Thanks to this little device, I can now walk. Almost a year ago I suffered a knee cap fracture. Months later, after I was no longer wearing an immobilizing brace, I started having all sorts of discomfort in my lower leg and foot, whenever I tried to walk. For about two months I couldn't go anywhere without struggling. I described my symptoms to my doctor, including a dull pain I'd described on previous visits: just below my knee cap. He seemed stumped. He talked about doing EMG nerve testing on my leg and expressed regret that the procedure would be painful. Later that day I looked up EMG (patient reviews) on the internet, and quickly decided I would rather serve time in a federal prison, than subject myself to this barbaric procedure. So I spent more internet time reading about various injuries and how to treat them. I typed in questions about everything that seemed pertinent, including the dull discomfort I sometimes felt, just below the knee. I soon learned that this was the location of the patellar tendon, and eventually read about patellar tendon straps, including this particular one on Amazon, which seemed to have good reviews. The whole idea of a tendon strap struck me as being kind of a long shot. After all, the larger, more substantial braces I'd ordered in recent weeks, hadn't eased my discomfort at all. Why should something that resembles a garter belt make a difference? Besides, I was only experiencing a very dull pain in the patellar tendon itself, and not all that often. Most of my distress was in the lower leg and foot...a sometimes painful, sometimes tingly, but always exhausting sensation when I walked -- almost as though I were trying to make my leg move in a manner that was unnatural. So maybe a tendon strap wasn't even what the situation called for. I wasn't too hopeful, but I didn't want to pass this possibility up either. One article I'd read, had said that sometimes a strained patellar tendon can cause discomfort in the lower leg and foot, so I figured it was worth a try. The afternoon the tendon strap arrived, I was feeling more down in the dumps than usual. It had been an especially bad day. I saw the package on the door step, picked it up, opened it, then sat down on a nearby chair to put the strap on, just below my right knee. I remember mumbling to myself about all the money I'd been wasting on gadgets that didn't even help. I stood up, tried to take a few steps... and soon realized that I was walking without the nagging discomfort I'd been dealing with for weeks. All of this happened INSTANTLY! I could barely feel the disquieting sensations at all! They were like faint echoes. I took the strap off and tried to walk...then put the strap back on. Yes...it made an enormous difference when the strap was on. HUGE! For the first time since my knee injury, I could walk in a natural manner, without having to struggle. After about an hour of strutting around the house in a state of utter elation, my calf started cramping like crazy. I took the strap off immediately. For about three days, I couldn't walk at all, except for a painful hobble... from the bed to the bathroom or kitchen, then back to the bed. I can't deny that my outlook was bleak at this point. I cried several times. But I kept thinking about the hour I'd so recently spent, walking without distress. Surely the patellar strap had been effective, at least for a while. After a few days of icing, heating, massaging, stretching etc. the cramping subsided. One morning I nervously put the tendon strap back on, then took a few steps. Instantly, the lower leg distress was gone, just like when I first tried the strap. Only, this time, I proceeded more carefully: I wore the strap for about fifteen minutes, then took it off and discontinued my walking efforts. I relied heavily on crutches. I repeated this pattern for several days, taking care to remove the tendon strap the moment I started to notice any kind of cramping at all. One time, the cramping came back and lingered for several hours. Another time, it lasted a couple of days. But always and eventually it subsided. All of this happened about 7 months ago. These days, I wear the strap whenever I'm up and about. I go to shopping centers, movies, grocery stores...on foot! (I don't have a car.) Cramping? Hardly ever! On the other hand, if I walk for more than 3 or 4 minutes without the strap, the lower leg distress comes back, although not as intensely as before. I feel so very grateful for having found this little invention. It still amazes me that something, so small, could make such an enormous difference in the quality of my life. This experience has been very humbling, and it has renewed my faith in life's possibilities. When I first showed my doctor the strap that had made such a huge difference for me, he said, "Oh, you found one of those." His response surprised me. "You know about these tendon straps?" I asked. "Yes," he replied, "We recommend them to our athletes sometimes." (I'm a senior citizen, a "non-athlete.") "I wish I'd known about this," I commented, "Why didn't you tell me?" "You never said anything about pain in your patellar tendon," he replied. Clearly it was time to find a new doctor.
