Even if Geezer hasn’t used them all, he’s seen them all: knee sleeves, ankle sleeves, elbow sleeves, wrist sleeves, sleeve sleeves. Some guys, Geezer is convinced, wear em cuz they need em; others wear em cuz they like them. Do they work? This piece in the LA Times tells us that it depends on the definition of "work." The Times quotes Dr. Marc Safran, chief of Sports Medicine at UC San Francisco, who says that for
people with sore or mildly injured knees, mild arthritis and even those
recovering from a sprain or knee surgery, the elastic braces serve three therapeutic
functions.
They can reduce swelling, which relieves pain.
They can keep the knee warm, which relieves pain.
And they can improve the mechanics of the knee joint through proprioception  the body’s ability to determine where the
joint is in space and time due to signals from sensors in the muscles,
skin and tendons.
What they won’t do, says Dr. Ali Motamedi, an orthopedic surgeon at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center, is cure an underlying injury. And the answer to the big question: "will they prevent injuries?" is No one knows. Or at least, no one agrees. Different studies have come to different conclusions.
Read more about it in the LA Times.
hmmm i have a torn PCL and my knee hurts if i run to long one of my surgeons recommends getting it fixed while the other says that its not needed there is quite a bit of sag but im going to the canadian forces as an infantry man and if i get surgery now i wont be able to go can a sleeve help support my knee