Why not wear a knee brace?

[Redalert]

I don't understand why offensive and defensive lineman don't wear knee braces. I have been fortunate to not have any knee problems, but I would wear a knee brace just to help prolong my career.
Do knee braces restrict your movement enough to justify not wearing them?
Just think, if Swann, Wadsworth and KVB wore knee braces. I would think they would still be playing.
Should the Cardinals and other teams require there lineman to wear braces. I would think that requiring knee braces would be a great idea.

What do those of you that have had knee problems feel about this idea?

 

[Dan H]

Depends on what kind of brace we're talking about. A soft brace wouldn't stop an ACL injury - maybe a hinged one would, but I think it would definitely hinder movement.

 

[Goldfield]

Sounds like a good idea, they have to wear all the other pads, and those do slow guys down. Why not make them wear some kind of knee "helper" like those tight rubber ones for the knee & elbows?

They wont stop damage from happening, but they could give just enough support to help prevent a percentage of the problems?


I would be all for somthing like this.

 

[TJAM]

in general a knee brace that would prevent an ACL prevents lateral movement.

 

[Billy Flynt]

Having played football in HS, we had to have our parents sign off on us not wearing knee braces. My physician agreed that there is a serious decline in mobility and that there are other injuries that can occur due to that lack of mobility.

 

[b8rtm8nn]

I believe that a lot of the knee injuries are due to improper training and flexibilty. Many players hit the weights hard but don't put the time into the lateral movements or training to achieve the balance they need. Add to that some natural weaknesses around the knees due to mother nature and injuries will occur.

Anytime that I hear about a workout monster like KVB, I expect a shortened career due to overtraining related injuries. We rail on Boston for adding the pounds since it won't drastically improve his game and expose him to injury, but only think good things about added weight on linemen and LBs, when the added weight can also cause problems (especially linemen who get twisted around frequently). How rarely do we hear about a correlation in an increase in bulk and an improvement in technique?