Garment with enhanced knee support

A garment for wearing on the lower body portion of a person, the lower body portion including the person's waist, hips, and at least one leg, the leg including an upper leg portion joined at one of the person's hips and a lower leg portion hingedly joined to the upper leg portion by a knee, the garment comprising:

• a trunk portion configured to be received over the person's waist and hips when the garment is worn by the person;
• a generally tubular leg portion extending downwardly from the trunk portion and configured to be received over the upper leg portion, knee, and at least a substantial portion of the lower leg portion of the person when the garment is worn by the person;
• the trunk portion and the leg portion comprising a plurality of load transferring sections separated by base sections, at least the base sections being stretchable and resilient so that the trunk portion and the leg portion are tightly fitted when the garment is worn by the person, the load transferring sections having a substantially higher resistance to tensile strain than the base sections;
• wherein said load transferring sections comprise:
• (a) a knee load distributing ring provided on a front portion of the leg portion, the knee load distributing ring being configured to surround a front of the person's knee when the garment is worn by the person with inner and outer lateral portions of the ring extending on opposing inner and outer lateral sides of the person's leg adjacent the knee, respectively, and upper and lower portions of the ring extending above and below the person's knee, respectively, to connect the inner and outer lateral portions;
• (b) an upper anchor portion provided on the trunk or leg portion, the upper anchor portion being secured substantially above the person's knee when the garment is worn by the person;
• (c) a lower anchor portion provided on the leg portion, the lower anchor portion being configured to be secured substantially below the person's knee when the garment is worn by the person;
• (d) lower lateral support portions that extend downwardly along the inner and outer lateral sides of the person's lower leg portion, respectively, when the garment is worn by the person and connect the inner and outer lateral portions of the knee load distribution ring to the lower anchor portion;
• (e) a main support band that extends upwardly along the outer lateral side of the person's upper leg portion when the garment is worn by the person and connects the outer later portion of the knee load distribution ring to the upper anchor portion;
• and
• (f) a transverse support band that extends generally transversely across a rear portion of the person's upper leg portion when the garment is worn by the person and connects the inner lateral portion of the knee load distribution ring to the main support band;
• wherein said load transferring sections are configured to cooperate to resist inward or outward lateral movement of the person's knee when the garment is worn by the person as a result of the connections between the inner and outer lateral portions of the knee load distribution ring and the upper anchor portion and the lower anchor portion.