Re: Re: Ever get a bruised knee bone from doing a long hike?

I'm not sure how the bandannas help, but they do.  My doctor once told 
me that the tendons around my knees were inflamed.  This might explain 
why tying a bandanna tight around the base of the knee helps.  I tie it 
as tight as I can, but haven't managed to tie it so tight I lose 
circulation (a good thing!).  I can still, barely, get a finger 
through.  I've been using these bandanna braces for steep and long 
descents since the early 1990's. 

For a while, pairs of walking sticks and big wrap-around knee braces 
with holes for the knee cap were all the rage in Taiwan, especially for 
college kids.  Since they were also doing heavy boots and long 
heel-first strides, I'm not sure how much the braces helped their 
knees.  I learned in the early 1980's that descents with long heel-first 
strides were a great way for me to get headaches.  The jolt goes 
straight up my spine!

On one hiking trip (in the early 1990's, I think), I got stung by 
stinging nettle on exactly the right spot on my knee (front outside 
edge, just below the knee cap).  That really helped!  I tried 
re-stinging myself several more times during that day's descent.  
Taiwan's stinging nettle packs a punch much like a bee sting.  I can 
usually feel the effects 24 hours later. 

When I tie on the knee-brace bandannas, I put the knot in the same place 
I got stung by stinging nettle.  The pressure of the knot seems to help. 

CL
who hikes in sandals and usually carries 3-4 bandannas for head, sweat, 
and knee braces or shoulder padding.

Roleigh Martin wrote:
>
>
> Cara, thanks.
>
> I have a bunch of knee braces I used in 2011 right after my torn 
> meniscus, including a Cho Pat (never used though).  I used a heavier 
> brace then.  I thought I didn't need a brace for 2012 though.  How 
> does the knee brace help?  The Cho Pat is lightweight and wouldn't be 
> anywhere as big and heavy as the one I used in 2011.
> -------------------------------------------------
> Visit my Google Profile (lots of very interesting research links) 
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> _
>
>
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 24, 2012 at 10:34 PM, Cara Lin Bridgman 
> <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
>
>     Baby steps with front of foot hitting the ground first.  This uses
>     your
>     ankles and takes stress off your knees.  The baby steps reduces
>     impact.
>     On really steep descents, and Taiwan has plenty of them, I find some
>     sort of knee brace helpful - something like a cho-pat.  I just roll up
>     my bandanas and tie one around each leg just below the knee.  Really
>     helps. Multi-use.
>
>     CL
>
>
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-- 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cara Lin Bridgman         cara.lin-zimPVJFJEBseIZ0/[email protected]
                          [email protected]
P.O. Box 013 Shinjhuang   http://megaview.com.tw/~caralin
Longjing District         http://www.BugDorm.com
Taichung 43499     
Taiwan                    Phone: 886-4-2632-5484
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