Go down stairs like you used to, with a little band under the kneecap

That drawer full of sleeves and braces doesn't mean your knee is beyond help. It means they were aimed at the wrong spot. A sleeve squeezes your whole knee and rolls down your calf by lunchtime, and a foam strap slides off the spot or gets cranked too tight, so the tendon just below your kneecap, the one that takes the hit on every stair, never gets any help.

KeepUp's soft silicone pad sits right on that spot, takes the load off it and grips your skin so it stays there all day. And nothing in that drawer came with a plan to make your legs stronger, which is what the 6-week guide does. Try both for 60 days, and if they don't help, you get every cent back.

Yes. Lots of people wear this strap while they're getting back from a knee setback, because the pad takes load off the tendon on stairs and walks, so you can keep moving instead of sitting it out. If it's a fresh injury, get it checked first, then put the strap on and start the guide at Level 1.

Yes. It's built on the same slow, progressive strength work physiotherapists use to get knees back in shape. It starts gentle, adds a little each week, and has a traffic-light rule so you always know how hard to push. Plenty of people use it alongside their physiotherapy plan, or to keep going once their sessions end.

Yes, and it's small on purpose, because it only has one job. It presses on the tendon just below your kneecap and takes load off it, right where stairs, hills and getting up from a chair put the most strain, so you feel steadier from the first step. In a randomized trial of 97 athletes with jumper's knee, a patellar strap reduced knee discomfort during a single-leg squat compared with no strap. ¹

Then the guide builds the leg strength that keeps your knees doing their job long after the first week, and that pairing is what keeps you on your walks, down in the garden and on the floor with the grandkids.

You can, and that's what nearly everyone tries first. The trouble is that rest calms a sore knee for a while but doesn't make it any stronger, so the ache is waiting for you the next time you take the stairs, kneel in the garden or walk to the end of the block. Meanwhile you're skipping the walks, your legs are getting weaker, and every week of that makes the next flight of stairs harder. Nobody wants to wait it out until the conversation turns to scans and surgery.

Modern physiotherapists do it the other way around. They take the load off the knee and build the legs back up, slowly, a little more each week. The strap does the first part the moment it's on and the guide does the second, and you can do session 1 tonight.

The guide is the part that makes this last. The strap takes the load off today, and the guide builds legs strong enough that your knees stop dreading the stairs. It's built on the methods modern physiotherapists use for knees, slow strength work that starts easy and asks a little more of your legs each week, and it's the approach that has helped thousands of people go from sitting it out to keeping up again.

You do three 15-minute sessions a week at home with a wall, a chair and one stair, so there's no gym and no weights. Weeks 1 and 2 start easy, and by the end of them the stairs start to feel like less of a project. Weeks 3 and 4 add the slow step-down you use coming down the stairs, so you feel steadier on the way down. Weeks 5 and 6 build up to one leg at a time, the strength that gets you up off the floor without reaching for the couch and back out on the long walks. It's in your inbox right after you order, so you can start tonight, before the straps even arrive.

No, it stays put once it's on the right spot, and that's the complaint that sinks most straps. The silicone pad grips your skin and a buckle on each end pulls it on evenly, so it stays put through a long walk, an afternoon kneeling in the garden and a full game. Put the pad on the soft spot just under your kneecap, pull both ends snug and bend your knee a few times, and you're set for the day.

No, because you set the fit yourself. You pull the buckles to snug and stop there, since tighter doesn't work any better. It's one flat strip, so the rest of your knee stays open to the air instead of turning into a sauna the way it does in a sleeve, and you can wear it all day under jeans or work pants and forget it's there.

Yes. It's one size and the strap adjusts to fit most legs, slim or strong. If you have bigger legs and want to be sure, email us the measurement around your leg just under the kneecap before you order and we'll check it for you. And if it still isn't right, the 60-day promise has you covered.

Two is the smart choice, and here's why. One pair covers both your knees, because it's rarely just one knee. Two pairs gets you four straps for $54.99, which works out to $27.50 a pair, so you save $12.49 a pair. That second set can go to your husband or wife, your walking buddy or whoever you've watched hesitate at the top of the stairs, or it stays in the car so you're never without a pair when the other one's in the wash.

You get the guide with either pack, and it's a lot easier to stick with when there are two of you doing it after breakfast.

Fast, free shipping to the US. Most orders arrive in 7–11 days, with tracking from day one. The guide doesn't wait for the mail, though. It's emailed right after you order, so you can do your first session before the straps arrive.

Yes. It's built on the methods modern physiotherapists use to get knees strong again after an injury: slow strength work that adds a little each week, so your knee takes more load without flaring up. That approach has helped thousands of people get back to the stairs, the walks and the game, and the guide puts it in 15 minutes a day at home, while the strap takes the load off from the first step.

Then you get your money back. Email us any time within 60 days of delivery and we'll refund you in full, with nothing to fill in and nothing to send back, and you keep the straps. So the worst case is you tried it for free. The best case is the stairs, the walks and the Saturday round stop being a problem.