Knee Sleeve or knee wraps???

Knee wraps:

Commonly worn by competitive weightlifters, powerlifters and bodybuilders knee wraps are made of the same elastic material that is typically found in wrist wraps. They are designed to be wrapped around the knee in a spiral or diagonal method for use in squats.

Advantages

The reason knee wraps are so highly valued is that they allow more weight to be lifted in the squat. How? During the eccentric (downwards) phase of the squat, the tightness of the wraps allows for a high amount of elastic energy to be stored, which can subsequently be released during the concentric (upwards) phase—resulting in heavier and faster squats.

Furthermore, knee wraps are believed to reduce stress and pulling forces on the quadriceps tendon, which is attached to the quadriceps and the patella (the kneecap). When you squat, the tendon pulls on the patella. Reducing the stress on the tendon helps to avoid detaching your tendon from the patella, or tearing your quads altogether, which are both pretty nasty injuries.

Disadvantages

While knee wraps do allow you to move more weight, they don’t necessarily help you get any stronger. This is because they are restrictive in nature, and because they completely cover the patella and are worn tightly (thus pushing the kneecap into the thighbone), they can increase the friction between the patella and the cartilage of the kneecap. As you might expect, this can lead to injury and troublesome knee joint problems like arthritis.

Knee Sleeves

Advantages

The primary purpose of knee sleeves is to protect the knees from future injury or risk of damage. They are NOT knee braces, which are built to protect a previous injury in the knee from further ailments. Knee sleeves are not intended to be worn to fix an already damaged or unstable knee.

Sleeves provide valuable compression, which helps to increase blood flow and reduces pain and swelling in the knee joint during and after a workout. This will ultimately help you to recover quicker

Disadvantages

Depending on the type of knee sleeves you buy, they can be a little pricey and tend to get a little stinky if you don’t wash them regularly.

People make the mistake of assuming that wearing knee sleeves will automatically improve their technique and makes them a better lifter. This is false. You still need to be diligent with regard to your mobility, refine the mechanics of your lifts and take care of the knee joint as best you can. When you start to move heavyweight in high volume, then it’s time to slap on the sleeves to help protect your knees from the stresses and strains that cleans, snatches and squats provide.

Conclusion?

Ultimately, the type of knee accessory you choose to wear will come down to your particular fitness goals and concerns over the health of your knees.

Knee wraps are much more restrictive than knee sleeves, making them almost impossible to WOD in. Knee sleeves are more commonly used, given their versatility and the fact that they help athletes to recover from heavy lifting sessions. However, if you do decide to go with sleeves, don’t rely on them too much and fall away from working on your mobility and technique.