Check and Grade Your Knee Symptoms
Answer six questions about swelling, cold, giving way, stairs, pain and limping. Get a score from 6 to 30 and a support suggestion. Free, no sign up.
How it works
Answer all six questions about swelling, cold, giving way, stairs, pain and limping. Your total score, from 6 to 30, gives a starting point for choosing a support: 6–13 for a compression sleeve, 14–21 for an adjustable open patella support, or 22–30 for a hinged knee brace.
These support bands are not a clinical scale. The tool explains the suggestion after you complete all six answers.
Six questions about how your knee behaves day to day. Answer honestly rather than optimistically, and you will get a starting point for which kind of support suits you.
How to read this. The six questions and every answer wording are Essential Wellness's own, unchanged. The score ranges that pick a product are our recommendation, not a clinical scale - they follow the range of supports we make, and nothing here is a diagnosis. If your knee is getting worse, or it is stopping you doing ordinary things, please see a GP or a physiotherapist rather than only buying a brace.
About the six symptoms
My knee Swells in an evening or after activity
Often one of the first visible signs of trauma, swelling is the bodies way of trying to protect an injured knee. However, this normally is accompanied by pain and discomfort.
Think about the past few days, how frequently do your knees tend to swell? Study your knees and grade your levels of swelling between;
Light swelling, medium swelling, heavy swelling.
My knee hurts more when it's cold
Cold damp weather is nothing new, however, it can make your joints stiff and actually contribute to worsening knee pain.
Have you noticed a trend? Does cold weather make you feel slower and bring about aches and pains? Grade this by choosing a word from the below;
Cold affects my knees, cold doesn't affect my knees.
my knee feels like it might give way
Often experienced when you shift your weight too suddenly from one leg to the other, or you inadvertently make too much of a quick movement.
Sharp pain can accompany this symptom, but it can also feel like a kind of general weakness throughout your knee;
Rarely feel my knees give way, frequently feel like my knees may give way, I always feel like my knees may give way.
It hurts to use the stairs
Stairs are the most likely culprit to cause a flare-up of long-term conditions and more recent injuries alike, due to the huge amounts of weight taken by the knees.
How do you manage when taking the stairs, do you struggle immediately or feel it later? Choose the best fit sentence from below;
Only a slight issue using the stairs, I feel pain but I can manage stairs, I struggle almost immediately when using stairs.
My knee is painful, especially after activity
You know your body better than anyone, and as pain is an indication something is wrong. You can actually use it to help decide what level of support is required.
Scoring from 1 to 5, this is your chance to connect with your body and listen to the signals it is giving you. Choose carefully from below;
I feel slight knee discomfort, I feel mild knee pain, I feel intense knee pain.
The pain makes me walk with a limp
A vanity score no doubt, however, social and familial pressure sometimes makes us embarrassed to walk with a limp.
Is it obvious? Does it prompt people to ask you if you are ok? Would you prefer it if people thought you were in good health?
No obvious limp, I do limp slightly, I have a limp and would like to reduce it.