BACKGROUND Unloading knee braces can provide good short-term pain relief for some patients with unicompartmental osteoarthritis (UOA). Their cost is relatively small compared with surgical interventions. However, no previous studies have reported their use over a duration of 5 years or more. METHODS Up to 8 years of prospective data were collected from 63 patients who presented with UOA. Afte...

This research analyzed the effect of bilateral hinged knee braces on a healthy knee from a biomechanical frame in vivo. This was accomplished by fitting a knee brace with two customized wireless force/torque (F/T) sensors that could readily record force and torque during live motion, while the kinetics at the knee were computed using the inverse dynamics of the motion capture and force plate da...

This study presents a pilot investigation into the effectiveness of unloader knee braces for osteoarthritis subjects. The unloading effect of the brace was modeled by applying a knee abduction moment as a function of the brace deflection angle, eliminating the need for load sensors on the knee brace. The use of a detailed musculoskeletal model provided the means to evaluate the relative importa...

Previous in-vivo investigations on the stabilizing efficacy of knee bracing for ACL reconstructed patients have been often limited to 20-30 degrees of knee flexion. In this study, the effectiveness of a uniaxial hinged functional brace to improve the knee stability was assessed at 30, 60 and 90 degrees of knee flexion. Arthrometry tests were conducted on 15 healthy subjects before and following...

The biomechanical effectiveness of a valgus-inducing knee brace was investigated for 16 patients with knee osteoarthritis (mean +/- standard deviation age 56 +/- 10 yr, height 172 +/- 9 cm, mass 83 +/- 7 kg, body mass index 27.6 +/- 4.5 kg/m(2)). At the time of investigation, all subjects had been wearing the brace for at least 4 weeks. In addition to conducting standard gait analysis, we calcu...

We describe the influence of the angle of immobilisation during partial weight-bearing on the forces across the extensor mechanism of the knee. Gait analysis was performed on eight healthy male subjects with the right knee in an orthotic brace locked at 0 degree, 10 degrees, 20 degrees and 30 degrees, with the brace unlocked and also without a brace. The ground reaction force, the angle of the ...

BACKGROUND Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction is associated with a high incidence of second tears (graft tears and contralateral ACL tears). These secondary tears have been attributed to asymmetrical lower extremity mechanics. Knee bracing is one potential intervention that can be used during rehabilitation that has the potential to normalize lower extremity asymmetry; however, lit...

INTRODUCTION Knee osteoarthritis causes debilitating pain, and results in characteristic gait changes. Some authors believe that a system of neuromuscular retraining may improve these parameters. We therefore evaluated a novel brace that combines pneumatic joint unloading and active swing-assist to assess: (1) differences in pain levels or medication usage; (2) reductions in additional interven...

BACKGROUND There are many opinions and controversies regard the effect of lateral wedge insoles and valgus stress 3point knee braces in treatment of medial compartment knee osteoarthritis (OA). In this study we compared the effect of lateral wedge insoles and 3 point knee supports in treatment of medial compartment knee OA. METHOD Sixty patients (35-65 years), with knee pain and genu varum an...