If you have ever suffered a debilitating injury to your knees or wrists, you will know how important knee and wrist wraps can be. Wrapping helps prevent excessive stress being placed on your joints and tendons. They are also very helpful for people who perform different types of jobs involving repetitive motions, such as artists and musicians. Knee and wrist wrappings are just simple lengths of strong cloth material that are tied around the joint, on top of the elbow, and then tightened around the wrist and knee to give extra support and minimize strain on the joint.
In addition to helping to relieve pain, they are also good for preventing knee and wrist strains. When you perform squats, they place a lot of pressure on your quads, which are located between your upper arms and the kneecap. The more you perform squats, the more the quads become stressed. Knee and wrist wrap help prevent this.
Another benefit of these wraps is that they increase range-of-motion and improve the lifter’s form when performing squats. A common complaint among new lifters is a limited range-of-motion in their limbs. Squats require a lot of strength to extend the hips fully and force the body into the straightening position. By wearing wrist and knee wraps prior to training, the lifter is more likely to obtain this important strength component of their squats.
In addition to helping with the performance of squats, knee wraps provide many other benefits. Athletes who perform weightlifting can greatly benefit from using these wraps. They can improve the lifter’s form and help prevent injuries from happening. The wraps provide an additional layer of protection against torn flexor muscles, which usually happen from squats and other lifting activities. By wearing the wrap during training, the lifter is less likely to sustain injury as a result of lifting.
Weightlifters who want to strengthen their quads but don’t want to use machines will also benefit from these wraps. The extra resistance provided by the wrap forces the wearer to exert more effort when pulling the bar up or down. This increased effort helps to build up both the nervous system and the strength components of the quadriceps. Moreover, it forces the lifters to train at a higher intensity since they have to exert more energy while working out. Those athletes who are not equipped with exercise equipment may benefit from using the wrap to achieve the same goal.
As the popularity of these wraps has grown, there have been many studies conducted to determine whether these wraps actually have an effect on athletic performance and to prove whether these wraps do improve athletic performance. Most of these studies have found that these wraps do improve squat strength, knee extension strength, and quadriceps joint torque. However, these studies did not determine whether these benefits were due to the actual wrapping, or if the athletes were already strong because of the weightlifting regimen they follow. More research is needed to confirm whether the knee wrap use is beneficial in terms of athletic performance and strength improvement.
