Neoprene Vs. Elastic wraps

[Allan Heer]

Hi everyone,

What are the differences/benifits of using the neoprene sleeves Vs. the elastic wraps for knee protection?

For the last two weeks my knees have been killing me. It's gotten to the point that I've had to cut squats and deads completely out of my workout. I was thinking about getting some neoprene sleeves (Rehbands) to add patellar support, but a buddy of mine said that the neoprene doesn't provide as much stability as the elastic knee wraps.

Opinions please :confused:

Also, any advice on training around knee pains would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Allan

[Jay Hagadorn]

Allan-

Neoprene sleeves provide "mild" compression around the joint. This is a positive as it promotes localized heat and blood flow; a negative because they tend to roll or bunch up during workouts/ competition. The protection does not necessarily come from "support" from neoprene as much as the localized heat (although there is some stability provided.)

Wraps create a large amount of support (protection) by compressing the joint and local area. The wraps compression is huge compared to neoprene. A negative is that the blood flow is actually reduced and you have to take wraps off between events/lifts.

Your best bet may be to take an anti-inflamitory for a short while, use neoprene, and ice down after your lifts. Lighten up on your lifts for awhile, have someone "critique" your squat (if your butt is kicking back way too far, your knees will kick way too far forward to compensate creating large sheer forces on the patellar tendon area.)

-Jay

[kara]

jay is 100% right on! i use both but only the elastic ones for heavy PL competition squats. i wear my rehbands for just about everything from squats to OL to conditioning. they keep my knees warm and give just a touch of compression like jay said, but i couldn't live without them. you might want to try some voltaren cream too. olympic lifters swear by it. it's AWESOME for tendonitis, etc.

http://store.yahoo.com/a1-health/voltarenemugel.html