Knee braces...do you ride in them?

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Knee braces...do you ride in them?
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flag austin915
Posted: Feb 25, 2020 at 7:12 Quote
Does anyone ride in them? Getting into enduro this year, coming from motocross/gncc/enduro on a dirtbike I never got on a bike without knee braces on. Does anyone who races MTB enduro or any MTB racing ride in knee braces? Or is knee pads all anyone ever wears? Ive got a set of braces laying around, but almost seems like overkill on an mtb. Are knee injuries very common?
flag cmcrawfo
Posted: Feb 25, 2020 at 8:03 Quote
austin915 wrote:
Does anyone ride in them? Getting into enduro this year, coming from motocross/gncc/enduro on a dirtbike I never got on a bike without knee braces on. Does anyone who races MTB enduro or any MTB racing ride in knee braces? Or is knee pads all anyone ever wears? Ive got a set of braces laying around, but almost seems like overkill on an mtb. Are knee injuries very common?

Do you have a pre-existing injury?
flag austin915
Posted: Feb 25, 2020 at 8:06 Quote
cmcrawfo wrote:
austin915 wrote:
Does anyone ride in them? Getting into enduro this year, coming from motocross/gncc/enduro on a dirtbike I never got on a bike without knee braces on. Does anyone who races MTB enduro or any MTB racing ride in knee braces? Or is knee pads all anyone ever wears? Ive got a set of braces laying around, but almost seems like overkill on an mtb. Are knee injuries very common?

Do you have a pre-existing injury?

Nope, I wore them as a preventative measure.
flag jamesashton
Posted: Feb 25, 2020 at 8:19 Quote
i would say don't because you can get dependent on them, so if you don't have them on, you're knees cannot support themselves. wear kneepads instead. pads will do way more preventative than a brace. my worst knee injury would have been prevented by pads, but a knee brace would have done absolutely nothing
flag cmcrawfo
Posted: Feb 25, 2020 at 8:20 Quote
austin915 wrote:
cmcrawfo wrote:
austin915 wrote:
Does anyone ride in them? Getting into enduro this year, coming from motocross/gncc/enduro on a dirtbike I never got on a bike without knee braces on. Does anyone who races MTB enduro or any MTB racing ride in knee braces? Or is knee pads all anyone ever wears? Ive got a set of braces laying around, but almost seems like overkill on an mtb. Are knee injuries very common?

Do you have a pre-existing injury?

Nope, I wore them as a preventative measure.

Thats not a thing in MTB.

But do whats right for you.
flag austin915
Posted: Feb 25, 2020 at 8:55 Quote
traqs wrote:
i would say don't because you can get dependent on them, so if you don't have them on, you're knees cannot support themselves. wear kneepads instead. pads will do way more preventative than a brace. my worst knee injury would have been prevented by pads, but a knee brace would have done absolutely nothing

I believe we are talking about 2 different kinds of knee braces. Sounds like you are talking about a medical knee brace that removes some of the load off of the knee and offer no patella cup protection. Motocross style knee braces do nothing to support the knee during normal movement, They only help to prevent the knee from moving out of its natural range of motion. Look up Mobius or Asterisk knee braces and you will have an idea of what im talking about. I have no medical reason to wear them, my knees are in healthy shape. I only wore them to help prevent ligament damage and patella protection if i went down.
flag austin915
Posted: Feb 25, 2020 at 8:57 Quote
cmcrawfo wrote:
austin915 wrote:
cmcrawfo wrote:


Do you have a pre-existing injury?

Nope, I wore them as a preventative measure.

Thats not a thing in MTB.

But do whats right for you.

I didnt think that it was. I dont worry nearly as much about ligament injuries in mtb as i did in dirtbiking. It is a very common injury in that world. I will at least be wearing some sort of knee guard though
flag jamesashton
Posted: Feb 25, 2020 at 10:51 Quote
ah i see what you mean now, nope never really heard of them in mtb
flag HaggeredShins
Posted: Feb 25, 2020 at 12:24 Quote
I've been riding on a mildly torn left meniscus (finally approaching need for surgery) for about 10 years. After getting the diagnosis, I wore a hard Don Joy brace for a while back when I was mostly riding street and park. It helped a little on really big hits and mostly with spins I didn't make it all the way around on (seemed to help limit torsion at the knee, which caused the injury). More than anything it just smashed up my frame. I don't think it would help with any of the mountain riding I do these days, at all

No question they're a way bigger deal with dirt bikes
flag zsandstrom
O+
Posted: Feb 25, 2020 at 13:17 Quote
So, as is always the question with protective gear: what does it protect against, and how likely are you sustain that particular impact? For example, I don't wear my full face on trails that are well within my skill level, since the chances of me going down head-first are very low. But I wear my kneepads on every ride, because hitting my knee on the ground during a crash is a virtual guarantee, and I don't like having to regrow my skin.

I mean, I've never worn those braces, but based on what I'm looking at online, it looks like they're designed to hyper extension, mcl/acl tears, and patellar injuries that result from an impact. When you're riding with a 250lb motorbike between your legs, I can see how that kind of impact would be a regular occurrence. Moto comes down on your knee and immediately injures a tendon because its weight forces the joint to move in a way it's not supposed to. That seems like it would be a major risk in pretty much every moto crash.

But I just can't see it happening frequently in MTB. I'm having a hard time imagining in a situation in which that kind of heavy impact would even happen, save for having someone else crash on top of you.

Still though, do what makes sense for your riding and risk tolerance.
flag austin915
Posted: Feb 25, 2020 at 13:36 Quote
zsandstrom wrote:
So, as is always the question with protective gear: what does it protect against, and how likely are you sustain that particular impact? For example, I don't wear my full face on trails that are well within my skill level, since the chances of me going down head-first are very low. But I wear my kneepads on every ride, because hitting my knee on the ground during a crash is a virtual guarantee, and I don't like having to regrow my skin.

I mean, I've never worn those braces, but based on what I'm looking at online, it looks like they're designed to hyper extension, mcl/acl tears, and patellar injuries that result from an impact. When you're riding with a 250lb motorbike between your legs, I can see how that kind of impact would be a regular occurrence. Moto comes down on your knee and immediately injures a tendon because its weight forces the joint to move in a way it's not supposed to. That seems like it would be a major risk in pretty much every moto crash.

But I just can't see it happening frequently in MTB. I'm having a hard time imagining in a situation in which that kind of heavy impact would even happen, save for having someone else crash on top of you.

Still though, do what makes sense for your riding and risk tolerance.

Another fairly common one is simply dabbing a foot in a corner or to catch your balance. In a corner its common for a moto guys inside foot to be dragging the ground some and if your foot were to catch something and cause rotation or to stop your leg while your body continues causing it to hyper extend. Its not something i was really looking at wearing, i just had them around the house and was curious how many if any wore them. If i did downhill i would probably be interested in wearing them just because the speeds are higher, trails are rougher and the chance of injury would be greater but xc and enduro im not sure the annoyance while pedaling would be worth it. I was just curious if anyone did or not
flag Johnbizzle02
O+
Posted: Feb 25, 2020 at 13:57 Quote
Another fairly common one is simply dabbing a foot in a corner or to catch your balance. In a corner its common for a moto guys inside foot to be dragging the ground some and if your foot were to catch something and cause rotation or to stop your leg while your body continues causing it to hyper extend. Its not something i was really looking at wearing, i just had them around the house and was curious how many if any wore them. If i did downhill i would probably be interested in wearing them just because the speeds are higher, trails are rougher and the chance of injury would be greater but xc and enduro im not sure the annoyance while pedaling would be worth it. I was just curious if anyone did or not[/Quote]

I raced hair scrambles for years so I understand where you are coming from. Maybe if you were doing nothing but shuttle stuff where you weren't peddling any those braces could be worn. I just can't see having to do any kind of prolonged peddling in a set would be any kind of comfortable.

I also think the weight difference of motorcycles and bicycles is the big thing to remember. when we put a foot down in a turn on a moto if something went wrong the knee is having to resist a 250+ pound bike+rider weight and gear. compared to a 30ish pound bike.
flag Falcon991
Posted: Feb 26, 2020 at 16:33 Quote
Austin, we MX guys come from a background of "not if, but when" you will get injured. Therefore, I understand your reluctance to go without protection. However, the most common forms of knee injuries in off-road motorcycles don't really apply to MTB. On bikes, we're not holding our feet out by the front wheel with our knees underneath the handlebar in corners, which can pin the knee underneath it if we fall; nor twisting it when we catch our toes in a rut; nor taking golfball-sized rocks to the kneecap at 60 MPH. Also, if you do happen to have your leg out to dab for any reason, you'll pretty much stop the bicycle if it hits you in the back of the leg - not so much like when a motorcycle weighing nearly 10 times as much does the same.

As for me, I usually ride with knee protection in the form of a knee sleeve/pad; it cushions my kneecap from impacts and covers the skin so I don't get pedal cuts and abrasion from rocks or trees/shrubs that I rub past. I've never felt like I was at risk for a twisting/bending/collapsing knee injury while pedaling.
flag 8tom8
Posted: Mar 2, 2021 at 6:46 Quote
austin915 wrote:
Does anyone ride in them? Getting into enduro this year, coming from motocross/gncc/enduro on a dirtbike I never got on a bike without knee braces on. Does anyone who races MTB enduro or any MTB racing ride in knee braces? Or is knee pads all anyone ever wears? Ive got a set of braces laying around, but almost seems like overkill on an mtb. Are knee injuries very common?
I broke 4 bones in my knee ripped the cartilage and my acl and lcl and I wear ion kpact knee pads over the top of a push brace that has little metal bars down the side so it won’t pop out that way and it seems to help when crashing especially without a ligament
flag fourfourone
Posted: Mar 2, 2021 at 6:59 Quote
I wear full knee braces when I ride moto and wear just knee pads when I ride my mountain bike.

I could not imagine trying to pedal my mountain bike for any sort of long distance with my moto braces on.
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