Knee socks are loved by many Weightlifter, Powerlifters and other strong people. But what are they really for? This is a surprisingly difficult question to answer, and there was a point in my lifting career where I was confused about whether to buy a pair.
What are knee socks?
First, let’s make it clear what knee sleeves are. They’re usually made of neoprene, seven millimeters thick (although thinner ones are available), and slide like, well, sleeves over the knees. You usually buy them from special strength suppliers such as SBD or Rehband. They’re not the same as the hole-front suspenders you can buy at the drugstore, and they’re not thin, sock-like compression sleeves.
Knee warmers are unlikely to protect against injury
Sometimes people will claim that knee pads help prevent injury, but there’s no solid evidence to back that claim – no studies I’ve been able to find compared injury rates over time between people who do heavy squats and People who squat hard without them. There are biomechanical studies showing that knees with sleeves work the same as they do without, and there are studies showing that people often say that their knees feel better when they are on sleeves, but the injury data just doesn’t seem there to be.
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It wouldn’t make much sense anyway: what does seven millimeters of neoprene do if you put enough force on your knee to injure it? People speak of “compression” and “support”, but a little neoprene hug won’t “support” your knee if it’s being put on hundreds of pounds of force in the wrong direction. (Football teams are starting to learn that even their heavy-duty knee braces don’t seem to affect injury rates; It’s hard to imagine that knee warmers can do what braces can’t.)
Knee socks don’t help your squats much
Let’s stop for a minute and contrast knee sleeves with knee braces that are different. Wraps look like long, thin elastic bandages and are used in some weight training sports to increase the weight you can lift in a squat or squat-like movement. You wrap them tightly – or ideally, have a teammate or coach wrap you tightly – just before you waddle onto the platform. They resist bending your knees, which means that the elasticity of the bandages will help straighten your knees as you sit down. Knee supports can definitely help you bend more weight if used properly.
Knee socks aren’t that tight. They’re usually comfortable enough to wear for a full workout, though some athletes say if you buy them a size or two too small and squeeze in, they’ll give you a little boost when you stand up and squat.
But not everyone wears super tight knee warmers, and it’s questionable whether the sleeves really offer a lot of support. A recent study found that people could squat a little more weight when wearing sleeves, but that tighter sleeves had no advantage over normal-fitting sleeves. The researchers concluded that “the benefits of neoprene knee cuffs may therefore be due to compression-mediated improvements in comfort, stability or heat retention of the knee joint”.
Knee socks just feel good
Now we come to the important part, where anecdotes and data absolutely match: Knee cuffs ensure a good knee feeling.
For months, I asked my fellow creators why they wear knee socks and, moreover, didn’t get any really good answers. At some point I decided to just buy a pair to find out, so I measured my knees and bought the recommended size from Norse Fitness in 7mm.
I noticed the difference on my first workout: my knees had never felt bad, but my sleeves just felt better. Every now and then I would experience a little stiffness or a little discomfort when doing a lot of deep squats (from ass to grass); with sleeves, that just didn’t happen anymore. I couldn’t lift anymore, I just felt better doing it.
One hypothesis is that the sleeves keep your joints warm and warm parts of the body tend to work better than cold ones, which is part of the “warm up” point. I don’t find this explanation particularly convincing; Knee sleeves feel just as good in hot and cold weather and I felt the effects immediately instead of waiting for them to warm me. But I can’t prove that either way.
Another is that compression is good for your tendons or muscles. While there is some research to support the idea that compression aids muscle recovery, this research has typically resulted in people wearing their compression equipment for hours after a workout. Could compression be a factor here, maybe just to make things feel better? Maybe!
Greg Nuckols has a hypothesis that the way the neoprene contracts behind your knee reduces some of the pressure your kneecap is putting on your thighbone. That sounds more reasonable to me than many of the other theories I’ve heard, but for sure no one knows.
Whatever the reason, squats just feel better than without knee socks. If you’ve never tried them, you might like how they feel, but don’t expect them to prevent injury or put significant strain on your squats.
