Prophylactic knee braces for tactical situations

[Iraq Ninja]

Robert,

The brace shown is a DonJoy. You can go to donjoy.com or here...

http://www.betterbraces.com/knee-bra...-hinged-braces

As for me, my motivation was mostly monetary. If you fail the run, you loose your job lol. More than a few folks have gotten hurt on it for various reasons.

[120mm]

Robert,

The brace shown is a DonJoy. You can go to donjoy.com or here...

http://www.betterbraces.com/knee-bra...-hinged-braces

As for me, my motivation was mostly monetary. If you fail the run, you loose your job lol. More than a few folks have gotten hurt on it for various reasons.

That's a chain of command that needs beaten until dead. WTF would you do that to folks?

I never got those "fully armored physical agility/destroy your body" tests.

[R.D.]

Robert,

The brace shown is a DonJoy. You can go to donjoy.com or here...

http://www.betterbraces.com/knee-bra...-hinged-braces

As for me, my motivation was mostly monetary. If you fail the run, you loose your job lol. More than a few folks have gotten hurt on it for various reasons.

Thanks for the links. Do you think that the brace might be a liability in a operational environment? Snagging on things without a breakaway feature for instance.

I understand about doing things that you don't necessarily want to do but have to in order to keep your job. It is still quite a feat to finish a run in full kit after an injury in training/testing. I suppose it could be a good thing to do in your line of work in training, i.e. fight through the pain to complete the task.

I had a ladder slip out from under me as I was stepping on to it from a height of aprox. 10' (gutter line of a 1 story attached garage). In my case the MRI I had done of my knee showed a hairline fracture and microfractures of the tibial plateau that didn't show up in the Xrays.

Can you provide any insight into the reasoning behind PT tests in full kit. It seems, as 120mm pointed out, to be likely to cause injuries that could otherwise be prevented. Is it confidence building as in you know all of your teammates can all do it as well as yourself or something to be used to make clients more confident in your teams ability? It seems , from reading your posts on your kit, that your team has some latitude in choosing the 1st and 2nd line that works for them so could it be to proof your gear or is individual kit choice more "big boy rules"? Just curious.

[Iraq Ninja]

I don't see much of an issue with knee braces in my work environment. Mine is thin enough that I can wear it under my flightsuit.

Our fitness test is based on something the SAS does in their selection, but with a more generous time requirement. Actually, this test makes more sense than the standard US Army test since pushups, situps, and a run have little bearing on combat fitness.

Running with your kit tells you a lot about how well it is set up. Currently the big trend I see with PSD folks is to take as much kit off the vest and put it on the belt. This transfers more weight off of the shoulders and onto the hips. This setup works well on the test too.

BTW, motocross is another sport that uses knee braces and they are a bit more affordable...

[R.D.]

Thanks Iraq Ninja for the info. 10-4 on your brace being low profile(I was picturing mine) and the fitness test being more practical than US Military testing standards. I am tracking with you about running in full kit. I have seen lots of people loose stuff in training, myself included from a med. Maxpedition dump pouch, when running between firing positions and took it as an lesson on how important it is to run as part of proofing my kit from loss.

I have been trying to move as much of my kit on my 1st line as possible. It seems to be a trend in civy circles as well. It was kinda difficult to set up as I am cross dominant, left eye dominant right handed, my rifle mostly is shot lefty, with a pistol I shoot right handed. It works very well now that I sorted it out. It helps that I have a 38" waist .

[Rated21R]

One of the guys I ski with has some braces he wears (he snowboards and is on older guy) they had pads built in I believe. I need to see if I can find them.

[Six Feet Under]

Would they have the same thing for elbows as knees? I may end up needing an elbow brace after getting shot last year as it totally screwed my elbow/humerus up, but I can't let that stop me from doing PT and rejoining the police academy.

[El Mac]

Robert,

The brace shown is a DonJoy. You can go to donjoy.com or here...

http://www.betterbraces.com/knee-bra...-hinged-braces

As for me, my motivation was mostly monetary. If you fail the run, you loose your job lol. More than a few folks have gotten hurt on it for various reasons.

Are your knee/shin pads part of the brace itself or did you add that somehow?

[Iraq Ninja]

Are your knee/shin pads part of the brace itself or did you add that somehow?

That is not my brace, but DonJoy sells the pad to go with it.