Knee trouble - Preventative measures & supports

I'm in a minor pickle as I have booked to see a Physio, but the earliest they can see me is 1 day before I go snowboarding for a week. The injury I believe is related & if there's some form of support that I can buy. I'd like to make the purchase prior to the holiday.

My problem has improved since I booked the appointment, but it is a reoccurring injury that I've had for 4-5 years. As I've mentioned I board & I also weight train, run short distance of around 3-4 miles or use an elliptical trainer around 3-4 times a week. My knees also click allot but cause me no pain when they do. I'm ex infantry & used to play rugby so along with everything else I have a long term goal to manage/improve my knees.

So every once in a while I get pain around my knee cap but not under it. This will last for 3-4 months, sometimes painful to walk & other times will just stop me from exercising my quads, running & boarding.

Is there a specific brand or type of knee support that you would suggest? I'm guessing as far as the support is concerned I don't need a brace, but perhaps a neoprene support to help with compression & supporting the patella?

Suitable knee supports? <http://www.proline-sports.co.uk/acatalog/Proline_Padded_Knee_Support_Floprene.html>

I'd like to continue the sports I enjoy for a long time to come, so anything that would permit me to do this would be great.

Peter

Hi Peter,

Did you get things sorted?

Sounds like a patellofemoral problem due to maltracking of the knee cap. It could be that you kneecap is lying incorrectly on the femur. To fix this you would need correct exercises shown to you that a forum obviously wont allow. A brace may only make this worse, as your muscles may weaken further.

Thanks for the reply. Funnilly enough no & yes. My appoinment was cancelled on the day I was supposed to go in. I went ahead & bought some new knee pads as I needed some anyway. More for inpact protection that anything else, but I made sure I bought a pair with some compression support. There quite long so they cover the supporting muscles above & below the knee.

The issue you've mentioned adds up. What's the best way to find out how to do these excersises. I've done them in the passed but it was such a long time ago. For my quads I do allot of squats, leg press & hack squats. I go quite heavy too i,e 160kg on squats for 8-10 reps.

Thanks

Peter

Hi Peter,

The exercises are not about weight but about the technique. With squats you shouldn't allow your knees to come over the end of your feet, not allow your knees to drop inwards, not allow a 'wobble' in your knees and make sure your distribute the weight evenly through both legs.

Problem is there are so many cheats to a squat that it would be hard for me to advise fully without actually seeing your technique