Knee Protection

Now that I'm a senior, my knees aren't what they use to be. They really object to my kneeling on them, especially on hard surfaces. But rather than avoid kneeling altogether, I use knee pads. They allow me to get down on my knees to weed, change tires on my utility carts and atv, clean my house floors in those hard to reach places, and like today.....screw down the wood planks for my new outdoor deck.

Being a senior, I've had to make changes in order to keep going. I guess you could say that being a senior = having an age disability. I just have to be smart to get around, or along with, my disability.

These are the knee pads I use. Got them cheap, only $2, at the thrift store, and have used them for years. I've seen lots of other types, but I don't know if one is better than another. Mine have Velcro straps which makes for quick on and off. I've had to replace the straps a couple of times, but the rest of the pads are holding up. And my knees are still my original equipment. No surgery for me, I hope!

Aren't they great? I used to only use them on hard surfaces, but now I use them anytime I will be kneeling for mare than a few minutes...especially when I'm down on my hands and knees in the garden. I had a pair I used for a number of years, then someone gave me a pair made by AWP called Gel Zone. They have both foam and gel cushioning. I thought the old ones were good, but these ones are great...very comfortable.

Good for you guys for being smarter than me.

As a welder building US Destroyers we were required to do 100% welding, which meant always kneeling on steel decking. One out of 3 welders had their knees blown out, and there was 500 welders working there alone. Yep, I was one of them.

The orthopedic surgeon thought I would be out for 6 weeks, but it took me 6 months to actually heal up from the surgery because I had limped on a bad knee for so many years. (When is a good time for a farmer to go out for knee surgery?) Today it still is not right.

I wish you all the best, and thank you for bringing this seemingly small thing, to people's attention.

Hey, it's the bad knee club!! My sympathies.
i have a pair of cheapie foam kneepads I picked up when working for Habitat for Humanity (i laid floors in a few houses) and I have used them for the garden as well- my paths are concrete or stone in a few places.
My mother has what I can only call a stadium butt warmer? it is a foam pad kind of thing that you bring to sit on concrete stadium bleachers so you don't freeze your tuchus off in the winter (i went to college in upstate NY and I still shudder 25 years later thinking about those games in the snow I had to sit through....). She brings that into the garden to kneel on, but it has a bigger "footprint" and I dont have that much real estate in my garden to use something that big.

But to be honest, most of the time I don't bother because I'm squatting- I lived in Asia long enough that it is second nature. When I blew out my MCL, I wasn't able to squat for at least a year, and I think that bothered me more than anything else, except perhaps for the pain. At least at that time I was no longer living somewhere where it was essential for toilet use....
(if you aren't familiar with the "asian squat", https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/03/can-you-do-the-asian-squat/555716/ )

Squatting is done world-round except in societies that have lost it.  Virtually all children can squat.  

If you have trouble staying up, you can try turning your feet outward more and may be able to make it; or try putting a 2x under your heels to give a little "downhill" advantage.  

It's great to be able to vary positions when working (squat, kneel, squat on toes, one-side-squat-kneel, stand and bend at the hips, etc.)  

And, once again, as I have said dozens of times, the quality of movement has a great impact and not merely the gross movements themselves.

It may be very hard so you can use more softly that give you better attention to your work.

The few knee protectors I've used have not stayed in place or have cut off circulation to my lower legs.  I'd be tempted to sew some pads into my pants if it wouldn't look silly for the 99% of the time I'm not kneeling.

Mike, if I were you I'd sew in those knee pads into my work pants. 100 years from now it won't matter if someone thought it looked silly. In fact, it really doesn't matter if someone thinks it's silly now.  Somewhere along the line I got old enough to stop caring about my self image and started caring about myself instead. I'm much happier now.

Joshua - I'm with you, I prefer squatting. Kneeling is very hard on my back, it's that leaning slightly forward thing that kills me.

Good point Su  Now I just need to find the right pad to sew in.  Anyone know what would work?

Mike, the ones I have are the same consistency as a pool noodle, they are super light and I imagine they wouldn't be too much in the way.  tehy're similar to these but with no cool stripes, i think i bought them in the big box hardware store. kneepads on amazon

Oh, so take a normal knee pad and sew/attach it.  I was imagining I'd need a larger piece of foam since blue jeans tend to be baggy in the knee area.  But I'm probably over thinking it.

How would I attach that type of foam to denim?  I'm no seamster and the missus is only a passable seamstress.  Maybe sewing a pocket on the inside of the pant leg that the foam can slip into would do the trick.  Then if I'm feeling conventional I can pop them out before going to town.

i have an ancient, beloved pair of carhartts that are at least as old as my kid (20?). they are rather beat up but still good, and I doubled the knee area (which was getting worn out) by just stitching in another layer of denim, just parallel to the normal knee seams - easy enough.
I imagine if you made that extra layer a bit extra baggy (play of an extra inch or two on each side, test it out by pinning the fabric on there loosely over the pad) one of these pads could fit in easily, and you could stitch it along the bottom to make a pocket, take em out or put em in as you please (probably better done before putting them on, lol).

Seems I remember from long ago, 1955?, you could buy jeans that had doubled material on the knees _and_ some that had pockets on the knees. Been a while, though. Might be mixing them up with the jeans that have double material on the knees that does not have horizontal seams stitched - the overlap slides and thus does not bind when the knee bends.

Rufus

Working as an electrician,  kneeling and squatting was OK,  sitting was discouraged.
Apparently sitting=lazy to them.
Working as a plumber, I learned to bring my own seat with me,5 gallon bucket FTW.