Extract
Previous kinematic studies on the effects of knee braces have
concentrated primarily on the anterior cruciate ligament and the effects of
bracing to stabilize the knee that has a deficiency of this
ligament1-23.
The majority of those studies have concentrated on the analysis of functional
knee braces with use of
arthrometers2,3,5-8,10-15.
Other studies have concentrated on the analysis of femorotibial translation
through the use of roentgen stereophotogrammetric analysis
techniques4,9,16,17,
subjective evaluation of bracing by categorizing pain and functional
ability18-22,
and the determination of the effectiveness of different types of knee braces,
such as cast
bracing23-26.
Although minimal research evaluating the efficiency of off-loading braces for
the treatment of unicompartmental arthritic degeneration has been performed, a
previous study with an initial fluoroscopic analysis determined that bracing
is an effective treatment for osteoarthritis of the knee in nonobese patients
under weight-bearing
conditions27. In
that investigation of a single type of brace, the results were not assessed
for three-dimensional motion and the study did not determine whether different
types of osteoarthritic knee braces would perform well under similar
conditions.