Joint Support Brace DIY

Greetings fellow creators, today I'm bringing you an idea I had for a joint support brace for all that require it because of sports injuries or any other reasons.

It's probably not as good as a professional one but will work great in a emergency, or at home and its almost free.

I'm a very active person, always doing some sort of sports activity. Last year I injured my knee doing long distance cycling, it's a malaligned patella the doctor said, caused by the over-development of some muscles vs the underdevelopment of others that hold the patella in place causing it to move slightly enough to grind the cartilage... Painful stuff. So solution!? Rest, physiotherapy, and restriction of motion during inflammation; Sound easy right? NO! After almost a year the injury still persists mainly because I can't stay still at all, but it did get much better because of the exercises and treatments I do.

So the first thing I did was buying an all expensive, professional grade knee brace... It worked as well as to be expected, but it was so cumbersome, big, heavy, with straps all around, always getting dirty, non breathable, always falling so I had to over-tight it so much it cut my circulation... so I stopped using it.

So the idea of buying a professional elastic one came to mind only to the realization that after 3 weeks of use it would be stretched and useless, money to the trash specially because id be using it at home most of the time.

Then the epiphany came.

You'll need:

- An old sports sock, preferably with a strong elastic band;

- Scissors(sharp, or you'll struggle to cut it... trust me, I did);

- And that's it;

Total cost: Assuming you have the sock and the scissors at home... FREE!!!

If not about 5$ to 10$;

Cut the sock in sections according to the strength of the elastics, in my case the top elastic was the one I wanted;

Also cut in size according to the body part you want to support;

You'll be left with two main parts:

1st- With the strong elastic, use it as a brace, but remember it will be very tight the first times you use it; Also once stretched you wont be able to use it in slimmer body parts;

2nd- The weak elastic, you can use it to cover and hold wound and injury dressings with out using bandage tape (surprisingly useful, on the very day I had a fall injury on my leg that was bleeding and the tape wasn't sticking so... voilá!)

I'm sure that the elasticity of the sock will wear out soon, but I can always make more... for free.

Its light, breathable, not cumbersome, it can be worn under clothing... now my professional one will never be used again.

Remember this is sort of a hack, like I said prior It probably won't work as good as a professional elastic one, but in the end it worked for me, and probably will end up helping someone else.

Thank you for reading to the end, hope it was interesting.

Have a good one.