FAKE KNEE BRACES? Beware of some EVS 'braces' (and other brands) that are just knee guards. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-KRjnc1aFVVY.html DISCLAIMER Do your own research. We make no warranties or representations regarding the content and suitability of this information for any purpose. Read our full disclaimer here: bit.ly/3JqGOp4 Our full knee brace video series: bit.ly/3sIoJfQ Our complete video playlist on protective gear: bit.ly/33hBHZd FURTHER READING Knee Injuries & Use of Prophylactic Knee Bracing pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21297006/ The incidence of motocross injuries: a 12-year investigation link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00167-004-0510-z Femur fracture associated with knee brace wear in the motocross athlete www.hindawi.com/journals/crior/2018/1498541/ Knee injuries and the use of prophylactic knee bracing in off-road motorcycling journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0363546510394431 Accident causes and prevention of injuries in Enduro-motorbike sport europepmc.org/article/med/1925924
Exactly the kind of content the youtube motorcycling community is so sorely lacking in, straight up facts and research to help you become a better rider. I'm a roadie (for now) but love the channel, there's a lot of stuff about what bike is the best and ra ra ra on youtube but not that much (especially in the road world) if you want to work on you and not the bike.
i'm getting very fed up with a lot of the shoddy marketing out there stephen, and lack of hard facts to back up the manufacturer's claims... i'm keen to get into helmets soon and give them a hard time for trying to sell helmets through promoting useless crap that does nothing for the rider.
Years ago I went over the bars and got tangled up with my bike. My MCL somehow went over my kneecap. Later, working on my knees I ruptured my meniscus on the same knee. Pain is the universal language.
Thank you Barry. I'm now saving up for some proper knee braces. I really appreciate you taking the time to both research this, and to educate your loyal followers. Cheers from Vancouver! Bitingdog
I'm lucky enough that I don't have to ride with full on knee braces yet but I do ride with a fairly inexpensive set of shift knee guards and judging from the deep gouging and scratches after 6 months of riding with them and zero knee injuries, this investment has paid off!
I did my ACL, tore the meniscus and fractured the top of my tibia landing off a jump with my leg down. Hyper extended and twisted it - fucking painful. 12 month waiting list to go public or I pay a quoted $13K to go private. That's quoted it could be more if they find more damage.... I'd rather spend it on a new Husqy! Good idea to get health insurance if you're a regular rider in my opinion, especially if you're an intermediate or better rider... I wish I had it before and I'll definitely be getting it soon. Once you fuck your knees they're never the same again...
Just a small terminology correction. The MCL is the Medial Collateral Ligament, not cruciate. Good video and motivation to get some braces. Thanks for the quality advice and videos you produce.
RU-vid has given as access to everyone who had chips secretly implanted in their brains at birth by the government, David. 😁 I hope the info was useful! It's something our group discusses a lot... what to wear for various rides.
I'am 15 years old and living in Germany. Last year my grandpa gave me his old Kawasaki KE 175 (2 stroke 17 HP Construction year 1980) and i was proud to have my own bike. I did not even had the license to drive it, but where i'am living there are many fields and not that much police. Anyways, I drove it literally everyday becouse it was that much fun. I discovered everything in the Radius of 10 kilometers around my house but I can't get further becouse there was to much civilisation. The first video I saw from your channel was "Mad Extreme Enduro Skills&Stunts" I was so impressed what you can do with a Enduro bike so I tried out a couple things like wheelies for example.It was fun too but i would love to ride in a forest or a other terrain as fields. I wish i had the possibility to ride in a nice terrain but i just dont have those in my radius 🙁🙁.So i asked my father to go in a Offroad Park but in Germany you need a license for your bike to ride there. I just want to say thank you and keep up the great work your Channel is amazing and helping me alot to get better in dirt riding. Last question: Is it possible that i send you a plastic of my bike so you and Ruben Chadwick can sign it? I would give you the money with paypal to send it back.
glad you like the vids berry! sorry the plastic thing wouldn't work out, it takes ages just answering questions etc without queuing at the post office too. :(
Really good video Barry, I love your informative pieces. It's funny, I only just upgraded to braces last week - I had been using Acerbis knee guards for a few year and I have been lucky enough to not trash my knee. Now I have the Beta 300RR I'm doing things I didn't used to do on my other bikes, and the risk is real. Many people told me the time to get a knee brace is BEFORE you f@!k your knee up. I heeded this advice and have just bought some Mobius X8's. They fit great and are very comfortable. I can't afford a knee injury, I don't have a cruisy office job. If my knee was wrecked I wouldn't be able to sink all my hard earned into sexy Italian Princesses and associated bling.
thank you for your nice videos. You are spot on! i am out of enduro for two months because a meniscus injury, looking now at knee braces and probably choosing custom cti ones!! keep the good work
Nice video, you've got good information. I've been debating if my knee pads are enough for awhile & recently I had a high speed get off that broke my ankle & I'm glad that's it. I was wearing motocross boots and still broke it in 2 places. If I would have done the same to my knee it would be really messed up. I'm looking at doing cross country racing after I heal & decided that true knee braces are a must & this video really just confirms it for me. Keep up the great work, I always enjoy your videos
I wear pod K4 braces even on the DR doing adventure riding now. like any other piece of equipment, you just get used to wearing them and it feels off without them after a while. ran some stuff way above my paygrade over the weekend on the DR, and i'm sure my braces helped me in a couple of low speed offs.
Compared to the cost of ACL reconstruction braces are definitely the cheaper option, I tore ACL, MCL, PCL and fractured the femur getting my foot caught in a sandy rutt at low speed, I was wearing pod k7s which split the patella protection cap in half but saved me from a broken knee cap and tibia plateau.
I didn't think much of knee guards until I did a desert scramble with mtb knee pads and was thrown off the bike at 45mph I got up with only a small bruse on my leg. Wrecks at slower speeds with no protection made my knees hurt more than that wreck with knee pads. I am riding with pads now if I ever am doing a ride at speed.
Thinking heavily about knee braces after putting a foot down on the MX track in a high speed corner and tweaking something. Almost a year later it's still not 100% and I've had some issues with it that that I am going through some therapy for. It was totally an innocent dab as well... I'm also on the younger side of the scale so some times it's just the perfect recipe for getting hurt...
I got the the 'Trifecta'(MCL, ACL, and meniscus tear) in August from a riding accident. I was not wearing braces but had guards on. In past medical studies findings were inconclusive that braces protected a NORMAL HEALTHY knee from injury but did say they protected weak or compromised knees. I will be wearing braces when I get back to riding because my injured knee will still be 'compromised'. I won't tell anyone a knee brace protects a normal, healthy knee. I'm guessing from what you said this study did say they do protect healthy knees? Interesting. As time goes by studies may be able to predict this is the case. Please keep this in mind also. After ACL surgery top athletes in professional sports take a minimum of 9 months to recover. Do not rush back to riding.
that research was definitely based on healthy knees, bill. so knee braces will halve the injury risks for healthy riders. then custom braces will do more in certain areas too. there isn't research on this yet, but i imagine that once a rider has an injury that never quite comes good then the braces would be even more effective.
CROSS TRAINING ENDURO SKILLS Excellent. Been waiting on proof they actually do something other than through inference. Good video and info as usual. I have POD braces now and used one of them through rehab. Will be wearing them when the time comes to jump back on that horse.
What about hyperextension of a healthy knee? I can't see how knee braces wouldn't help with knee hyperextension injuries of a healthy knee, unless the studies are claiming healthy knees aren't susceptible to hyperextension injuries during dirt riding, which they are.
Thanks for the good suggestions. I need a pair of good knee braces myself. As we all know Orthopedic doctors, family and friends have the ultimate safety advice: Stop Dirtriding.... This is of course useless stupid advice but using proper safety equipment a very clever idea.
more good advice from the man, Barry. I agree knee guard minimum. one of my first rides of this year, I took a small spill, where if I wasn't wearing my knee/shin guards, I probably would have crushed my knee cap.
i remember a guy asking me if i could show him some riding areas and he turned up without knee guards. i suggested it was risky riding without them and he fell off 200m into the ride, injured his knee and had to go home. :(
Awesome video! Tore ACL, cornering, with leg out... had on "knee guards" :) In CTI customs now and love them! I know you were interested in them, hopefully you got a pair and they are living up to your expectations.
i've been using the customs for a while now jim, i was delaying the knee brace series until i knew they were worth recommending. like all custom users seem to say, i wish i'd decided years ago to bite the bullet and go for the good stuff back then! but they are bloody expensive so most of us won't buy them until we've done our knees already, or got old enough to know our dodgy knees need the best support.
Yeah, its a shame the best are so expensive. God only knows why insurance covered mine with a script that said "motocross specific knee braces x2", but won't cover other medicine I need on a daily basis. The glory of the CTI braces is they are equally amazing for other sports. They are much lower profile than the prescription Don Joy A22 I was wearing after surgery. I take the moto kit off and use the left for surfing and hockey as well. With the lifetime warranty on frame and hinges, its a no brainer. I was in the Leatt Dual Axis which were pitched to me as "braces". I wish you had gotten the research a year ago, and nudged me in the right direction :) Stay safe, love the videos. -Jim
I wish I had just spent the money early on and bought knee braces, but I did what everyone else does... wait until I injured myself before getting some. Looking back, damage prevention would be so much nicer than the damage limitation I am doing now! braces are the way.
it's always the way, ben! i was just lucky that within a year or so i think both my knees had fully recovered but plenty of guys never make that full recovery so it becomes a nasty lifelong wakeup call. :(
I just bought the EVS 9 pro a couple of weeks ago. got a good deal on a pre owned "never used" set.. The fitment guide says they are a perfect fit. but after a 3 hour ride I almost cried. because the lower part of the "brace" where digging in to my leg and had created skin free spots.. not very happy with the whole thing... buy cheap, buy expensive since I now have to buy proper stuff! thanks for sharing..
unfortunately the digging in seems to be a fairly common problem... i had it, as well as guys on various forums. i added some extra padding eventually but they were never comfortable and just kept falling apart. :( very annoyed especially as they were advertised as braces but clearly weren't.
Do you have them on the skin or is there a layer between? I always functional underwear, it keeps sweat from reaching the gear (pretty much saves my leathers) and it makes the MX gear from leaving marks on me. They do winter and summer variants, so you won´t have to worry about suddenly overheating.
thanks for another good vid. i always wear knee gaurds but never looked into braces always thought they were just if you'd injured your knees but after watching this 😦 I'm over 40 and tend to fall off a lot ! 😩 so got me thinking.
they were very expensive when i got them KC and they simply fell apart over two years and were exposing me to the risk of injury the whole time... i was not a happy chappy. EVS do know how to make braces though, despite the shitty RS8 guards i went on to buy the EVS web braces which were actually quite good.
The problem with many knee braces is that they seemed to be designed for motocrossers. They tend to have big gaps in the shin area and ether right below or above the knee (when bent). In the type of terrain I ride, that would highly increase the risk of getting a branch of piece of sharp bamboo right into my leg. Or upon a fall, getting some sharp rock hit the unprotected spot. I can't count the number of times I've saved myself from injuries not because I fell down, but because some branch hit my shin/knee area at a fast speed. It's all good if the knee brace is designed to prevent your knee from moving around after a motocross fall, but it's not good for trail riding if it doesn't cover a good amount of area around the knee/shins.
a good point sean, we mentioned this in one of the linked vids at the end. a bit of space is good for hot weather riding... the fully enclosed mobius braces can get quite hot with summer riding.
Nice vid . I just bought the evs sx01's knee guards, not gonna call them braces because I agree with you. I like them because the are comfortable but I would be better off with some real braces....maybe next time.
Great awareness raiser. Over 40 is a good point. You said in another post you still use one or the other depending on situation. I'm having a hard time discerning when you would not want to wear a brace. Can you shed some light on you personal decision making on wearing a guard vs. brace?
Sorry mate, I'm going to just listen to your advice and not research further and buy braces...... (okay, I lied; I'm going to research which brace to get)
I really enjoy this type of info video. I love the sketchy info and will assume you know everything since you're on the internet(But seriously I'll probs get a set of knee braces on your based recommendation)
any info on injuries to the legs when turning fast in fields? I get my dirtbike at such an angle with the ground that I'm pretty much laying in the field. the ground and footpegs slide against each other, I just try to keep my body in line with the bike and not offset so if I do slide out I can just already be on my side and the bike can go on. I don't use riding boots and worry the most about that..
Another great video with very comprehensive information. My knees are sketchy but mostly from basketball and not dirt riding injuries. Your point about the fitness is key imo, the less weight your knees have to deal with in an impact and the stronger they are the better. Braces after 40, then braces and a lot of duct tape after 50, then body suits and airbags after 60?
if the research is accurate i think a lot of people wrongly believe they'll prevent any knee injury (not true, but they reduce the chances to varying extents).... or believe they'll cause femur fractures, and i don't think there's much to back that up.
A very timely video Barry. I've been looking at braces and as my riding skills and speed have increased I've been more concerned with the potential for injury to my knees. unfortunately I meet too many of the criteria for them. both knees have had acl tears, I turn 50 this year and yes could lose a few more pounds. dropped 40 last year and looking for the final 20 this year. Hopefully I can gather the cash to invest in a good quality set.
I have tried dozens of boots and only a few are barely large enough to fit over for my calf muscle. Let alone adding some kind of knee brace/guard. I do wear a neoprene brace that help my knee cap from moving around, is it good enough, not nearly but most equipment is made for the 20 something kid not most of us older riders that have been riding for more than 40 years. Maybe you can talk about that.
logic would suggest this would be likely but the existing research doesn't back it up. see the link at the end to our 'do braces cause femur fractures?' vid. we do need a lot more research but we dirt riders aren't a very popular topic for the scientists. :(
Hey guys I am a frequent mountain bike rider as I am a volunteer firefighter I do a lot of Trail rides Firetrail rides and general off-road riding last year I ruptured my ACL and tour a little part of my meniscus as well as getting a hairline fracture in my knee i'm almost at the end of my recovery and wanting to get back to writing just wondering if you guys can help me in the right direction in what type of knee protection I should be looking at and what's going to help me keep injury down as I can't afford more leg injuries I have big legs and cuffs which I know can be a problem when it comes to finding protection if anyone can help us or steers in the right direction would be muchly appreciated Need to prevent injuries as I'm volunteer firefighter and Work for the local hospital in the maintenance and gardening department
Fingers crossed, I have a tour booked for Cape York in June. And I have been looking a my riding gear. I have only ever had knee guards and touch wood have had no problems. I now have the money to upgrade to braces. But ! I have broken my femur (motorcycle accident🤕) . Should I be worried about my femur while wearing a knee brace?
it's funny in all my years of riding i've only needed my helmet twice, adam... once hitting the ground and once hitting a tree. i think it's a bit like that for our knees although it's a higher rate of hits - at least for me.
Lol. I needed a helmet at lot... Should have had knee braces a few times. I was lucky and never had an injury other than a few minutes of pain. It's kinda funny. When I go out road racing I'm always fully kitted. I find that I will jump on my dirt bike and ride with just helmet and boots at times. Dumb
I've never used knee guards or braces. I don't think I have ever even touched a knee to the ground in a crash. I ALWAYS wear my full armored crash jacket though, which I believe has saved me from serious injury multiple time. Most of the guys I ride with have knee braces and no jackets. Maybe I'm the odd ball. I should probably look into a set of braces or guards.. but like the rest of us, I will probably wait until after a major issue before actually getting them ;) THANKS for the great videos! if you ever want to visit the great MOAB Utah, I'd be happy to give you a tour..
i know i've only ever hit my head on the ground twice and not too hard... just a bit dazed. and it made me think i could have ridden without a helmet all these years and only got some light concussion twice. :) but it's all a numbers game and weighing up the risks and benefits and costs etc.
Damn it Barry! I am going to have to sell one of my kids to pay for decent braces. The potty trained one will bring in the most return :) I may have to trade in the knee guards for some braces prior to the june-july ride in Quebec. Great vid with some serious stuff to think about. Cheers.ryan
it is such a bugger they cost so much.... i tried the mobius which are the cheapest entry level ones. some guys like them but mine started jamming after only three rides. :(
I've heard that knee braces increase the risk of femur fracture. Thoughts on this? I think I'd rather mess up my knee than snap my femur. Edit: I found the video on the topic on your channel.
Do you think it's still necessary to have some good knee shin guards if you have good boots (sg12). I have msr knee shin guards and they are really comfortable and are built well but it seems like overkill once I got Gaerne's.
Extending your leg in a corner helps SupperCross riders compress the front forks making them shorter (turns quicker ) and gets more weight on the front tire.(they have already moved all the way up on the seat).. Its a Hight Risk Move .they have the fitness to do that for 30.min .you see lots less of that in a hare scramble ... Keep your feet on the pegs lift your inside leg up if needed toes pointed in...Never stick your leg out like you see in bike mags ..
this is why i'm hesitant to hit endurocross obstacles because if you bugger it up and have to bail it often leaves you in a very awkward position and knee injury is a high possibility
Bugger. I'm going to buy braces. I'm over 50, I crash, I have knees that have done a lot of sport. And I can afford braces. I just don't want them. But you have persuaded me I need them.
I hope you don't regret it, Andrew. They will probably feel terrible for the first 10 minutes of a ride but after that you forget about them. It's just important to make sure the straps are tight enough, or they just become a glorified knee guard if they can move around.
@Cross Training Enduro I've bought Alpinestar Bionic 7. Well, my wife has for yet another birthday. I am genuinely surprised how comfortable they are, and they fit under all my kit. They are a lot less bulky than some I've seen. Thanks for the tip about keeping them tight. I twisted my knee surfing, sneaking a little cheats five on a small wave. Bloody limping for 3 weeks. That started me thinking about knee braces. Middle age. It's a bit shite but better than the alternative. Ride safe, or at least crash gently.
Hey @Cross Training Enduro: Bald Canuck fart over 50 here, new to road/dirt riding. Man I love your videos. You mentioned Ossur CTI braces as "the best" in 2017. I found an authorized reseller in Canada. Do you still think they're the best in 2021? I'd rather bruise my wallet than walk funny for the rest of my life. THANKS!
Welcome to the dirt riding addiction, Simon! See our video about choosing the best knee brace, as long as it's a good quality brand then the fit is the most important thing. Customised braces are the ideal as you'll get the perfect fit, but they are bloody expensive. 🤔
Now, I must say that the guards I got from my local mx store for around 40 US dollars do protect from overextention, it really depends on where and what you get.
Not if you're not wearing them in everyday life. Wearing them during a few hours ride to prevent injury from an extreme sport won't lead to systemic knee weakness. Anyway with knee braces you're still probably putting plenty of strengthening forces on your knees during dirt riding, which might be indicated by the fact that people still get lots of knee injuries in knee braces. The braces halve knee injuries the video said, so with braces your knee still must be doing a lot of work during rides, enough that people still get a lot of injury while wearing them.
If you really want to mess up your knees put on ski boots clamp on 200 CM long skis and crank the bindings down 100% and enter in a Mogul skiing contest .. Jump off a huge Jump at such high speed you clear the landing area and land on the back side of a mogul in the flats compress bounce and do cart wheels .. that's how I took out my ACL in 1983.. I never got an operation .. My first knee brace was a Lennox Hill what a joke that was it would dig into my calf so hard skiing moguls my calf would swell up and be too sore to ski more than one day in a row.. Next a CTI brace was a huge Improvement and I can't do aggressive sports with out wearing .it .. In order to make it stable and stay in place while snow skiing I duct tape it on.. I think know there is a better knee brace than CTI.. I'll find at link from Rev-Zilla
Awesome video and even awesome"er" message Barry. I think we talked (or emailed rather...) about this a couple of month ago, and I am a bit of a zealot about knee braces now, so I am going to jump in with my story. I bought my knee braces mostly because of weakness in my right knee, and to avoid twisting, etc... like you described. Never thought they would literally saved my leg. The doctor could not be 100% sure, but after seeing the video of my crash, along with the injury, said that "more than likely" I would have lost my leg from the knee down. I did a video about the experience a few days after my second surgery (and while pretty jacked up on hydrocodone I might add....). The video is here; Not trying to hijack your post, just think any message we can get out there about knee guards vs knee braces is worth it ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-G8K7LzuWwxE.html Thanks for the message! Keep up the great work!
yep that is very much a good news story eddie! i know they don't save the knees in every crash but you always wonder how much worse could it have been without the braces... same with helmets and brain injuries... :)
i must admit i can't back that with research jeff but just basing that on all the riders i know... we all said that was round about when we could just tell our knees weren't as good as they used to be. :)
like what you say but (with headphones) cannot stand the "music' (or whatever that is) in the background. please, if you MUST add this music to future videos, lower the volume on it by 99%, thanks.
