Knee Brace with Polycentric Hinges and Cross Straps

This is a tricky one, I played basketball at a high level into my early mid 20’s, I ended up with a variety of injuries, and swapped basketball for a professional career. Now in my mid 40’s I have the itch again, and it’s been a nightmare finding the right equipment, knee braces being one of them. There was one choice 20 years ago an LP hinged brace, now there are more options, “doctors” etc… all pushing for your business. That leads me onto the Mcdavid knee brace, it’s perfect for wearing during sports, keeps your knee stable, allows you to move and cut without any issues at all, it’s sizing brackets are each within an inch / so measure carefully and pick the right size preferably in the middle or at the top end of the 1 inch size range. The brackets keeps your knee super strong & stable, no pinching or digging in issues (it comes down to finding the right size). It gets a 5 out of 5 for me, I felt compelled to write this, as I spent hours researching, I also purchased a number of other brands - some cheaper some a lot more expensive, the McDavid knee brace not only does the job as advertised, it’s giving me the ability to play with confidence again. This is the only review I have written in 7 years of buying products from amazon. I hope it helps you make a decision that is right for you, but the fit / quality and sturdiness of the brace, straps and hinge is spot on.

I have a full ACL rupture in my left knee. This brace is fantastic - has cross straps above and below the kneecap for ligament support and metal lever that prevents hyperextention. I used it on my 10 day ski holiday and it is comfortable (worn whole day) and sturdy. Fell several times on the slope and brace gave me peace of mind. Just worth noting that at the point when I went skiing my injury was around 7 months old, had 2 months of physio in the run up to skiing, am relatively sporty 27 year old female and was waiting for my ACL reconstruction surgery. Having a brace reduces risk of further injury (at least reminds you not to do stupid things on the slopes). Overall well worth the money and I was very glad not to have cancelled my ski holiday.

The following is just my personal experience of this product. I have no medical knowledge and I'm unable to advise if this product would work for you. You need to do your own research and come to your own conclusions. I Purchased this to see if it would allow me to ski with a ruptured ACL and meniscus tear while waiting for reconstruction surgery. I was able to ski for the whole week of our holiday and I believe it did help with the ACL rupture. I did have some pain from the meniscus tear and I don't think this item helped with that aspect of the injury. However, by restricting the range of bending of my knee I was able to avoid the region where the meniscus tear caused me pain for most of the time. I wore the item quite a few times leading up to the holiday to 'break it in' and found that during the holiday I could wear it all day with reasonable comfort. I'm not saying this would work for everyone as my injury was several months old and was reasonably stable by time we went on holiday. Also, I want to re-iterate that I don't think this would help significantly with a meniscus tear as I believe the pain from this type of injury is due to downward pressure as the joint rotates past the tear.

I bought this knee brace to use skiing after I had tore my MCL and fractured my tibial plateau the year before on my previous skiing holiday. The support worked brilliantly.. it supported my knee and gave me the flexibility to ski . I have returned from a great holiday, injury free having skied hard all week. Would recommend.. 5*.

Years ago I had 2 McDavid knee braces and they kept me mobile with knee arthritis for a long time. I currently have knee pain and my knee has swollen as a result. I couldn’t pull this knee brace up. There was plenty of room but the hinges were so rigid they were digging in the sides of my knee and the pain was excruciating, worse that the original pain and that’s saying something! I gave up trying to get the brace on and returned. Sadly they no longer make the brace I had previously or I would definitely buy again.

this is a really excellent and fully supportive knee brace - the company service has been equally excellent and I can only recommend both the product and the company highly Trish

More than a year later, my brace is still going strong. I use it 5 days a week when going for walks and playing pickleball.

Great support during snowboarding

Good knee brace..give stable lateral support for my knee, especially when indulging in sports..

There’s no crossing straps as the product description says and the entire listing describes, instead the one received and sent subsequently for refund was the lesser/earlier version. Disappointed.

Excellent, j ai changé de genouillere pour jouer au foot. Mes douleurs ont totalement disparues. Le genou est très stable. Je fais énormément de sport et je mettrai 6 étoiles si je le pouvais.

Nachdem bei mir 3 Orthesen aus dem Sanitätshaus im Praxistest durchgefallen waren (je um die 1600-1800€/Paar; hätte ich auf Rezept bekommen wegen beidseitiger Gonarthrose), bestellte ich aus Verzweiflung diese Orthese. Derzeit bin ich leider etwas übergewichtig und habe ein sehr weiches Bindegewebe. Dazu kommt ein sehr konisch geformter Oberschenkel (also am oberen Rand deutlich breiter als Richtung Knie), was für Bandagen und Orthesen eine echte Herausforderung ist. 2 Orthesen aus dem Fachhandel hinterließen nach 2 bis 4 Stunden so starke Hautreizungen oder Abschürfungen durch das Reiben der Nahtstellen auf der Haut, sodass ein längeres Tragen unmöglich war. Eine andere Orthese rutschte und fiel nach wenigen Schritten vom Bein. Irgend etwas brauchte ich jedoch gegen die Schmerzen. Da ich meine “Problenzonen“ kenne und weiß, worauf ich achten muss, stach mir diese Orthese ins Auge. Nach der Tabelle sollte mir Größe XL mehr oder weniger gerade noch so passen. Diese habe ich dann auch bestellt. Die Lieferung erfolgte am nächsten Tag. Nachdem ich einige Rezensionen zu der problematischen Rückgabe gelesen habe, machte mich das offene “Hygienesiegel“ (runder transparenter Klebepunkt, wie man ihn von vielen Verpackungen kennt) und abgebrochene Stellen an der Verpackung stutzig. Die Orthese sah jedoch unangetastet aus. Also: ausgepackt und am schlimmeren Knie anprobiert. Die Orthese macht einen gut verarbeiteten und wertigen Eindruck. Sie riecht etwas nach Neopren, aber nur, wenn man direkt daran schnüffelt. Das ist ganz normal bei Neopren. Kein chemischer Geruch oder so. Die angegebene Größe passt bei mir ganz genau. Sie liegt sehr eng am Bein, aber das soll sie ja auch, damit sie das Knie ordentlich stützen kann. Dann folgte der Härtetest: 4 Stunden schwedisches Einrichtungshaus und 1 Stunde Babyfachmarkt mit Baby und Kleinkind :-o Bestanden!!! Diese Orthese ist weder verrutscht, noch hinterließ sie Verletzungen an der Haut. Nach 10 Stunden war ich zwar froh, als ich sie endlich ausziehen konnte, aber der Tragekomfort ist tatsächlich bestmöglich! Und die Schmerzen sind weg! Damit stand auch dem Auspacken der 2. Orthese nichts mehr im Wege. Ich trage sie nun 4 Tage lang den ganzen Tag und bin absolut begeistert. Vielen Dank an den Hersteller für die Rettung!