An Old Archaeologist’s Dear Friend: The Knee Brace

And here I worried I wouldn’t get to post in August! Nothing like getting in a post on the last day of the month! For me, summers are brutal with regards to my work schedule. That said, lately I have been constantly reminded of one of the hazards of fieldwork: knee damage. That’s right, the climbing in and out of test units and crouching to scrape at test unit walls leads to many archaeologists having knee problems & needing knee replacement(s). My doctor said I got at least two years left on my knees. Of course, he said that two years ago.

Now, every few months, I get injections in my knees. It helps… a little. The biggest support I get is from knee braces. These are devices that help me endure pain when standing, sitting, or walking about. Braces help deal with pain and can help prevent injury (ask your doctor for guidance on use and need for knee braces). I just purchased a new brace: Futuro knee brace made by 3M. What can I say, the new brace, different just slightly from the Futuro knee brace I bought 6 months or so ago. The new brace is a better fit, more comfortable, and better than any of the other braces I have tried in the last two years. The Futuro brace also holds up well to daily use over time; I highly recommend it. 5 out of 5 Trowels! How’s that for a quick post and review?

All this said, how old is the knee brace? The first ‘lateral’ knee brace was invented in… 1967, by Dr. Robert F. McDavid, to address and help prevent injuries. (1).

1967?! Yeah, I was startled by articles I read acting like Humanity waited thousands of years before developing knee braces. The so-called “modern” knee brace (invented in 1967) has precursors just like most technologies. So, when was the first knee brace invented? I suspect our ancestors back in the early days of Hom sapiens discovered the importance and effectiveness of bracing the knee for comfort and support. Let’s try a different approach. As of my writing this blog post, the oldest “splint” still in existence dates back to circa 2600 BC (2; 3). Found in a grave, the wood/cloth splint was discovered in a grave dating to Egypt’s Nubian Period (2). Tree bark, branches, cloth, plant leaves, and other materials found readily in nature would serve to make a brace. Even to this day, those caught in the wild during storms or lost in dense forest still rely on such materials for splints and braces. Sure, the leap forward in 1967 was tremendous and certainly influenced brace and splint developments since. Yet, as I brace-up my knees each morning, I get a kick out of the fact that Humans have undoubtedly been dealing with pain in a similar way for millennia.

*** THANK YOU, 3M/Futuro.

 References:

(1)   https://www.donjoystore.com/blog/the-brief-history-of-knee-braces/#:~:text=It%20might%20be%20interesting%20to%20know%20that%20the,knee%20brace%20designed%20to%20prevent%20injury%20or%20reinjury.

(2)   The History and Classification of Knee Braces. Wirth, Michael A. et al. Clinics in Sports Medicine, Volume 9, Issue 4, 731 – 741. https://www.sportsmed.theclinics.com/article/S0278-5919(20)30679-7/abstract

(3)   https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0894113002500260