Knee brace/support for woman with 40" thigh.

[TexasComputerDude]

Hey y'all.

Since this forum is filled with the brightest folks Texas has to offer, I got a question for ya.

I've been searching everywhere for a knee support for a woman with a very large thigh. It's around 40". She's an older woman and her knees buckle when she walks and she has no cartilage left.

Can any of y'all think of any solutions to keep her knees from buckling. Without it exercise is near impossible to do. Just getting into a car or her wheel chair is extremely difficult.

I've even thought of building a custom one for her. Our main goal is to get her exercising and losing enough weight for gastric bypass.

[Divided Attention]

Until and after you find a solution, if she has access to a pool - like the Y etc for water exercise - very little stress on the joint once in the water. Especially helpful on knee issues. I am thinking a custom is going to be the way to go. Wish you and her the best.

[TexasComputerDude]

Thanks. I just don't think getting her to a public pool is an option at this time. I'm researching ways to build custom ones.

[Pawpaw]

Do a google search for bariatric knee braces.

One that came back & looks like it has a lot of choices is http://www.braceshop.com/productcart/pc ... S-c452.htm

[TexasComputerDude]

Of all the words I tried I forgot bariatric.

Unfortunately that site only goes up to 29.5". I emailed them and hopefully they know of something.

[The Annoyed Man]

OK, I am quite overweight myself....working on that, including with a personal trainer, etc.........but here is one thing that has been an absolute God-send to me. My doctor referred me to a physical therapy provider that had a specific conditioning device called an Alter-G (http://www.alterg.com/).

Essentially, the Alter-G is a regular treadmill, but it is enclosed in a thick vinyl envelope. You put on a pair of "compression shorts" that are made out of neoprene instead of spandex, and there is a heavy duty zipper around the waist. You step onto the treadmill into a hole in the top of the envelope, and they lift the frame of the envelope up around your waist and zip you into the top of it. Then they pressurize the envelope and the shorts seal around your thighs and lower body. As the pressure inside the envelope builds, it begins to lift your weight up off of your feet.

They can take as much as 80% of your weight off. For me, they set it at 50%, which happens to be about what I should weigh. I am 5'10" and weigh 318 lb today, which is down about 15 lb from a few weeks ago. So when they set it at 50%, I experience what it is like again to walk and run at a weight of 160 lb, which is about right for my 5'10" frame.......and which is about what I weighed when I was 21 years old.

Because of my weight and my physical infirmities (back, etc.), it would be easy for me to imagine that I am in terrible condition. But when I am in the Alter-G for a 30 minute session, I can RUN (not slow jog) for 24 or those 30 minutes. It feels like a million bucks, and I am so happy just to be able to run again—albeit with artificial help—because I had accepted that I would never be able to experience that again. Now, I did not start off that way. At first, it was 15 minute sessions, and all I did was walk. But because it was pain free, I was self motivated to gradually pick up the pace, with the full encouragement of the PT staff, and that 24 minutes of running out of 30 was something I was able to work up to fairly rapidly after not too many sessions. Yes, there was a fair amount of pain afterward, mostly muscle soreness from using muscles I hadn't used in a long time, and some manageable joint/back pain, but it wasn't so bad as to discourage me from pushing it.

I paid $65/visit three times a week for 10 weeks before I finally told them that I could no longer sustain the cost as I am uninsured and have to pay for all my healthcare out of my pocket. As I was leaving that day (Friday before last), the owners of the clinic told me that as long as I scheduled the use of it when it was not being used by their other patients, I was welcome to continue using their Alter-G at no charge! They are fellow believers, and we've had a lot of great conversations about faith over the weeks. The husband (its a married couple that own it) told me that I had been a blessing to them, and that they wanted to bless me back. For me, that is huge because I was facing a big uphill battle to keep on track with my weight loss and physical recovery. Over the weeks, I've given them and their staff free copies of the worship CDs I've recorded. The wife, the receptionist, and my physical therapist all expressed interest in learning to safely handle and shoot a pistol, so I am going to offer to teach the whole office a NRA Basic Handgun course. Anything I can do to give back to them the way they are giving to me.

Anyway, all of that is to say that I highly recommend the Alter-G as an alternative to pool-therapy. The pool has the benefit of providing resistance as well as buoyancy, but the Alter-G has the benefit of letting you actually feel what it is like to walk and run at your normal weight, and that is an enormous encouragement. I cannot stress highly enough how big of a deal that is to someone who is obese.

If your friend could just feel what it is like to NOT feel the way she normally feels, it would be a huge motivator to her.

Here is a demo video:
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=5OMSa-k3LxA[/youtube]

[TexasComputerDude]

Wow. That's amazing. I will def let them know about it. Thanks!