A Brace for Everything, and Everything in its Brace

I have amassed quite the collection of medical supplies over the years. Knee injuries have inspired me to procure some knee braces (with open patella, thank you very much) in the event that either the knee is hurting, or I've aggravated it severely in some way. I've had a couple of near-redislocations over the years since the first, disastrous injury; when that happens, the knee is sore as sin for several days thereafter. Anyway, I have a couple of kinds of knee brace as a result of this.

Then there are the carpal tunnel symptoms. Result: two wrist braces for when THAT acts up.

I had some serious repetitive-stress injury pain in my elbow about three years ago. I STILL don't know what was causing it, but in the weeks before it finally cleared up, an elbow brace proved to be helpful.

I *still* have serious pain some days in my thumb area (the region between the wrist and the first thumb joint, in both hands. Hello, thumb splints. That seems to help.

Finally, I have been experiencing chronic ankle pain in the past few months. It's actually a part of the reason that I went back to the gym, as I was concerned that the extra poundage was the source of the ankle pain. Well, some of that poundage is gone, and all the walking I've been doing has surely strengthened the muscles somewhat by now. But both ankles do have an extensive injury history, so I've come to the conclusion that this soreness might require a bit more effort to resolve than merely losing weight (which I'll continue to do anyway). So now I have invested in two neoprene ankle braces. I'll wear THOSE on the treadmill and on painful days, and see if that helps matters any. Can't hurt, might help.

But the long and short of it is, I have more freaking braces in this house than the nearby pharmacy. Good grief, lol.