Knee sleeve tightness

[timelinex]

I started having some knee pain on the outside of my knees during the parallel and bellow part of the ROM (even with air squats). I think it is from irritation on the knee from a tight IT band (Just a guess from my reading on the topic). Regardless, alot of people recommended knee sleeves for all sorts of knee pains. So I bought some SBD sleeves.

First thing I wanted to say is WOW. I've only tried air squats so far, but not only is there no pain during any part of the ROM, but my knees just feel WAY more solid. They feel like tanks through out the entire movement.

My only concern is sizing. According to measurements, my knee joint measured at the bottom end of an XL. They say if you have smaller calfs than your knee joint that you can size it down. So I got a large. I'm not competing and I'm not looking for any help lifting the weight. I just want to keep my knees healthy. Whats a good tightness for this? After some practice, It's still a bit of a hassle, but I can put them on in decent time. They aren't cutting off circulation, but it's still a bit uncomfortable to have something squeezing that tight. Walking around obviously feels funny as well.

Does that sound like it might be too tight for my purposes, or will it break in a little and I will get used to it (so its perfect)?

[Lawrie Abbott]

Sounds about right. They will stretch a bit too.

I use large for normal training and a medium for competition. They are a bugger to get on and very uncomfortable, but they are only on for a half an hour or so every few months.You have to be able to live with the training pair long term so if you can still feel your feet, you're good to go.