Shin guards for a knee brace

[silverclrk 0]

I am just getting back into playing after having my ACL done. I am being put in to a Bregs Fusion brace which I do nto have yet but I am nervous my current Bauer ( I forget which ones at the moment but they are newer with the blue gell inside) shin guards will not fit with the brace.

What have you done to modify your current shin guards to fit the brace. Or is there a shin guard out that works better with a knee brace.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[AIREAYE 248]

Take a heat gun to it and widen the shell to accomodate your knee.

[WSjo22 1]

I had to widen a little bit but what helped improve fit the most was modifying the interior padding of the shins to accomadate the brace

[fatwabbit 93]

Do a search. There are plenty of topics on knee braces and shin pads.

http://www.modsquadhockey.com/forums/index.php?app=core&module=search&do=search&fromMainBar=1

I myself have used 5 different types of carbon fibre knee braces with my shin pads. Normally I would take out the liner to accomodate the brace a little better, as well as widen the shin pad itself. I currently use a Warrior Projekt shin pad over my C180 and Donjoy Defiance knee braces. I also tape my shins instead as I cut off the straps when I was doing the mod to the shin pad (non removable liner)

[silverclrk 0]

Thanks Guys

[HockeySavants 5]

I posted a rather thorough post on this if you can find it.

[stick9 903]

There is a rather lengthy thread on this very topic. It shouldn't be too hard to find.

I had to make major modifications to my Nike V10 shins to accommodate the Donjoy Defiance III brace I wore after ACL surgery. If you like your current shins, I'd suggest getting a crappy pair to modify. You only need to wear the one. Once you're out of that brace those shins are useless.

[16K 0]

I'm new to ice hockey. (My first pair of skates arrived today from Players Bench. I picked them out last week when I was in Denver.) But I know a few things about knee braces, having collected 6 or 7 of them over the years. So I can add something to the discussion that will be helpful, hopefully. Knee braces that are considered ACL braces (which include "unloader" braces that are designed to take weight off the inner or outer compartment of the knee for when you lack cartilage on one side or the other) come in two (2) basic "flavors": 1) step-through design and 2) front mount design. Both the step-through and front mount designs have the same top part of the brace frame (the part that attaches to your upper leg/thigh) which goes around the front of your upper leg and the straps go behind your upper leg. The important difference is that the lower part of a step-through design frame goes around the rear (calf muscle side) of your lower leg, while the the lower part of a front-mount design frame goes around the front (shin side) of your lower leg.

Someone has already mentioned a Breg Fusion model. That's a front mount knee brace design.

The first thing you notice about a step-through brace frame is that you need to take off your ski boots, or shoes or skates to put it on or take it off. With a front mount you don't need to take off your footwear at all.

The relevant difference in the two frame designs as far as the question of shin guards goes is whether the lower part of the frame which is in front of the shin with a front mount knee brace is going to get in the way. I prefer a front mount and currently wear an Ossur CTi brace which I believe, for me and for my situation, is the best brace that I have found. My first brace was a Donjoy Defiance which has a step-through design and which I suspect would be more compatible with a front-mounted hockey shin guard since the bottom part of this style knee brace frame goes behind the lower leg.

So, I suspect that for hockey shin guard compatibility, that a step through design, with the lower part of the frame going behind your calf, is the best way to go.

There is no "best" knee brace mfr. The main thing, next to shin guard compatibility is to have a knee brace that does not slide down your leg (they call this "migration") and to have a knee brace that stays put. Most knee brace mfrs. make anti-migration options available for their brace models for a nominal charge. If you play hockey the last thing you need is to have to get at your brace to position it back to where it is supposed to be. Additional pads might be available. Ossur uses a patented pad material that has a "grippy" surface on it that they call "Sensil." Some mfrs. allow for optional additional (and/or replacement) pads or straps that will prevent migration. The mfrs. use phrases like "anti-migration" this or that.

At the very least, you should pay attention to whether you have a step-through or a front-mount knee brace when checking its compatibility with a shin guard and whether one or the other knee brace design works better.

Hope this helps.