Neo-G Hinged Knee Brace, Firm Support - Adjustable Dials for Tendon Strains, Ligament Strains, ACL, Arthritis, Joint Pain, Injury Recovery - Open Patella - Class 1 Medical Device

I have several varieties of braces of varying strengths to help with my knee. I've had 1 surgery already but require more at some point (knee replacement) however they won't do it right now as I'm "too young". That's a good thing I suppose, except when I'm trying to do active things such as self defense classes. My knee was getting torn up doing some of the moves/kicks, and I decided to go with a more sturdy brace.Pros: Construction appears to be top notch. There are "dials" (if you want to call it that) on the inner and outer knee where the hinge is. You pop open the cover and can adjust the pins inside to allow you full control of how much you can bend or extend your leg in degrees. The straps allow you to secure it to both your upper and lower leg without the need for constant "fidgeting" with it later. This sucker seems to stay put once you adjust it the way you like it.Cons: This thing literally covers about 80% of my leg. I'm 5'2" and if you look at the picture of how much this covers, mine actually covers maybe an inch more top and bottom. Yes, I realize I'm short. :)This brace means business - it will NOT allow your knee to bend other than what you set it for, and while it is very comfortable to wear, just understand that it pretty much immobilizes your entire leg (depending on how much you set the knee joint movement).So far it is well worth the money. I've worn it a few times already and I've had zero complaints. For what I originally purchased it for, however, it really won't suit my needs mainly because it freaks out the other students in my self defense classes and they are afraid to spar with me in case they "hurt me" worse. LOL. I use this brace for those days when I really hurt and need the added support to help me walk, and for my class I use what I call a lower profile option (I combine 2 other braces: a slip on Level 1 brace, with a small wrap-around Level 2 brace from another brand).For those who are choking on the price of this brace in comparison to what you can find in sports stores, etc. all I can say is - so far this appears to be well worth the money. Just understand what this one is designed for. I would classify this as a "professional grade" model, and not one that you would use just to have some support while you're at the gym.Hope this helps!

I bought this brace due to Natalie the PT that recommended it and the fact that it had a lot of good ratings. I had initially a leg immobilizer and it was terrible. It made my leg feel like hamburger and the pain! I had wore a brace similar to this on my last knee injury. In this case and last, they were both tendon repairs. The previous adjustable brace had a donut hole and maintained massive painful pressure against my knee. I threw it away as soon as I was done with it. With this new brace it has no painful donut hoke, stays put in place, doesn't grind on the leg, helps in compliance towards wearing the brace, very comfortable, eases peace of mind during maneuvers, is extremely easy to set by just looking at the pictures (orange goes in the front), comfortable to sleep wearing, confident about lock mechanism working, love that one size fits all.

I unconsciously have been hyperextending my knees when I walk for years. It may be due to hitting my head and getting a brain injury. Anyway I didn't know I was doing it until a physical therapist pointed it out. I've found I can consciously minimize the locking knees when I walk by trying to put my weight onto my heels rather than walking flat footed. However I still was locking my knees at times, though not as much. I've had knee problems for decades and hyperextending my knees was just making my existing pain worse. Over the years I've gone though a lot of knee braces but this is the first one that is designed to lock before my knees do. This brace worked so well on day 1 that I had to buy a 2nd for the other leg.This brace does wrap on the leg unlike every other knee thing I've ever bought. I made some modifications which other may find helpful. First is that I have skinny legs and it needed to be fitted. I'm 6'1" but I found the overall hinge was actually too low on me and when I would get on my knees the hinge would hit the floor first. I think this thing is good out of the box for people that are 6'3" as I moved it back (it's just velcroed onto the sock) about 2 inches like in the picture I took. Then the problem is that the metal brushes your thigh.So the second modification is cushioning. The entire brace can be made very tight using the velcro closing and then the straps on top of that. I've never had this move and I wear them all day and it isn't itchy till I take it off and my compressed skin starts to uncompress and then it gets itchy. What I did was take an old tan cotton sleeveless shirt and cut it in half from the neck to the shirt bottom. Half for each leg. Wrap it around each leg and then wrap the brace over that and leave 2" of excess shirt at the top of the leg to cushion the metal. Cutting the metal may be a problem as it looks like there's a metal rivet holding the velcro on the metal hinge and that's more than 2", so this non-cut method works.So, hopefully this trains me as to how I should be walking as most of the time I don't hyperextend my knees now by trying to put my weight on my heels (nobody would know I'm doing it as my feet still go flat on the ground). I would definitely recommend this!Edit 1:Something that was a bit of a problem at first was that I brushed something with my knees and then went to do a runner's stretch and couldn't get my leg straight or get the hinges to adjust. What I found was that u need to bend your knee some to get the hinge to unlock and make it adjustable again.Edit 2:Some may find it helpful to know how to put this on nice and tight so it doesn't slide down your leg like I've read has happened to some others but not by me. I have 2 and it actually takes me about 20 minutes...10 minutes per leg seems VERY time consuming and this is the only con I've found about these wraps but they do work when they are adjusted right and nice and tight. I put half a cut up sleeveless cotton shirt around my leg first and wrap it around so there's no folds and then use a belt to keep it in place at the thigh and another at the ankle. The T-shirt extends about 2 inches above and below the brace and helps absorb sweat and can be washed a lot easier than the brace plus it helps cushion things between my bony legs and the metal. Then take the opened brace and put it around your leg and velcro it loosely around your leg but tight enough to hold the shirt in place. I tuck the shirt excess at the ankle under my socks and then remove the belts. Adjust the brace so that the back of the brace opens where your leg bends and wrap the shirt around any exposed velcro metal and your skin (the brace doesn't come that way but I had to adjust it so the dials were in line with my leg when bent so 2 inches of metal winds up on my thigh. Then quickly unloosen the wrap at the top of your leg and re close tighter so that the shirt won't tend to move and do the same around your calf. No straps are tightened yet, so wrap the straps on now. It won't get itchy during the day and I take it off at night for bed. That's when my legs get itchy from the skin being compressed all day. I try not to scratch but put a moisturizing lotion on them.

Great idea and may work for some. Doesn't help my hyperextension problem well. Dial works as intended but since the back of the brace is flexible (neopreme) my knee goes back farther than it should anyway. It does help in that it cushions the extension but does not stop it. I will say that knee stability is improved with it on but not the extension.