Tendon straps? (Read 612 times)

Well, nobody replied to this, but in case anyone is still viewing this, I will reply to myself! I began wearing Cho-Pat knee straps a couple of weeks ago. I always wear them on my long runs now - not always on shorter runs. They have made a huge difference - my knees do not get sore anymore, and I feel very comfortable during and after my runs. So, at least for me, they worked great.

I chose not to use a knee strap because i would rather not get too dependent on them and instead have my body adjust to the workload slowly.

I think that's good advice. When I first started running, I started to get pain in the my right knee so I started to wear a strap and it eliminated the pain completely....for a while. The pain eventually came back and just wouldn't go away even when wearing the strap. I eventually stopped wearing it and now, when my knee hurts, I slow down a bit. I'm at the stage now where I get only very mild discomfort while running (usually after 3-4 miles) and once I slow a bit, it goes away. I've run 10 miles each Sunday this month and by the end of the run, my knee is pain free. I think that the strap doesn't allow your tendons to strengthen and you become very dependent on it. I'm happy I chose to stop wearing it and based on the progress I'm making, I expect my knee pains to go away completely in the next several weeks.