BACKGROUND Several studies have been carried out in order to investigate the effect of ankle bracing on ankle joint function and performance. However, no study so far has examined the role of skin-brace interface pressure in neuromuscular control. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of different skin-ankle brace interface pressures on quiet single limb balance and the electromyo...

BACKGROUND Several reports have suggested low bone mineral density (BMD) in patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). We determined bone mineral status in patients with AIS to evaluate the effect of brace treatment on BMD. METHODS BMD was measured in 46 patients (mean age, 17.8 ± 4.9 years) with AIS (17 with brace and 29 without brace) by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scan and c...

Small knee flexion angles at initial contact and large ground reaction forces during landing have been identified as risk factors for non-contact anterior cruciate ligament injuries that are common in sports. This study investigated the effects of knee extension constraint on knee flexion angle and ground reaction forces for patients who were 4-6 months post ACL reconstruction surgery, and also...

Methods This study used data from 171 BrAIST subjects that were in the randomized and preference brace treatment groups at baseline and did not switch to observation at any time during the study. Brace wear adherence categories were based on dose-response range efficacy findings in the BrAIST study. The three groups were: least adherent (0-6), middle adherent (6.1-12.8) and most adherent (≥ 12....

Methods This is a prospective, randomized study. The research was done in 22 girls (mean age 15±1.7 y.) with DM idiopathic scoliosis (mean Cobb angle 33 degrees). These patients were qualified to conservative treatment using Chêneau’s brace. Every studied person was acquainted with the technique of carrying out 6MWT, and realized the tentative test before proper exercise tests in the aim of the...

Objectives in treating primarily unicompartmental knee arthritis with a load-shifting brace are pain relief, compliance, brace durability, and complication-free treatment over multiple years. This was a single institution retrospective chart review, radiograph review, and telephone survey of patients treated from 1997 to 1999 with a load-shifting knee brace. Forty-six patients (49 knees) with a...

Previous research has shown that people become pessimistic about potentially bad news to "brace for the worst." Three studies examined whether people brace differently for rare and common negative events. Results reveal that people brace more for rare negative events than for common negative events (Studies 1-3a), but only when the event is self-relevant (Study 3b). Results also show that peopl...

Traumatic dislocations of the shoulder commonly present to emergency departments (EDs). Immediate closed reduction of both anterior and posterior glenohumeral dislocations is recommended and is frequently performed in the ED. Recurrence of dislocation is common, as anteroinferior labral tears (Bankart lesions) are present in many anterior shoulder dislocations.14,15,18,23 Immobilization of the ...

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...

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...