Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Take a knee sleeve on backpack hunt?

I started getting ready for my Alaska hunt many months ago and at the time I had some bad knee pain - turned out to be tracking problems with the knee cap. Went to some PT and also just worked the heck out of my legs in the past months - no more pain and I tested my knees against some mountains last week just to see what would happen.

One concern I have is that I will get into my hunt and I will get knee pain again. I will be taking some KT tape to "improvise" if I need to (the therapist taught me how to do that).

Someone suggested taking a knee sleeve with me also. Any thoughts? Part of me likes the idea of constant support for my oldish knees. If you would - which one has worked for you?

Do that and talk to your doc for a pain med script just in case.

Look here Sally, If you can't take the hunt maybe I should go instead.

Stop worrying, Relax and Enjoy,,, you're so close...

The only time your knees might hurt, will be coming downhill, with a loaded pack, A full curl sticking out both sides,

at that point you won't even care.

No to the knee sleeve, they offer little to no support.

As you mentioned Knees generally feel better the more you use then, at least for me anyway.

Btw, I'm damn jealous.

A stop hinge brace is worth its weight in Vicodin, especially hiking down hill.

I have a small tear in the medial meniscus R knee. Hurts some almost every day. I am carrying a knee sleeve. I don't know if it is proprioceptive or if it pushes low level edema/effusion off the knee but my leg feels a helluva a lot better with it on. Running shops have good ones.

I "tweaked" my knee skiing a number of years back and it was problematic all summer, but slowly improved. That fall on a backcountry elk hunt it got real sore by the end of a long day hunting. i took to soaking a t-shirt in cold creek water and wrapping it around my knee for a bit every evening. Helped with rhe pain and swelling immensely. Just somethin to thnk about.

Assuming you have good walking sticks to take some of the weight, ask your doctor about prescription Voltaren.

Is the knee cap tracking better after the PT?

McConnell taping?

Whatever you do, make sure you do it right. I had a Baker's Cyst blow on me 20 years ago while I was on a backpacking trip, and I had to come out on one leg and my hiking stick. Although it wasn't a knee, it was painful and it made it so I had to keep all weight off that leg.

The problem actually occurred the night before, but I chalked it up to a bad cramp, took Ibuprofen and took off down the trail anyway. By early afternoon. I was only a few miles in, the Ibuprofen wasn't cutting it anymore, and my leg was swelled up 3X normal. I'd also used up all my water. I gave up and turned around (first good idea I'd had all day). It took until nightfall to get back to the car, and then I had to drive myself home. I had to be lifted out of the car when I got there.

My reason for posting this is that any kind of leg pain on a backpacking trip is really bad stuff, and if you lose use of a leg, it puts a ridiculous amount of stress on the rest of your body. Hopping on one foot and a stick for 8 miles sucks. Luckily I was just in a hilly part of Ohio with only a few hundred feet of elevation to deal with.

When I read the thread title, I thought Take_a_knee had designed some sort of sleeve device for extreme backpacking.

I thought it was for jumping out of airplanes.

An attachment for a scout rifle?

Scout rifle/grenade launcher.

I think what really helped my tracking is the biking and over leg strengthening exercises I have been doing (which is what the PT wanted me to do).

My knees feel a lot better.

The taping is not McConnell exactly (from what I saw online) but a variation of that - applying inward pressure on the knee cap. I actually may change what I do though based on the video I saw - thanks.

The title of the thread does leave a lot of room for interpretation

A good quality neoprene/elastic knee sleeve weighs very little, packs flat, and could help keep the aches and inflammation under control. Hell yes! You can wrap it around your spotting scope or binocs when packing for extra padding too.

It's amazing how misalignment or tight muscles in one area will cause pain in another. I was developing tendonitis in the front of my knee 20 years ago. An orthopedist showed me how tight hamstrings can cause it. I started stretching and the problem went away. And stays away as long as I keep with the program. So keep with the program.

Like the poster above said, a knee brace weighs next to nothing. So does the wonder drug Ibuprofen. I have an ankle that's going to hurt no matter what, so I upgraded to prescription Voltaren (diclofenac) which works better for me.

Good luck!!

I use a copper compression sleeve for my elbow because it works. I will get the exact same thing for my knee if I ever need it and I'd definitely hunt with one on if I needed it.

I agree with smokepole on stretching. A great way to accomplish this is at a Yoga class. Seriously, AND, quite often the view in class ain't bad either. Between biking to strengthen the leg muscles and stretching, my knee is very much better. Been on a number of remote and greuling backpacks, including packing out elk without issue. Prep before the trip and take the sleeve just in case. My opinion, YMMV. Have a great trip!