"The Surprising Link Between Sleep and Knee Pains?"

April 12th, 2023 | Written By Joanna Magat

I had never felt pain like this before. It was 9am and I was crossing the street with a bag full of groceries in both hands. I tried bending my knee again, and quite literally could feel something scraping inside of it. 

BEEP! A car about six feet away from me angrily signaled for me to get across the street already. Only I couldn’t. Whenever I tried to move my knee there was a sharp pain that jolted up the entire side of my knee like wildfire. I thought maybe I had dislocated it or something. 

BEEP! BEEP! Desperate to get out of the road, and away from this frustrated driver, I decided to power through the pain. But when I put my knee down, I had no stability, and BOOM!I fell hard. 

I’m not exactly sure what happened next, but when I looked around my groceries were everywhere and two gentlemen were helping me to my feet. After carrying me to the sidewalk and dusting me off, the older of the two gentlemen asked me what happened and if I was ok…

As I looked around at the stopped cars, onlooking bystanders and my ruined groceries still rolling around in the middle of the street - I felt more confused and scared than ever before in my 53 years of age…

As I’d learn later, this was my first osteoarthritis flare-up

The pain didn’t go away. In fact, it got worse in the coming days. It was most extreme in the morning, and each day I felt my knee getting progressively more stiff. Then it started to throb and ache at night. This made it extremely difficult to sleep, which made my mornings, and overall mood even more unenjoyable. 

My husband started to worry because we had a weekend trip to Lake Tahoe planned with our hiking group in a few weeks and I could hardly walk around the house. I decided to go see a sports orthopedic surgeon our family has seen for a number of years for some answers. 

She told me the outside edge of my left knee is pretty much bone on bone, and the right knee will follow shortly. Cause unknown, outcome uncertain. She said I should get a bandage wrap and medical tape from Walgreens. Which I did - except they didn’t help at all. 

So I went online and read up on osteoarthritis treatments. I tried getting fancy orthopedic shoes, got knee braces off Amazon, started taking collagen and calcium supplements. Maybe some of it helped a bit, but there was no real relief. The aching and unpredictable flare-ups were still there, and it was starting to take a toll. 

As the weekend trip with our hiking group approached, it became obvious I wouldn’t be able to go. My knee pain was just too excruciating and unpredictable. 

This was shattering news for me. I was really looking forward to hiking in the mountains, seeing my friends and spending quality time with my husband. And now walking around freely and being mobile wasn’t something I could do.

This loss was a HUGE part of my daily life and social circle. I never realized how much I took my healthy knees for granted until this overwhelming feeling of helplessness. 

It wasn’t the non-refundable airline ticket that stung the most that weekend. It was the fact I was trapped at home by myself while all my friends were out enjoying the mountains in Lake Tahoe. 

I missed out, and it was devastating. 

“HONEY!” My husband yelled as he threw open the door. 

I was expecting him to tell me how amazing the trip was and how I missed out but instead he frantically started unpacking his bag.

“I have something for you” he said excitedly, as he unzipped what seemed like every compartment in his backpack. 

“Here! I got it. Now close your eyes!” he teased as he put something behind his back. 

“So you remember Doug Shields, the really fast older guy in our hiking group?”

Waiting for him to continue I sheepishly mumbled “Yes…”

“Well I was telling him about why you couldn’t come on the trip because of your knee arthritis, and he told me he has the same exact problem! I was obviously shocked to hear this because he’s one of the fastest hikers in the group. So I asked him what his secret is?”

He paused for a second and then whispered playfully “And then he told me his secret!” 

I perched up from my slouched posture, suspensefully waiting to hear more.

“It’s this!” he answered playfully as he revealed what was behind his back.

When I saw it, my heart sank. “It looks like a knee brace - I’ve tried those and they don’t help.”

No, no, he insisted, “this is a special one. Doug told me he tried 20 different knee braces, and none of them worked. But then his holistic doctor recommended this new sleeve made of natural bamboo compression. Apparently he wears it while sleeping and it helps his knee recover throughout the night. Just feel it!” And then he threw the sleeve into my lap. 

I grabbed the sleeve which had a nice weight to it, and ran my fingers across the gentle compression fibers which were tightly bound in a criss-cross pattern. It was extremely soft, and stretchy. It felt expensive. 

“How much was this?” I asked my husband.

He squinted at me “not sure, Doug gave that one to me for free, but said you should buy the correct size from their website.” 

As you can probably guess, I was extremely skeptical. “Alright let’s see if it can get my knee working right again.”

“Let’s hope so, because you missed out on an AMAZING trip!” my husband teased as he sat down ready to tell me all the details about the trip. 

So after the first night of wearing the Onecompress Bamboo kneesleeve, there was no significant change to my knee in the morning. I slept much better, because the soft compression felt nice and eased the throbbing. But night 2?

After night 2, my knee felt much smoother. To be fair, I can’t be sure it was the effect of the kneesleeve (though I’ll tell you in a second why I believe it was). In any case, by the end of the first week, I had no doubts anymore. 

The swelling in my knee decreased drastically, and that “scraping” feeling was nearly gone. Sure, I wasn’t back to hiking mountains yet and my knee wasn’t fully recovered. 

But I could move around, and go about my daily routine without agonizing bone-on-bone pain again. And honestly whenever it got sore, I would put the onecompress bamboo sleeve on to help ease it. It was making a HUGE difference, and I was finally hopeful! 

As I’m writing this my husband is packing our packs for a small day hike nearby. It’s been about 3 weeks since I started wearing the Onecompress Bamboo kneesleeve to bed every night, and I’m thrilled. It’s helped my knee immensely, and I’m so grateful to have my mobility back. 

And one week ago, I actually received two brand new sleeves because the original one from Doug was a little big. I’ll tell you they’re even more effective in the right size. Another great thing about ordering from Onecompress was the strength and flexibility exercises they send you after purchasing. 

I’ve found wearing the sleeves to bed allows my knee to recover enough to follow the simple exercises without pain. Which in turn strengthens my knee making it more stable and slowing progression in the osteoarthritis.

This combination has made all the difference. I truly can’t express how happy I am to have found these Onecompress Bamboo Kneesleeves. 

From what I gathered Onecompress™ uses a specialized bamboo compression material. The knee sleeve has 3 precision zones designed to provide therapeutic pressure and promote healing in the knee. 

The constant pressure improves blood flow by up to 40%. This signals your body to release helpful oxygen and nutrients that ease pain and help regenerate important parts of your knee.

All this happens once you slide the sleeve on your knee and requires zero effort. That's my kind of solution!

Aside from osteoarthritis - it can help with things like: tendonitis, swelling, stiffness, tears, bursitis, sprains and more.

Here’s how you can try Onecompress™ Bamboo Kneesleeves (if there is still stock available)

NOTE: They are only available online, and can’t be found in stores.

1. Order Onecompress™ Bamboo Kneesleeves from the company's official website below:

2. Start improving your knees with zero effort for great benefits.

The link to their website is included below. Last time we checked they were all sold out (seems they are having a hard time keeping up with demand), so if they're available we’d recommend getting them - especially if they are still on sale.

Thank you for reading and be well!