Unloader Braces for Medial Compartment Knee Osteoarthritis: Implications on Mediating Progression

Unloader Braces for Medial Compartment Knee Osteoarthritis: Implications on Mediating Progression

Unloader Braces for Medial Compartment Knee Osteoarthritis

BACKGROUND For persons with unicompartment knee osteoarthritis (OA), off-unloader braces are a mechanical intervention designed to reduce pain, improve physical function, and possibly slow disease progression. Pain relief is thought to be mediated by distracting the involved compartment via external varus or valgus forces applied to the knee. In so doing, tibiofemoral alignment is improved, and...

A novel method to analyze the mechanics of unloader braces for medial knee osteoarthritis

Marcus Brown Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada Background Bracing is a treatment option for medial knee osteoarthritis [1] that unloads the medial knee through the application of an external moment (brace moment) [2]. In theory, the brace moment is designed to reduce the total external adduction moment, as disease severity and external addu...

A comparison of knee braces during walking for the treatment of osteoarthritis of the medial compartment of the knee.

In this cross-over study, we evaluated two types of knee brace commonly used in the conservative treatment of osteoarthritis of the medial compartment. Twelve patients confirmed radiologically as having unilateral osteoarthritis of the medial compartment (Larsen grade 2 to grade 4) were studied. Treatment with a simple hinged brace was compared with that using a valgus corrective brace. Knee ki...

Kinematic and Kinetic Changes with Valgus Unloader Braces in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis

INTRODUCTION Valgus unloader knee braces (VUB) are designed to decrease medial compartment knee loading and are effective at improving the clinical status of patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA) [1]. Whether medial comparment unloading is a consistent result of VUB or whether other kinematic and kinetic alterations occur while the VUB is worn during gait requires further exploration. The purp...