Knee Support

These type of "supports" are essentially comfort blankets; they provide very little support.

Some may provide a little support for the patella; they DO provide extra warmth and make YOU feel like you have more support for the knee; I sometimes use them to add WARMTH to my knees as they are a bit tired out; but if you get to the point where they are hurting after exercise it is time to consult an expert.

The key thing here is good technique and this is boat specific so speak to a coach for your class of boat.

I also took the P out of people who wore hikers for years (until I splashed out on some decent ones),now I realise just how key they are.

The bottom line is that if you cannot hold the correct hiking position for the boat you sail you need to strengthen the muscles. If you go to a gym and their PTs are any good they can work out what will work by you demonstrating the position.

I did this and it made a huge difference, the flip side is that you perform better because you are not getting as tired. That is providing you go to a gym.

I do recall that Jon Emmett (who floats around here on occasion) and others recommend pilates/yoga. As I do some yoga positions in my program i can vouch for how effective this could be.

What boat do you sail? I know from personal knee trouble that there are at least 2 (the ones i have suffered from) very distinct types of knee problems but most others and both of the ones i have suffered from are just a case of building the muscles in your knees. 

My first knee trouble was in oppies when i was about 13... this was caused by the hiking style of the oppy which is a fairly bent leg style, with a fairly narrow gunwhale under your knee joint, rather than on the back of your leg.  This leads to a very powerful seperation force in your knee as well as cutting blood supply to the muscles in your legs.  This eventually becomes very painful.  The muscles in your knee are not really designed to deal with the knee seperating like this, they are much more suited to being compressed such as when you are running or walking etc. So for sailing these muscles need to be extra strong.

My next load of knee trouble came in lasers. This was caused by a bad hiking style but not due to the loss of circulation. The best advice i have found for this is from rooster sailing who have a guide for hiking style, which i will try and find after writing this.

I occasionally wore a knee support that i bought in tesco, I also was in the RYA squads so was given a top sports physio who gave me specific exercises to do to build the muscles in my knees, these were still forming because i was so young so the exercises may not be suitable for a fully developed body.

I still suffer from bad knees from time to time, and a little while without sailing has really changed my knees for the worse because the muscles are shrinking fast.  The 100 will be a real test of my knees in august when it comes!

EDIT- Here is the rooster guide http://www.roostersailing.com/articles/Hiking_Style.html

When I had knee issues a few years ago I wore a neoprene knee support with an exposed patella, that did the trick along with some other general care such as cod liver oil and hitting the gym.

Now I find my knees are fine even after a hard day sailing. I decent pair of hikers might help you as they help reduce fatigue in the upper leg muscles meaning you dont tend to put all the strain through the knee joint.

Just my 2p...from a Laser sailor, probably one of the most physical boats to hike out there (others may disagree).