Should I wear two knee braces?

Question

I'm looking for the advice of an experienced athlete, doctor, trainer, or physical therapist. I tore my ACL and used a leg brace for the first six months. The doctor told me I could take it off because my muscle was restored to regular tone, but recently I hurt myself in volley ball. I think he gave me very bad advice! This is my left leg. Should I wear another brace on my right knee to prevent an injury during sports. After all, I've heard of people who tore both ACL's! I play semi-contact sports such as field hockey and lacrosse. Surgery was more excruciating than the initial surgery. And to do it twice...

Answer 1

The brace that the Dr put on you was to heal your injury

now that it is healed you take that one off

but if you are into sports and your knees are weak than yes get a sports brace

the brace that the doc gave you would not allow full movement

and you need that for sports

the brace for sports will allow full movement

you could also use tape

to learn how to tape as your coach if they do not know

you could go to a physio

they would also be able to tell you what brace would be best for what you need.

also you may need more than one brace for the different sports.

this is what I had to do I was into allot of sports

I needed one brace for running

one for volleyball (because of landing on my knees going for the ball)

it is an expense but if you are into sports it is best to have the gear you need than to have another injury.

Take Care

Answer 2

I would say that the most logical thing to do would be to have a stability test of the ACL such as the KT 1000 which demonstrates how much laxity the ACL has.  If lax, it might be appropriate to complete prophylactic bracing. This might be offered at your surgeons office. It's a device that measures how much displacement occurs when the ACL is stressed.

Yet, honestly, I don't know if there is any scientific evidence to support the idea that an ACL tear can be prevented with bracing.

There are many thoughts as to why the ACL may be susceptible to injury, including laxity as decribed above, anatomical variation make females more prone to it and even poor abdominal strength has been suggested as a factor.  

...in the end, it's all very controversial.