Braces - what, where, and why?

[Ordway]

An offhand comment in another thread about the large percentage of fencers who wear some kind of brace made me curious - hence this poll (assuming I can get it to work properly....)

So, do you wear any sort of brace? If so, on what, and why? Specifically, I'm wondering if people wear them to prevent injury or to deal with an existing injury. Specifying what weapon you fence is probably relevant. (I fence sabre.)

I wear a lace-up brace on my front ankle, recommended by a sports medicine specialist. It helps keep me from turning my foot as I lunge - I almost twisted my ankle twice from doing that - but more importantly, it helps keep my joints in alignment so I put less torque on my knee. So even though I don't actually have any current problem with my ankle and probably have gotten over the habit of turning it in the lunge, the brace helps keep my knee happy.

So, what do other people use (or not) and why?

[RITFencing]

Left (rear) ankle after breaking it at DitD. It didn't heal correctly and now the plane of my left foot is at an angle.

[CvilleFencer]

I occasionally wear a rigid left knee brace or a soft brace on my left ankle if I ahve agrevated any of those old injuries lately and I sometimes tape off a couple of my fingers if those old breaks have gotten bashed recently. By and large though, despite my wide range of old injuries I don't bother to wear a brace of any kind unless I am experiancing problems.

A Dr. friend of mine assures me that with a few exceptions all the braces do is keep your joint warm and remind you that you have a weak spot on your body that you should be careful of doing something stupid with.

[fatfencer]

well i use a front ankle brace and rear for the same reasons you suggested( keepng the knees aligned and happy.

In addition I use a knee brace prophylactically on my rear knee. I had a meniscal tear some time ago. Feels fine now but as I don't have the time to strengthen it as much as I'd like....the knee brace has become my constant companion.

Fatfencer

[airathanas]

I had to wear this huge knee brace for two years on my front leg because I had my acl torn and repaired. When I tore the other acl, they told me that I did not have to wear a brace because they haven't been proven that they work. In fact, that knee that I didn't have to wear the brace on hasn't gone out. The knee that I wore the brace on went out once while I was wearing it. Go figure.

[yeoldearmourer]

Both knees and both ankles injury service connected jump out of too many planes and helo's. Can't walked without them

[Elendae]

I wear braces on my right knee and ankle (I'm a lefty). I have arthritis in my right knee and both of my ankles are bad, but I only wear something on the right ankle, at the moment. I'm in therapy for the ankles, but as the tendons and such are completely stretched out, there's not much they can do... the doctor wants to talk about surgery, but I'm not sure I really want to go there.

[EPEEDAD]

Elendae

two things come to mind-

get a second opinion from a highly qualified sports orthopedic specialist.

Ask the "doctor" exactly what they would do if surgery was prescribed ??

would an orthopedic shoe insert for impact andslight leg length differences help?

Are they advising alternating heat/cold compresses? for pain/swelling

You are the patient- ie customer- will surgery make thing better or worse- maybe does not count.

Good luck..

[JackOfHearts]

A number of fencers from my school use knee braces. There's this one girl that either wears a brace on each knee or wraps them before she fences. Another wears one on her left knee. And there's this one guy that doesn't use any braces, but due to a leg ingury switched to fencing lefthanded. Still not sure what the hell he did. *shrugs*

[PeterGustafsson]

Hi!

I wear a ankle brace on my front ankle, due to a non-fencing sport injury. I once described how I got that injury, so I just copy&paste:

I was playing indoor bandy, or floorball, as goalie. This sport is big in Sweden. In order to understand the following story fully, I think you should have a look at a description of the sport:

www.floorball.org

(as an aside, our own Latenight is a US. Natl. team goalie!)

Anyway, the game was important for both teams. We were leading 3-2 with only 2 minutes to go, in no small part due to my goaltending. Suddenly, the ball came loose, and flew towards my goal. I had no teammates anywhere close, and one opponent was fast closing in on the ball. If he would have got it, he would have had a very good chance of equalizing. I had to jump out of my goal, and fast, to get the ball (baseball size, weighs less than 1 ounce). A floorball goalie defends his goal in a strange position - sitting with his lower legs folded under the thighs, shoelaces flat against the floor. From this position, jumping up is difficult, but I did it.

That is where it went wrong. When I landed, my right foot was pronated 90 degrees so that the outer edge of the shoe hit the floor first. My entire weight went on the foot, and proceeded to twist the foot even more so that the sole of the foot faced upwards while my shin was still in ordinary vertical position. Ouch.

One of the big ligaments stabilizing the foot snapped off, and the goalie in the other goal (40 meters away) later said that he heard the pop inside my foot. That was easily the most painful thing in my entire life, and as a kid I have been kicked hard between the legs (and in my stomach, while lying down) by schoolyard bullies.

The ball rolled past my goal, I slumped into a screaming heap of pain, the lone attacker stopped cold in his tracks not knowing what to make of it, and the ref stopped the game. We were playing away, and the ref asked if any of the onlookers had any experience in health care jobs. One of my opponents mom piped up - I am a gyno! I immediately went into denial - I thought "this can´t be happening! A gyno is going to examine me!"

Since we did not have any replacement goalie, my teammates dragged my protective gear off me, pants past my foot. An outfielder donned the gear, and proceeded to play goalie for the remaining minutes.

I was lifted over the side, and the gyno started to examine my foot. She janked it this way, hard, and asked: " does this hurt?" I squealed in response, and she repeated the procedure in another direction, with the same result. Rinse/repeat until I was fainting with pain. My gosh, she was the most rough-handed doctor/nurse I have ever met. Are they often that way?

We won the game.

A few hours later, I was finally admitted into the ER exam room, and the doctor said: "There is nothing to do. If one is to do an operation, it must be done more or less immediately. It is inoperable now, and you must simply adjust. Be prepared to wear a foot brace for the rest of your life when you do sports. Now, I will put you in a plaster cast for 3 weeks, but it will not be good." That is what I do, 16 years later.

To make matters worse, the Swedish word for feet (plural) and one of the body parts that the gyno usually examines (in plural) are both spelled and pronounced similarily, so I was the butt of some off-color jokes by my teammates later on.


Have a nice time!

Peter Gustafsson

[Elendae]

Elendae

two things come to mind-

get a second opinion from a highly qualified sports orthopedic specialist.

Ask the "doctor" exactly what they would do if surgery was prescribed ??

would an orthopedic shoe insert for impact andslight leg length differences help?

Are they advising alternating heat/cold compresses? for pain/swelling

You are the patient- ie customer- will surgery make thing better or worse-
maybe does not count.

Good luck..

Thank you for your thoughts.

The doctor is an orthopedic specialist. The problem with the ankles is that the joints are very loose. There is almost no resistance in my Achilles tendon... I just figured out that there is supposed to be. I tend to stumble when I'm walking, my toe connects with the ground when I pick up my foot, and the tendons don't hold it in place. I don't really know what it is like to have functional ankles. My left ankle stretches out past the point that the therapist could measure the angle... and the right wasn't far behind. She thought that I was a ballerina (which is a rather amusing notion to anyone who knows me)...

From what I understand, the surgery would be to shorten the tendons. I'm pretty sure that I would have to get a second opinion before my insurance company would let me do the surgery... but I really don't want to do it, unless that is my only answer.

[Go? Fencing?]

I wear knee braces on both knees because they are genetically weak. I wear them to give my knees a little support, and it helps. The more active I am, the less they hurt, but the knee braces still help, basically just making them last longer before giving out or hurting too much.

I also wear a wrist brace and an elbow brace, because of an injury that's still healing.

[FencingKitten]

I fence sabre, right handed.

Poll is flawed. I carry a minimum of six braces to all sports events - I've worn three braces for sports for a year or more, added a fourth two or three months ago on my coach's recommendation, and added two more after the Houston NAC (long story short - I spent four days climbing between the floor and the BC platform and sprained three tendons in my ankles).

I wear a fairly stiff brace on my off-weapon leg and a fairly flexible one on my weapon leg, as a result of genetically weak knees followed by some old martial arts injuries. I wear a wrist brace because I've gone belguard-to-belguard too many times - it reminds me not to be stupid, keeps my wrist warm, and provides a little support without sacrificing flexibility. I added an ace wrap for my weapon quad and hamstring, since I was injuring it regularly through insufficient warm-ups and cool-downs, which I have also improved on Then, for the aformentioned ankle problem, have added lace up braces on both to give additional support while they heal. I'll keep those around after the current problems heal, since I was having occasional problems due to a form issue that has since been corrected, but may leave lingering pain.

It takes me around a half-hour to dress for competition warm-ups, slightly less for practice since I don't have to fight with my socks and knickers :P Pictures of me show the two knee braces poking out from under my knickers, since they do double duty by holding up my socks!

[Inquartata]

Yes, no multiple-choice options. Tsk.

On my right ( leading ) knee, I wear a neoprene brace with those metal squashed-spring stays along the sides. This is to impart lateral stability due to an old injury. Occasionally I wear the same sort of brace on my left ( rear ) knee, when that joint is acting cranky. Usually not.

Used to wear a neoprene tendinitis sleeve on my right elbow, with or without strap, when I had tendinitis there. I finally concluded that it did no real good and stopped bothering.

I also fenced for about two months wearing a soft neck brace once. Now THAT was fun...

[rudd]

Hi Elendae.

I had a issue similiar to this with my right foot. When I walked I was unable to pick up the foot. Basically I was unable to flex my foot. Turned out to be a trigger point in my Tibialis Anterior. This is the muscle that runs to the front and outside of your shin. By working on the trigger point 3-4 time per day, mainly does long slow deep massage strokes though the point (if it's there it will be 3/4 to 2/3 of teh way up between teh ankle and knee) i got full use of my foot back. Problem hasn't reoccurred. PM me if you want more info.

[Ordway]

I did make the poll so that you can choose more than one option, so it's not flawed, really! Or not seriously flawed anyway

[Timberwolf_CY]

I'm a right-handed foilist. Currently I use a neoprene thigh compressor on my right thigh and compression shorts. My hamstring and quadricep tend to pull easily, so I started wearing the compression shorts, and then the thigh compressor when I found it. I've found they help a lot, I almost never have any pain after even extended periods of fencing, such as tournamants. I'm thinking of adding a knee brace as my right knee has been bothering me slightly, but hasn't been too much of a problem yet. I also occasionally ACE up my wrists when they bother me; I tend to have weak joints all-around.

[BrianH]

Elastic brace on left (back) knee and one on left ankle. I have tried neoprene, but it gives me dermatitis, and no more support. I have many many years of sports, so my knees are damaged. The ankle brace is a recent addition, because of swelling associated with gout, of all the stupid things to be afflicted with. More prescriptions, more dietary restrictions, and the brace.

From looking at various related threads lately, it appears that proper form is an easy way to avoid many joint problems, along with more balanced muscular development and conscientious stretching.

[FencingKitten]

I did make the poll so that you can choose more than one option, so it's not flawed, really! Or not seriously flawed anyway

You know, you're right. I rescind my comment, and have now voted appropriately Good job! Although, an option for "a couple of something elses" might have helped some of us!

[_fence(1)]

Just wondering, do they make shoulder braces?