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Pretty sure he wears mobius.
Yes, Jett wears Mobius braces, but braces had nothing to do with the way he tore his ACL. His leg dabbed back and his knee twisted. Knee braces are meant to stop hyperextension and impact to the side as well as protection to the knee cap, I don't think anything was going to prevent that injury.
Isn't hyperextension the cause of ligament tear?
Not in all cases... when i mean hyperextension, I mean folding the opposite direction of which your knee bends. A knee brace is meant to stop that forward hyperextension motion.
Common causes of ligament tears are twisting body parts or hard or awkward landings. Tears often happen when ligaments are stretched fully and then encounter some form of impact or trauma
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I've never ridden with knee braces so I didn't know they were not supposed to reduce torsion. In my eyes that degrades the benefit substantially.
I think that twisting can be just as hard on an ACL as hyperextension.
Braces don't protect against straight leg heel into the ground ACL tears. Ive torn three, two wearing custom CTI braces.
So, They do still reduce it, but its about the situation and the impact. It's no different than a $1000 helmet. Sure, it can stop a concussion, but you can still get one if you hit right. Is that going to stop you from wearing a helmet?
If you have never ridden with braces, that's okay. people go their whole lives riding and never tearing a ligament. I do hope you at least wear a knee pad.
The only brace that even attempts to prevent tears from torsion/twisting are the Asterisks with the tether attached to the boot.
I wear knee braces (because I'm old) they help immensely. You can at times literally feel them save your knee.
I appreciate your point but I don't think a helmet is a good comparison as impact protection and joint range restriction are apples and oranges.
The drawback I see to bracing is loss of beneficial mobility and the unnatural dissipation of force.
I've considered knee braces a couple times after instances of catching my toe on a rut and turning the foot the wrong direction.
Now that I've learned braces won't minimize the risk for this type of injury, I'm no longer considering trying them.
That being said, every body is different and knee braces probably work great for some people.
“I don't think anything was going to prevent that injury.”
Except maybe training harder and building more muscle to help protect the knee. That will do more than any knee brace invented.
Training flexibility is also a major underdiscussed component for injury resistance.
So, you feel Jett doesn't train hard enough? honest question. How about football players who build muscle and still tear their ACL?
I have a question for the knee experts, do you think guys, if Jett was wearing the asterisk knee braces with the teather attached to his boots, would have that prevented his injury ? I'm really wondering if this system is the only one in the market to prevent this kind of thing
I ride without braces and always wondered if that is the only one system everyone should wear but i'm not an expert nor a medic
This. That's how I tore my ACL. Stomped my heel into the ground and just destroyed it, in full braces.
No. Not with that dabbing, stomping of the leg movement. I don't think anyone's braces would have changed that result. I was watching the race and just hollered, 'ohhh nooo, that's an ACL'. Just reminded me so much of the same movement I once did.
I'm not going to put words in his mouth, but I believe what he means is that brace designs wouldn't have change this result. The only thing that could have changed the outcome was if someone else's knee or a differently trained joint/leg was in that boot. Even then it's just a complete guess how someone elses body would react in that same situation. That motion is just not one that braces can really help much with.
I do have a question for everyone, what do you think about the recent Achilles injuries? Tomac, Ferry, Swoll... I think that two things are playing a part in these recent Achilles injuries. 1. Not intentionally stretching the calves and focusing on ankle ROM. 2. Not wearing the boots as designed. (Loose straps, removing material for greater flex, etc.) Not enough athletes properly stretch their calves and I would argue that currently there are few, if any, sports that are harder on ankles/calves/achilles flexion than Supercross with these riders jumping rhythms and skimming whoops on the balls of their feet. Could also be freak injuries, but if I was a pro Supercross racer that really rode on the balls of my feet like is done these days, I would spend extra time each day working on getting my toes closer to my shins stretching and increasing ROM/flexion down there.
Pit Row
We'd be hard-pressed to find a singular cause for Achilles injuries. One factor is that cycling doesn't work the calves as much as running, and there seems to be an inclination for road cycling as off the bike training.
Combine that with more flexible boots, sharper foot pegs, and riding on the forefoot, etc,
Does it seem like the foot pegs are further forward on bikes now too? 10 years ago only tall freaks had to lower their pegs.
I feel in today’s massive social media push from many top riders, including the Lawrences, that there is a stark difference in being shown of other riders working out much harder in the off season than the Lawrences. I could be wrong in just not seeing it….but I doubt it. I think the talent and success Jett has had may have lead to some complacency in this area. jmo.
As for the football player example…. Building more muscle to help protect the knee does not 100% prevent them. In football the mass of forces and weight of players will lead to some number of ACL injuries. That doesn’t mean you can’t help decrease those injuries from physical conditioning. This is undisputed in the medical community. Just google it and read.
Overall I'm surprised there aren't more injuries, supercross is dangerous!
This (but likely only on this board. For most serious trainers/athletes, this is a Captain Obvious statement).
While being stronger is obviously better than being weaker, you can be as strong and "bulked" as you want and still not avoid injuries as well as you can by having greater flexibility. All the strength and bulk in the world aren't going to help in a lot of situations... like sudden and violent impacts where there isn't the opportunity to react and use that strength to resist or brace; but greater flexibility will help avoid or minimize the injuries.
Heck, one could argue that being morbidly obese is better because all that mass resists changing direction and also helps absorb the impact energy. 😄
Jason, is this an apples to apples comparison? Don't most football ACL injuries happen from force to the side of the leg? Which is what Knee braces are supposed to protect or limit.
Yes…I am saying that no current brace design will help prevent ACL injuries as much as building proper muscle to help protect the knee. Also…so as to not have too many posts…I said “That doesn’t mean you can’t help decrease those injuries from physical conditioning.” Decrease…not eliminate. The most fit rider could still have this injury in some incident. You can never know if Jett could, or could not, have prevented this injury from having more/proper muscle….and as said…flexibility.
As for Eli’s Achilles injury. Nobody can know conclusively what percent certain causal factors led to the injury but my personal guess, only a guess, is a combination of…. customized softer more flexible boot, foot far back on pegs(almost toes), over jumping the landing, and possibly preferred suspension set up. Just an opinion.
And not only flexibility as you say but strength when a joint is at is limit. One of the reasons Pilates and yoga are so good for the body. Great flexibility will only be good for so much if you lack the strength to control the limb/joint in those extremes.
Agreed, but I'm thinking more of the kinds of situations where there is a sudden movement that exceeds one's ability to even react, like being rear-ended in a car - you never saw it coming and couldn't react. In those kind of scenarios I'd be wanting more flexibility than strength. Side note - isn't the lack of resistance to movement in a crash one of the reasons cited as to why the drunk driver in an accident frequently fares better than the person they hit, because they never tensed up due to their impairment? That would seem to contradict the strength/mass argument in favor of a "relax and roll with the punches" one.?? But we know not all scenarios are the same and favor the same factors to avoid injury.
I'd think any good/serious participant/trainer knows to incorporate all of this into a program. To think professional athletes could have avoided a specific injury because they weren't training for enough strength or bulk seems specious at best. Sometimes the body encounters forces it just can't handle, period.
And we haven't even touched on the genetics issue - you can have two people on the same program and seem to be each other's physical equal, but one appears to be made of gristle and the other made of glass when it comes to injuries. 🤔
Just random thoughts - thanks! 👍
This sport is so crazy. All the insane risks these riders take and he gets a season-ending injury just putting his leg down. Same with Tomac and his achilles and Villopoto back in the day tearing his knee up going around a corner.
I’m in the 3 ACL and shredded miniscus club but that was from football. I religiously wore knee braces for fear of further injury but found I was causing more internal damage with them on. In my experience the brace internalises a lot of force by limiting natural knee flex and as we’ve seen over the years they don’t actually protect against acl tears. Another negative is the weakened leg muscles, you don’t notice till you take them off how weak your muscles have become when riding due to having the artificial brace. It took a month or so of riding without them to feel stronger in g-out situations but now it is not even a thought to prepare for impact and leg dabs are a non issue.
Did the same snowboarding over jumped and landed in the flat.
If it couldn't prevent it, I am pretty sure it would have at least helped. I swear by Asterisk knee braces and their anti rotational tether.
Bonus tip: If you wear Gaerne boots, you don't need to drill them out, just use the top buckle screw to fasten the tether.
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