Our knees have little protection on their own – it only has a thin layer of skin and muscle over the kneecap or patella. If you fall on your knees when it’s bent, there isn’t much cushion to prevent you from breaking the patella bone or pushing it out of place. When this unfortunately happens, ligaments and muscles are often torn in the process. Using knee pads during some exercises, sports, and work can help reduce your chance of getting injuries.
Why Do you Need Knee Pads?
Some lines of work and some active sports are so physical that they create a high risk for body damage. For example, if you often work on your knees for extended periods of time, you might be damaging them. Fortunately, you can avoid this by wearing kneepads.
The purpose of knee pads is to protect the patella and the meniscus while playing sports or doing strenuous work. Knee pads also guard the knees against burns and scrapes that could happen when the knees always touch the ground or floor.
What do Kneepads Do?
Kneepads have a lot of advantages that can benefit your knees. Here are some of them:
Protects knees
First and foremost, the main purpose of knee pads is to protect the knee joint. The patella itself is vulnerable to fractures, especially when the knees are overworked or do sudden movements. A quality knee pad can help minimize the impact on your knee, preventing patellar fracture. A kneepad can also protect you from being pierced by sharp objects like nails. Knee pads are also designed to minimize the shock of a hard ground floor, which can cause serious damage to the knees over time.
Reduces risk of injury
Any exercise, sports, or activity that requires you to press your knee to the floor, do a lot of sudden movements, or fall forward on your knees can cause knee injuries. Biking, volleyball, cheerleading, softball, hockey, football, and other activities can cause knee damage. Knee pads can keep you from damaging your patella and the surrounding ligaments and muscles.
According to a 1996 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, failure to use knee pads was responsible for about 32% of knee injuries. The same results were reported in a 2005 study of the American Journal of Epidemiology involving nearly 20,000 students. It showed a 56% decrease in knee injuries when students wore knee pads in sports like softball, basketball, and cheerleading.
Supports knees
Knee pads offer support to the knees and reduce the chance of overextending or having it collapse during exercise. Knee pads that come with a stretchy sleeve that slides over the leg and covers the back of the knee offer support to the knee muscles and ligaments while protecting the patella. These can connect your thigh muscles to the calf muscles on the sides and back of the knee, which can help prevent the knee from hyperextending during strenuous activity.
Increases performance
Athletes can be hesitant to perform at their full capacity without protective knee pads. For example, some sports, like volleyball, lead a player to dive to their knees to hit a low ball. However, the hard floor on courts can damage the knees if you hit them with your full body weight at full speed without knee pads.
When players aren’t wearing kneepads, they might play it safe because they worry about their knees. On the other hand, a player may get into the zone without regard to their safety and end up with injuries that would take them off the game for months.
Knee pads can give athletes the confidence to play and move freely without worrying about knee damage. However, knee pads can’t protect you from all kinds of knee injuries – it softens the blow – but still check with your doctor, coach, or personal trainer to ensure that you understand the proper form of new techniques before trying them out.
Promotes efficiency
Knee pads can make you more efficient at work. If your job requires you to kneel on hard ground for extended periods of time, then you don’t have to worry too much if you wear protective knee pads. This added layer of protection can help ensure your productivity at work as well.
Saves money
Knee pads may seem like an extra expense at first, but they can help you save lots of money in the long run. The amount of money you’ll spend on knee pads is little compared to what you would probably spend in treatment in case you get a knee injury.
Versatile
Kneepads come in a variety of options designed to help in different ways. If you want protection from sharp blows to the knees, like when riding the skateboard, you will benefit from a knee pad with a hard front shell backed by firm padding. If you want to be flexible and add extra padding, use a knee pad with a soft and thick pad on the front. Some knee pads can also slide up over the knee with a supportive and stretchy back sleeve, while others come with two straps wrapped around the leg above and below the knee, leaving the back of the knee exposed.
Benefits of Croc Knee Pads
Crocs get a bad rep in the fashion world because of its large, hideous-looking designs, but lovers of the brand prefer it because Crocs is serious about comfort and durability. Did you know that Crocs also offer knee pads?
The Crocs Knee Pads are cool, comfortable, and mold to the knee. It’s also slip-resistant and non-marking to your knees. It offers the perfect combination of cushiness and support.
You don’t have to worry about it stinking you up because it comes with anti-microbial and odor-resistant layers. To keep it in place, it comes with a super convenient hook and rivet strap closure, so you can adjust the size quickly and then easily snap it on and off. It’s made of long-wearing Croslite PCCR material – just like the Crocs sandals – so you will be making the most out of these babies for years to come!
Crocs Knee Pads are perfect for gardening and construction, but you can also benefit from them for any activity where you need extra knee protection.