Here's Why You Should Wear a Knee Sleeve - Before or After an Injury

When it comes to playing sports or being active there is one common understanding. It can, and will, put your body at a higher risk for injury and strains. This is why it’s so common to see professional athletes wearing compression knee sleeves.

Knee sleeves are usually made with a highly elastic, flexible and often breathable material. This allows the sleeve to hug your knee while allowing full range of motion. It slips over the foot and must be pulled up and over the knee. Many sleeves contain gel padding to help hold the patella in place and some even have side stabilizers.

Whether you’re into extreme sports or leisurely activities, knee sleeves provide extra support and serve to protect the knee joint from taking any more damage or worsening an existing injury. They’ve also been shown to be extremely useful after an injury by reducing pain, lowering swelling and easing stiffness.

After injury the knee immediately begins to protect itself by swelling and becoming stiff. This swelling can be dangerous if not controlled with rest, ice, compression and elevation. Furthermore movement of the knee has been shown to help in early knee rehabilitation by aiding the recovery process. The addition of a compression knee sleeve at this stage reduces swelling.

Compression sleeves for knee swelling also provide for increased blood flow which helps to reduce pain and heal faster. Improved blood flow enhances the delivery of oxygen to damaged tissue. Compression also reduces swelling, especially when used in conjunction with cold therapy. The combination of improved blood flow and reduced swelling enables your knees to repair and heal faster.

Proprioception “involves an individual's ability to perceive the position of a joint without the aid of vision” and is a rarely discussed compression knee sleeve benefit. I like to describe it as that subconscious feeling we have that there is something securing and protecting our knee, even if it is only in our minds.

Because mobility of the knee is so important in regaining strength, orthopedic surgeons suggest wearing knee sleeves before and after surgery in order to keep the swelling down. Less swelling will allow the knee to achieve full range of motion and get you back to ruling at life.

Lucky for you Old Bones Therapy has got your back... and knees too!

Find out more information about Old Bones Therapy's knee braces, knee sleeve support and hot/cold knee therapy wraps today.