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  • Responses to Knee Wrapping

    Hello Biomch-L'ers!

    Many thanks to all of those who responded to my "knee wrapping"
    questions. I didn't know so many Biomechanists were former
    weightlifters. I received many interesting "personal experience"
    responses. This seems to be an area requiring further investigation as
    the literature on the biomechanics knee wrapping is sparse. The
    responses and my original posting follow:


    Date sent: Fri, 11 Nov 1994 11:22:44 -0500
    Send reply to: EVANS@PHE.UTORONTO.CA
    From: "Richard Evans, SPHE (UToronto)"

    Organization: UofT Physical & Health Education
    Subject: Knee wrapping for weightlifting
    To: Multiple recipients of list BIOMCH-L

    Greetings BIOMCH-L'ers!

    I have a student who wants to look at the function of
    wrapping the knees when performing heavy weightlifting activities. He
    has been unable to locate any significant research in this area.
    Initially, I would suspect that the effects are predominantly
    psychological and not mechanical. Perhaps the wrapping warms the
    knee joint which may serve to cause fluid inflow to the tissues?!
    Do tight wraps increase the potential for injury? Is there any
    research on this topic out there? I will be glad to post a
    summary of the responses. Thanks.

    Richard Evans
    Biomechanics Lab
    School of Physical and Health Education
    University of Toronto
    Canada

    e-mail: evans@phe.utoronto.ca
    __________________________________________________ ____________________
    RESPONSES:

    Recently a doctorate thesis on this subject was published in the
    Netherlands. The effects of cold and heat on (rheumatic)joint
    temperature (intra- articularly measured) was evaluated.>
    I don't know exactly where and when and certainly haven't read it. If
    you think you are interested I can make an attempt to find out
    further details and send them to you.

    With kind regards,

    Gert Jan Kleinrensink
    Research Group Musculo Skeletal System
    Dept. of Anatomy
    Erasmus University Rotterdam
    The Netherlands
    __________________________________________________ ____________________

    Although I do not have any experience with weightlifting (horses
    seldomly perform this kind of exercise), I can support your statement
    on mechanical influence of wrapping joints from a completely different
    perspective. In horse race industry quite some trainers and breeders
    have the lower limbs of the horses bandaged before racing. There is
    one obvious advantage: damage due to collisions, or touching one limb
    with the other will be avoided. However, some claim that the bandaging
    is also effective in preventing eccesive overextension of the lower
    limb joints. We did some accurate in vitro experiments, and we were
    not able to detect a positive effect comparable with the joint
    moments, normally occurring in vivo. Obviously, there was a minimal
    support, but that approached the detection level of our rather
    accurate measuring equipment. If you want to obtain more detailed
    information, I can supply you with a description of the measurement
    procedures, and some of the results. In conclusion: bandaging in
    horses is hardly or not effective in supporting joints. Translated to
    human athletes: do not expect too much positive influence in
    mechanical terms; wrapping might be effective from a psychological
    point of view though.

    All the best,

    Henk
    Henk C. Schamhardt
    Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
    Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80.157, NL-3508 TD Utrecht
    The Netherlands
    phone: int+31-30-534325/534336 FAX: int+31-30-516853
    Email: h.c.schamhardt@POBox.ruu.nl
    __________________________________________________ ____________________

    I don't know of any real publications about wrapping knees but I'm
    sure there are articles written Muscle and Fitness or other various
    powerlifting/bodybuilding mags. I don't wrap my knees and never have.
    I figure that if the ligaments, tendons, other structures get the
    load apappropriately. My lifting buddies who lift more weight(>400lbs)
    use wraps because they feel it adds stablity to the knee. There is a
    weights mail list that I could post a note to for you to see if anyone
    has any real research to point to and not just opinion. I have read
    that the fellow who has the heaviest squat(~1000lbs) that he does not
    wrap except for lifts of greater than 800lbs.

    Dave

    Dave Giurintano
    Paul Brand Biomechanics Lab
    GWL Hansen's Disease Center
    Carville LA 70721 giurin@resdjg.gwlhdc.lsu.edu
    __________________________________________________ ____________________

    You are right. To my knowledge, there is no literature dealing with
    this subject. As an experienced powerlifter, however, I would suggest
    two possible effects of the knee wraps. One would be a passive knee
    extensor moment provided by the tightly wrapped, tough, elastic wrap.
    Second, (more often found in Olympic Weightlifting) a knee wrap placed
    below the patella provides relief from the infrapatellar tendonitis
    pain (or perhaps even prevents it). I was told by one physiotherapist,
    that such a wrap changes slightly the direction of the tendon force
    vector, enough to relieve the pain stemming from inflamed tendon
    fibres near the insertions to the bone.

    Sincerely, Jacek Cholewicki
    Biomechanics Research Laboratory
    Department of Orthopaedics
    Yale University School of Medicine
    __________________________________________________ ____________________

    I am aware of one article that has look at the effect of knee wraps
    on weightlifting. It appears that it will aid in performance. The
    reference is as follows:

    Harman E, & Frykman, P. (1990). The effects of knee wraps on
    weightlifting performance and injury. National Strength and
    Conditioning Association Journal, vol 12, #5, pp 30-35.

    Hope this helps

    ************************************************** ********************
    * *
    * Danny Too, Ph.D. Phone: (702)-895-4875 *
    * University of Nevada Las Vegas Fax: (702)-895-4231 *
    * 4505 Maryland Parkway E-mail: dtoo@nevada.edu *
    * Las Vegas, NV 89154-3034 *
    * *
    ************************************************** ********************
    __________________________________________________ ____________________

    I have no research to back this up, but here is my personal experience
    with wrapping the knees and heavy lifting: The main effect _is_
    mechanical; if you wrap the knees very tightly, the wraps serve as a
    sort of "spring"around the knee joint, assisting in extending the
    joint. For example, imagine wrapping your knees very tightly while
    the leg is straight. After doing this, it is very difficult to bend
    the knees. So, when squatting, for example, the knee wrap assists in
    increasing the angle between the leg and thigh. As far a causing an
    inflow of fluid to the tissues, I don't think so. As a matter of
    fact, if you wrap the knees tightly (as you should) the blood flow to
    the feet is decreased. The wraps are usually kept on for only about a
    minute- not nearly long enough to significantly increase tissue
    temperature.
    --
    William Anderst
    __________________________________________________ ____________________

    This is interesting because I have had experience with knee wraps and
    weight lifting. I am not sure how much is psychological, but I know
    that I could definitely lift the weight more easily with them than
    without them.

    Perhaps it has to do with stability and/or constraint-issues. By
    tightly wrapping the knee, it seems you are essentially adding a
    "stronger" connective element at that joint. This may reduce motions
    in other directions and effectively constrain the knee to bend or move
    along only one axis. For instance, think of trying to push a heavy
    weight that is balanced on a long pole up the side of a wall. Compare
    this with the effort required if the weight was attached to a unirail
    that only allowed the weight to move vertically; i.e., constrained to
    one axis of movement. The second case should be much easier because
    the motion is constrained. This is just a guess, but it seems to make
    sense to me. I am curious to see what other responses might be.

    good luck,

    Young Hui

    ================================================== ====================

    607-253-3551 Young Hui Chang
    yhc3@cornell.edu Department of Anatomy
    College of Veterinary Medicine
    Ithaca, NY 14853-6401

    ================================================== ====================
    __________________________________________________ ____________________

    Have your student contact Dr. Mary Verstraete
    Motion Analysis Laboratory
    Department of Biomedical Eng.
    University of Akron
    Akron, OHIO 44325-0302
    (216) 972-7691

    Dr. Verstraete has had several student looking into this area for some
    time. Regards.

    ================================================== ================
    DANIEL B. SHEFFER, PH.D., HEAD BITNET R1DBS@AKRONVM
    DEPARTMENT OF BIOMEDICAL ENG. INTERNET R1DBS@VM1.CC.UAKRON.EDU
    UNIVERSITY OF AKRON TELEPHONE 216 972 6650
    AKRON, OHIO 44325-0302 TELEFAX 216 374 8834
    ================================================== ================
    __________________________________________________ ____________________

    The information that i have and my personal experience supports
    the idea that knee wraps provide more than a psychological effect.
    the mechanical effect of the wrap itself, if done properly, is an
    additional elastic benefit that may add 25 pounds or so to a given
    power squat performance. one reference to begin with may be
    Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning (edited by Baechle
    published by Human Kinetics), which is a new text and a good resource
    for those preparing for NSCA certification. the text states that
    using knee wraps may actually cause some types of injuries (such as
    chondromalacia patellae) and therefore their use should be limited to
    near maximal lifts.

    One reference within the text to use as a start may be:
    Harman, E. and P. Frykman. The effects of knee wraps on weightlifting
    performance and injury. NSCA Journal 14(1): 47-54. 1992.

    this is an area in need of more investigation,
    thanks,
    michael
    _______________________________________________
    michael bird, ph.d.
    texas tech university
    tobir@ttacs.ttu.edu
    phone:+1 (806) 742-3371
    fax: +1 (806) 742-1688
    _______________________________________________
    __________________________________________________ ____________________

    In one of my previous incarnations I competed in powerlifting and so
    will give you the anecdotal impressions of a biomechanist that has
    used the damn things.

    The tighter the wraps are applied the better they work. Stiffness of
    the material is a big factor lifters consider in wrap selection. There
    seems to be an effect of 'wrap rebound' in assisting in the extension
    of the knee when coming out of a deep squat (when forces on the wraps
    have reached unbelievably high levels). I think this may be the major
    effect. Also I think there is some danger of knee damage when such
    high forces on the knee are being experienced and the wraps probably
    play a key role in injury prevention here, stabilizing the joint and
    preventing excess ligament strain, though I believe that is a
    secondary consideration to most competitors. That may also have a
    psychological effect in that lifters are more willing to attempt
    higher loads while feeling more secure about their knees with wraps on
    them. There may also be an effect of constraining outwards flow of
    joint fluid and with the high pressure of the wrap surrounding the
    knee it may act to maintain lubrication between joint surfaces even
    when they are subject to abnormally high loads. Another aspect that
    I'll speculate on is the mechanical effect of securing and
    constraining the tendons in the knee area, which may somehow
    affect the force-production characteristics of those muscles. Lastly,
    the application of the wraps is the final important act in the
    competition pre-lift 'psyching up' ritual and the pain that very tight
    wraps cause for those last few seconds prior to a big lift may play a
    role to some individuals in getting the mental focus they need for
    that maximal effort.

    In personally advising lifters, unless the individual had knee
    injuries, I'd tell them to make minimal use of wraps (and belts, bench
    press shirts, squat suits, etc., too, for that matter) during
    training, so that the concentration is on building
    muscle/tendon/ligament strength and not relying on external factors,
    and then bringing wraps/belts into use in the final weeks
    of competition preparation to gain that extra 'edge'.

    Regards,
    N

    Nancy R. Deuel, PhD nd26@umail.umd.edu
    *-**-**-**-**-**-**-**-**-**-**-**-**-**-**-**-**-**-**-**-**-**
    * University of Maryland Equine Sports Biomechanics Laboratory *
    * 1113 Animal Sciences Center Animal Sciences Department *
    * University of Maryland Phone: 301/405-1385 *
    * College Park, Maryland 20742 USA Fax: 301/314-9059 *
    *-**-**-**-**-**-**-**-**-**-**-**-**-**-**-**-**-**-**-**-**-**
    __________________________________________________ ____________________

    As a past Junior Olympic weightlifter, I have some first hand
    knowledge of this practice. I never wrapped my knees, but I knew many
    lifters, especially older ones, that did this. Usually they would
    wrap their knees very tightly right before they were going to lift and
    then take off the wraps immediately after finishing. In this case, I
    could not see how the wraps would have time to effect the temperature
    of the muscles, limaments, and other soft tissues in time to help
    with the lift. The reasons that the lifters quoted to me when they
    used the lifts was that it "stabilized" or "stiffened" the knee.
    Whether it actually did this or if it was purely psychological as you
    suggest it might be, I'm not sure. If it was actually stiffening the
    knee, you could measure this with either a force platform and video
    analysis or with some sort of force transducer and
    electrogoiniometer. I would suggest your student look into the topic
    of "joint stiffness" in his literature search. There is quite a
    large number of studies in this area, especially for the knee.
    By examining the joint stiffness unwrapped unloaded, wrapped
    unloaded, unwrapped loaded, and wrapped loaded, your student could
    determine if the wrapping is increasing the stiffness of the knee.
    This might be benficial because it might provide a slower descent
    with better control during the eccentric phase. If you have a
    computerized medline search, try the key words joint and stiffness,
    and muscle and stiffness. If you can't find anything, let me know
    and I will try to dig up some of the relevant citations.

    Best of luck,

    Dan Ferris
    Department of Human Biodynamics
    103 Harmon
    University of California at Berkeley
    Berkeley, CA 94720
    dferris@uclink2.berkeley.edu
    __________________________________________________ ____________________
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------

    Richard Evans
    Biomechanics Laboratory
    School of Physical and Health Education
    University of Toronto
    Canada

    e-mail: evans@phe.utoronto.ca
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