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Best knee brace for golf? torn meniscus

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bull64

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So I'm hobbling about on a torn meniscus on my leading leg. Rest, ice, and meds for now. per my doctor. Anyone else dealt with this type of injury?

I've looked on line to try and determine the best knee brace for golf but I'm only getting more confused. Knee brace advice needed please......

Many thanks in advance
 
ask your doc or PT? i wasn't playing golf when i had my knee surgeries so i couldn't even make a recommendation
 
I'm wearing a knee brace right now for strained ligaments on my right knee.

The doctor measured above, and below my knee area. Then gave me a slip on type brace, with hinged metal braces on the inner, and out side of my knee. There's also three velcro wraps for tightening. This is my everyday walking brace

When golfing, I have a different brace, that is a velcro type wrap on. No metal in this one. It's to limit the twisting in the knee when riding up on my toe during my down swing during my follow through. It too was also fitted.

I'd recommend being fitted by the doctor. Going the over the counter route, and getting the wrong size could creat more problems.

My knee strain is a result of many years of repetitive wear, and tear on the knee.
 
My brace was custom fitted and I never wear it when I play golf.
mine was fitted at the PT place I went to when rehabbing my knee.
 
I've had several knee injuries and surgeries over the years that finally resulted in both knees being replaced this winter.
As far as knee braces go, I think I have had and tried all of them. Unfortunately with a torn meniscus, a brace will only helped a little.
It's the rotation of the knee during the golf swing that really got to me. If you wear something that can completely stop the rotation, the pain would be diminished.
I tried everything from an ace wrap to a $5000.00 custom built, graphite and titanium knee brace and nothing completely stopped the rotation.
When I complained to the doc about it, he said...."Don't play golf until it's healed. Otherwise you will continue to irritate the injury and hinder the healing process."
Now, if he said you can play golf...that's a whole different story and I would ask him for the best brace he could recommend.

Good luck with your healing !
 
Thanks so much for sharing your experiences with me. I already have a call into my doctor and will be asking questions about a brace and activity timeline.
As a wise friend once told me--" growing older is not easy"

Hopefully this won't be wasted season and I can be back at it once my 425's arrive in a few weeks.
 
I've no recommendation for you, but I'll be watching with interest. My right knee has gone south on me, which has brought my swing training and my plans for this season to a screeching halt :(
 
My right one was torn. Okay to play golf in, but it hurt like hell at the end of the day, and some bend downs were pretty sharp. Not much you can do other than just ice, rest, and eventually get it repaired.
 
Drumdog said:
Unfortunately with a torn meniscus, a brace will only helped a little.
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This. I’ve tried a bunch of them. I’m not going to say the money was totally wasted but the braces did very little good. I could’ve saved that money and bought a couple of more full bags of golf clubs.
 
I have a torn acl and meniscus in my lead knee, and I tried just about every brace there is. I found it really tough to play with almost all of them. Harder than adjusting my swing to not piss off the knee as bad during a round. I try to keep a little more bend and not get out over it until I've mostly turned. There's tons of info/advice online, and you've asked your doc now, but you're probably just gonna have to try a couple and see how they work for you. If mine's bugging me before I even start, usually from work, I wear a stability sleeve, and grin and bear it. That's the most I can actually play well with while wearing. And it mostly just helps with the walking a bit.
 
I've also had every brace, injury and surgery you can have on my left knee it feels like. My latest injury was the end of last season, start of winter here. I got professionally fitted and it does okay. I am up to 10? Different styles and functions of braces. My biggest suggestion is what others have already said. Stay off of it and let it heal, that will reduce recovery time and show you too get back on the course sooner rather than keep injuring it slightly preventing it from healing fully and correctly.
 
bull64 said:
So I'm hobbling about on a torn meniscus on my leading leg. Rest, ice, and meds for now. per my doctor. Anyone else dealt with this type of injury?

I've looked on line to try and determine the best knee brace for golf but I'm only getting more confused. Knee brace advice needed please......

Many thanks in advance
Click to expand...
FYI - I torn my Meniscus in my left knee, (From Superspeed Sticks I think) I had surgery to repair it and was playing golf 2 weeks later.
 
I've had multiple tears of my right meniscus and found while sleeve compression braces help some, KT tape and finding the right application technique was a better remedy. For me it was essentially keeping knee at 90 deg and applying a u shaped strip around the front of knee to support meniscus and keep the padding of meniscus from slipping into painful position. Also do everything you can to strengthen quads, calves, and hips. Good luck!
 
I do this for a living. I hate to tell you, there's not much that's going to help because rotational forces are very difficult to control while still providing a sense of freedom. Especially in golf, where rotation is more important than fast cuts to the side or running/stopping quickly. If you came to me for an evaluation with your specific requests, I would say that I don't have very good options for you. We can help alleviate some pain while walking on uneven terrain and long distances with a hinged knee brace (like mentioned above with neoprene and metal uprights/hinges) but it's probably not going to be that comfortable to swing with and the meniscus will still hurt during that motion.

(For anyone looking at knee braces for any other kind of application, always get one with hinges/uprights/joints. A knee brace that's just a "wrap" is not going be much help outside of slight compression and/or placebo effect.)

I hate to say it but there are some instances where bracing just won't work. Other instances, it may work wonderful. I would say get it repaired surgically and get it over with.
 
I have had 3 surgeries on my left knee and have tried bunches of different braces and, for me, the only ones that helped were the ones where my knee didn't move or rotate. But that hurt my golf game since I couldn't follow through.

I would love to find some type of brace to help but there just doesn't seem to be one. I just spoke/went to my Dr 4 weeks ago and got a rooster cone shot, has not worked so far, and asked him about a brace...he had nothing but "use a sleeve and ice after...or use brace where knee doesn't move" so no bueno
 
Get it scoped... I had a pretty significant bucket handle tear. The ortho cleaned it up with out much trouble. I played golf a week later no trouble. Told me I may have arthritis down the road to needing a cadaver meniscus replacement. I'm hoping for some less invasive future treatment. We'll see...
 
OneFootShort said:
(For anyone looking at knee braces for any other kind of application, always get one with hinges/uprights/joints. A knee brace that's just a "wrap" is not going be much help outside of slight compression and/or placebo effect.)
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I can testify to that. I wore mine, yesterday, while doing some lifting and moving stuff that absolutely had to get done, and done now. Mainly what the brace did was help remind me I had a bum knee and to avoid putting unnecessary stress on it.

OneFootShort said:
I hate to say it but there are some instances where bracing just won't work. Other instances, it may work wonderful. I would say get it repaired surgically and get it over with.
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I'll be seeing a sports orthopedic doc tomorrow morning for mine. I rather expect I'll hear the same thing. If he can have me back up and running (preferably literally running) w/in a month or so I'm just going to bite the bullet and get 'er done. Otherwise I'll see if I can't put it off until late fall, early winter.

Mine is odd. Twisting/turning doesn't seem to bother it at all. Knee bends and leg press exercises don't seem to bother much--unless it's all swollen-up from when it glitches. Leg curls don't seem to bother it much. Leg extensions are iffy. Its failure mode is that sometimes when I straighten it, say after stepping over something or after picking the leg up then straightening it after tying a shoe lace, something goes *pop*, I feel a very sharp pain just below the kneecap, in front, then the knee and all around it swells up something fierce.
 
Duffer Seamus said:
Mine is odd. Twisting/turning doesn't seem to bother it at all. Knee bends and leg press exercises don't seem to bother much--unless it's all swollen-up from when it glitches. Leg curls don't seem to bother it much. Leg extensions are iffy. Its failure mode is that sometimes when I straighten it, say after stepping over something or after picking the leg up then straightening it after tying a shoe lace, something goes *pop*, I feel a very sharp pain just below the kneecap, in front, then the knee and all around it swells up something fierce.
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Mine was odd too, twice. I had bucket handle tears. My knee would sometimes "lock" when bent. Just before the first scope, it "locked" and I couldn't get it to work loose like it normally did. The pain was awful. I ended up in the emergency room for some pharmaceutical assistance for me while the doc "unlocked" it. Two scopes later, there is nothing left. Sooner or later, I'll have it replaced.
 
Only thing that saved me from painful meniscus tears was eventually just having the thing removed. I don't imagine any brace being able to help. It gets a little stiff and sounds horrible at night when it gets poppy, but other than that I'm all good. Like others, I'll cross that bridge when I get there with future problems.
 
Duffer Seamus said:
Mine is odd. Twisting/turning doesn't seem to bother it at all. Knee bends and leg press exercises don't seem to bother much--unless it's all swollen-up from when it glitches. Leg curls don't seem to bother it much. Leg extensions are iffy. Its failure mode is that sometimes when I straighten it, say after stepping over something or after picking the leg up then straightening it after tying a shoe lace, something goes *pop*, I feel a very sharp pain just below the kneecap, in front, then the knee and all around it swells up something fierce.
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Yea, so in your case, to fix that pain, we'd have to lock the knee joint in extension or flexion. It's the act of a force being applied that is causing the pain. Those are both horribly non-functional positions to be locked into. There are some braces that have stops that limit range of motion to, say 45 degrees, or whatever is determined by the etiology. However, the braces just aren't "smart enough" to allow all other motions except one essentially. We could unload a compartment medial or lateral, but I don't think it will do exactly what you are seeking.

Sounds like very common symptom of meniscus issues, some occur during rotation like an ACL injury can present. I hope the appt at ortho goes well for you. Laparoscopic techniques have come a long way in regards to recovery time.
 
OneFootShort said:
Yea, so in your case, to fix that pain, we'd have to lock the knee joint in extension or flexion. It's the act of a force being applied that is causing the pain. Those are both horribly non-functional positions to be locked into.
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Yikes, does that ever sound uncomfortable :eek: Not to mention exceedingly un-handy.

OneFootShort said:
Sounds like very common symptom of meniscus issues, some occur during rotation like an ACL injury can present. I hope the appt at ortho goes well for you. Laparoscopic techniques have come a long way in regards to recovery time.
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Thanks! So it sounds to you like this might be something addressable with laparoscopic surgery? That would be great!
 
I have multiple, complex meniscus tears in my right knee. Instead of the orthopedic advised surgery (they just remove parts of the meniscus), I opted for physical therapy and an adjustment in my active lifestyle (e.g., stopped running, which is a bummer). 3+ years later I can finally do a full knee bend and the off and on pain is manageable. The loss of strength and other related performance impacts have largely gone away. Only wearable I have used is a patella knee strap. I think it helps. After a round of golf, my knee does get sore. I ice like a crazy man, spend time with legs up the wall, massage it, and so on. I don't know if I would recommend my approach or not.
 
GoldenBuff said:
I have multiple, complex meniscus tears in my right knee. Instead of the orthopedic advised surgery (they just remove parts of the meniscus), I opted for physical therapy and an adjustment in my active lifestyle (e.g., stopped running, which is a bummer). 3+ years later I can finally do a full knee bend and the off and on pain is manageable. The loss of strength and other related performance impacts have largely gone away. Only wearable I have used is a patella knee strap. I think it helps. After a round of golf, my knee does get sore. I ice like a crazy man, spend time with legs up the wall, massage it, and so on. I don't know if I would recommend my approach or not.
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My philosophy on things that might conceivably alleviate or lessen pain is from the General in War Games:

I'd piss on a spark plug if I thought it'd do any good!
 
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