McDavid 402 Knee Support With Open Patella, Black, Large

Good support, lots of warmth. Your knees will sweat and they will stink, but that's the nature of neoprene sleeves.I have arthritis in my knees so I use them at the gym and for snow skiing. I won't do either without them.

I really like this brace. It's not heavy-duty, so your knee still needs to be able to support itself. The brace just gives you a little extra support right when you need it. I use mine for heavier squats - it makes very little difference in how much weight my legs can lift, but it makes a big difference in stabilizing the sides of my knee and keeping it from buckling, which is exactly what I wanted!I'm 6'3 and 220 lbs. I measured my legs and the circumference is: 19" just above the knee, 16.5" just below the knee, and 16" at the knee. The large sized sleeve fit me perfectly.One last thing to consider: some sleeves, like this one, are "open patella", meaning they have a hole in the front. Others are "closed" and have no hole. I've found that my leg gets surprisingly hot when wearing a closed sleeve. That little hole makes a big difference, helping me to stay just a little cooler during my workout

Measured around my knee first then got the brace for my size. Brace fit ok, but didn't provide enough compression. Bought the next size down, and it fit perfectly. Patella (knee cap) opening needs to have reinforcing and stitching added to it though. After a few months mine developed a small tear that widened to 1/4". Hasn't gotten worse since then though.

I suffered a MODERATE KNEE SPRAIN at work and that was about 7 weeks ago. I wore a McDavid double strap brace (unhinged) with an open patella design. It was pretty decent but my knee was so weak early on that it would buckle (rare but it occurred) and was quite unstable. I could not stand in one place without serious discomfort, burning or pain and I couldn't even walk around on it for more than 10 minutes per hour. When I saw the company doc they put me in a heavy duty Ossur knee brace with double straps and HINGED. If you are experiencing moderate to severe symptoms IMHO you need a brace more like this. But of course see your doctor and let them recommend one based on your individual symptoms.I initially bought this neoprene sleeve because I had a McDavid neoprene sleeve and thought it was pretty good for light knee injuries (i.e. light strains or sprains that are mostly recovered) for my good knee since we all know that when one side of our body is jacked up we routinely consciously or subconsciously change how we use the injured part and then it can lead to the other side getting a little out of whack. I tried it on my "better" knee and mostly liked it. At my follow up doctor's appointment I was advised I could try moving to this type of light protection sleeve since I had been in PT for several weeks now and done a nice job of building up strength and stability. NOTE: My appointment with an orthopedist is still pending authorization but my MRI showed a "frayed" meniscus with some tendonosis above the knee. I decided to keep this one on my "good" knee and try a new age modern gel longer sleeve on the "bad" knee. I will focus on this neoprene McDavid below but also mention some things about the other style where relevant.Here are my observations (based on using it on my "better" knee:-- I can't recall my number but I used a metal tape measure which wasn't ideal anyway. It put me clearly in the LARGE size and since I owned a similar McDavid in the past and it was a LARGE, I went with large. I bought a vinyl tape measure on Amazon along with this sleeve for easier future measuring. I am 6' 1/2" tall and I weigh 181 pounds. My build is a blend of mesomorph and ectomorph. I ran cross country in junior high and got into baseball and basketball and weight lifting (build muscle pretty easily). It fit fairly snug but I think a medium would likely have been a mistake and too tight because my quads aren't small. If I recall correctly I wasn't barely in the "large" so that is the reason for my logic.-- It is fairly appealing looking and the thickness of it provides LIGHT support with a "gentle" lean toward moderate.-- I wish it were longer as that might have helped with the slipping and sliding. As the day wore on I could feel it BUNCHING up behind my knee. I had to occasionally PULL it up on my thigh. It was fine in the calf area and stayed down. With modern "gel" sleeves I think there may be a tendency to have it shift UP off the shin (unless they have gel inserted there also). So this may be an area where it is hard to find a true winner unless you find a double gel product on the top and bottom.-- In spite of looking fairly tight I think it is only natural with walking and movement for these to move some. It is inevitable. I think the more modern design longer sleeves have a better design idea because they are longer and they often have gel in the top portion so they slide less.-- It is comfortable when it isn't bunching up but then it is mildly annoying when it gets looser as the day wears on and it bunches up moreAll in all, it's pretty decent but I'm thinking I may be in between sizes with this company for an ideal fit. And I am already seeing why most companies have shifted to the modern longer tighter style sleeves with gel inside to help limit "slip sliding away".

My knee is feeling good

Better than previous models. Doesn't bind behind knee

It really gives me good support. Comfortable to wear.

Works well to stabilize the knee without putting p pressure on the knee cap!