future xD

[atdlzpae]

2 hours ago, Daley1 said:

what did u do to ur Ks16s that u needed 3 of them ?

I murdered mine multiple times in 1300km. May it's soul rest in pieces. ;-)

Some day I'll write post-mortem on how it died. I think I'm done reviving it - 5 times is 4 times too many. :-D

Edited August 8, 2019 by atdlzpae

[atdlzpae]

On 7/22/2019 at 7:44 PM, Supafast said:

Hi All, I was wondering if any of you wear a knee brace while riding.

I don't wear knee braces. I weight (with backpack) 140kg and I've done 107km in one day with this weight.

No problems, except for sore muscles. :-)

I don't think that joints are a problem on a unicycle. Even on the roughest terrain it's way less stressful than running, and pretty much everyone can train themselves to run a marathon in a few months.

Just keep riding, your muscles will get better and it'll be a blast. Don't make yourself rely on an unnecessary piece of equipment if you can avoid it.

Instead of knee braces buy knee protectors. They do provide a tiny amount of support. :-)

[2 Drinks Behind]

No knee braces here.  I've only been riding for a couple of months, but I commute around 12 miles daily.  Haven't had any significant knee pain, even back in the beginning, and I ride a stretch on a pretty rough old road.  I am very conscious to keep my knees bent when I'm going over lots of bumps and seams, to ensure my muscles are absorbing the stress and not the joint.  My wife has shot knees already and I don't want to end up in the same boat.  

If you feel like your actual knee joint is sore and not the muscles, I would suggest ensuring you are keeping your knees bent while riding and perhaps do some knee strengthening exercises.  I would personally avoid using a brace regularly as some research has shown they can actually increase or worsen knee injuries.  It's generally better to increase strength and flexibility rather than using a brace.

[Supafast]

On 8/8/2019 at 1:14 AM, atdlzpae said:

I don't wear knee braces. I weight (with backpack) 140kg and I've done 107km in one day with this weight.

No problems, except for sore muscles. :-)

I don't think that joints are a problem on a unicycle. Even on the roughest terrain it's way less stressful than running, and pretty much everyone can train themselves to run a marathon in a few months.

Just keep riding, your muscles will get better and it'll be a blast. Don't make yourself rely on an unnecessary piece of equipment if you can avoid it.

Instead of knee braces buy knee protectors. They do provide a tiny amount of support. :-)

140kg! and i was thinking my 95kg weight with gear would be too heavy for the ks18xl for better battery mileage and acceleration. 

i just ran 8kms and feel no pain in legs or feet but after riding my euc for a while, my feet feel a car ran over them. i guess i'll get used to it. 

thanks for the input.

[Supafast]

On 8/8/2019 at 1:03 PM, 2 Drinks Behind said:

No knee braces here.  I've only been riding for a couple of months, but I commute around 12 miles daily.  Haven't had any significant knee pain, even back in the beginning, and I ride a stretch on a pretty rough old road.  I am very conscious to keep my knees bent when I'm going over lots of bumps and seams, to ensure my muscles are absorbing the stress and not the joint.  My wife has shot knees already and I don't want to end up in the same boat.  

If you feel like your actual knee joint is sore and not the muscles, I would suggest ensuring you are keeping your knees bent while riding and perhaps do some knee strengthening exercises.  I would personally avoid using a brace regularly as some research has shown they can actually increase or worsen knee injuries.  It's generally better to increase strength and flexibility rather than using a brace.

i only get to ride my euc once a week! just so busy with work. i'm trying to get it out more often to condition my muscles.