My poor poor knees....

M

MJenkinson

Active member
Hi all

So after a fun trip through Swinsto yesterday I can barely bend my knees this morning! Does anyone have any suggestions for improving knee pads etc? I use the Warmbac pads and am relatively happy with them; they move around a bit and aren't as comfy as the beaver ones but seem pretty tough.

I guess I am more interested in ways of adding permanent protection in my undersuit? Has anyone tried adding something like these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KNEEPADS-INSERTS-KNEEPAD-INSERT-WORK-KNEEPAD-KNEE-PADS-WORK-KNEE-PAD-INSERTS-NEW-/290829196027?pt=UK_BOI_ProtectiveGear_RL&hash=item43b6c55afb

To an undersuit? They are replacement pads for tradesmen's work trousers.

Thanks
Matt

 
MJenkinson said:
Hi all

So after a fun trip through Swinsto yesterday I can barely bend my knees this morning! Does anyone have any suggestions for improving knee pads etc? I use the Warmbac pads and am relatively happy with them; they move around a bit and aren't as comfy as the beaver ones but seem pretty tough.

I guess I am more interested in ways of adding permanent protection in my undersuit? Has anyone tried adding something like these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KNEEPADS-INSERTS-KNEEPAD-INSERT-WORK-KNEEPAD-KNEE-PADS-WORK-KNEE-PAD-INSERTS-NEW-/290829196027?pt=UK_BOI_ProtectiveGear_RL&hash=item43b6c55afb

To an undersuit? They are replacement pads for tradesmen's work trousers.

Thanks
Matt
Click to expand...

Miners kneepads worked well but I'm not sure if they're still available.

The bad news is if your knees are anything like mine they get worse over the years! Biggest problem I have nowadays with crawling though is my forearms and elbows.
 
Thanks Bottlebank; I do have some hard faced nailers knee pads but they are a tad bulky. Will try and see if I can pad out my undersuit a bit and if that doesn't work then I guess I will have to deal with the faff of bigger kneepads.

Cheers
Matt
 
my knees are not in the best of states after years of caving abuse and other hobbies that don't do them any good. I use LP706 - http://www.lp-supports.com/products/knee_and_thigh_supports/ to help support as well as adding a base layer of protection. My latest warmbac undersuit has built in knee and elbow protection and i use either another layer of warmbac knee pads or my old miners rigid knee pads, or in the case of caves like Upper Flood during the crawling sections at the start, all 4 layers! I'm not sure how available 'miners' kneepads are now, but roofers ones look very similar in style and might do the trick.
 
Thanks Estelle they're a good idea actually (and certainly easier given my lack of sewing skills!).

My concern is that I am a relatively young 32, with only 2 years of caving experience and already my knees are giving me grief!
 
I don't think you can get better than nailers for comfort... Sorry!

I've never found the bulkiness to be the issue, it's more that the straps tend to twist and become leg garrotes. Which Nailers do you use? If it's the gel filled ones then you can go one cheaper and I think it's less bulky. Never used the gel ones so I don't know.

If you do find something better than nailers then let me know!
 
Don't do caves with huge long crawly squatty bits like Swinsto!

My knees aren't great & I find sections of cave where I'm on my belly less painful than long crawls (within reasonable extremes obviously...).  And muddy caves.

And the padding on Warmbac furrys & neofleeces as mentioned, is a godsend.
 
Blakethwaite said:
Don't do caves with huge long crawly squatty bits like Swinsto!
Click to expand...

I like that and agree entirely! I think I am going to try and glue some more neoprene to my need pads and possibly cut open the knee pocket on my warmbac furry and stick something in there.
 
I've got a set of the Lesters pads, to counteract strap chafing on the backs of the knees I wear a set of neoprene knee supports. Mine came from Aldi so weren't exactly expensive. I've also got bits of carrimat under the elbow and knee reinforcement of my older undersuit, I've got a pair of the workman's pads that I keep intending to put into my jumpsuit but never quite getting round to it...
 
I have neoprene patches in my undersuit (the AV undersuits have pockets), and Nailers kneepads on top. Agreed the Nailers can move about a bit, but when crawling on rocks, there's nothing more comfy. Also surprisingly sticky on hanging rebelays, free-climbing etc. Personally, I always wear football shinpads too - only a fiver from Decathlon, and apart from the obvious benefits, they're light and fill your wellies up nicely, meaning less water/gravel ingress. Your mates will laugh at you once or twice, but if you've ever banged your shin hard underground, it seems a no-brainer to me. Even thinking of forearm pads...
 
pwhole said:
Personally, I always wear football shin pads. Even thinking of forearm pads...
Click to expand...

You must be easy to spot i a cave, you'll be the one carrying the american football instead of a tackle bag  :-\
 
pwhole said:
Even thinking of forearm pads...
Click to expand...
old long wetsocks with the feet cut out (as it's usually the toes/sole that has died on them!) make great forearm pads and also help protect the oversuit arm from wearing out as quick - i know we all wear out different parts of oversuits in different places first, but for me, the forearm seam is the first to go.
The thing i like about the miners strap on knee pads is they are easy to take off and put on, which means that you can choose to wear them only for the harsh crawling sections and take them off when you don't need them. 
 
AR said:
I've got a set of the Lesters pads, to counteract strap chafing on the backs of the knees I wear a set of neoprene knee supports. Mine came from Aldi so weren't exactly expensive. I've also got bits of carrimat under the elbow and knee reinforcement of my older undersuit, I've got a pair of the workman's pads that I keep intending to put into my jumpsuit but never quite getting round to it...
Click to expand...

I've tried workman's pads in my Jumpsuits undersuit and they work great but add a bit of bulk. I was always reluctant to not have pads on over my oversuit to cut down on the wear and tear so I ended up with very inflexible knees with undersuit pad - oversuit - outer knee pad.

As for knee supports I tried a few and find these best for caving - https://www.shockdoctor.com/knee-compression-sleeve-with-open-patella.  The have an open front and a mesh back behind the knee join which makes them very flexible.
 
Trace 1/2" foam volley ball knee pads work great... Then I layer 2-3 pairs of cheap thinner volley ball knee pads or a pair of soccer shin guards below them.... We call this method of multiple knee pads the "Knee Armor" method.
 
If you're using Warmbac knee pads you can wear multiple sets simultaneously (obviously there's a cost implication!) as they neatly stack over themselves. I wear three pairs for longer cold water gravel crawling.
 
Cap'n Chris said:
If you're using Warmbac knee pads you can wear multiple sets simultaneously (obviously there's a cost implication!) as they neatly stack over themselves. I wear three pairs for longer cold water gravel crawling.
Click to expand...

This thread's making me feel better about my knees, it look's like anyone whose been around for a while has the same problem!
 
We'll I bought some 7mm neoprene of t'web and have put some sections in my under suit after opening the patches over the knees. Will see if that helps!
 
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