A questionnaire survey of patient satisfaction with the provision of lower limb orthoses from a district general hospital was conducted. Lower limb orthoses included "made-to-measure" footwear, knee braces and ankle-foot-orthoses (AFO's). Prescriptions for footwear and AFO's during a one year period, and knee braces over a two year period were assessed. The survey did not confine itself to a si...

Braces designed to unload the more diseased compartment of the knee have been used to provide symptomatic relief from osteoarthritis (OA). Research on the efficacy of these braces is needed. Thirty-one patients with knee OA were randomized to receive an unloader brace (n = 16) or not to receive a brace (control group, n = 15). Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcomes Score (KOOS) and visual anal...

Background The knee is the most common site of running related injuries (42.1% of all injuries). Orthoses are thought to manage knee pain by reducing internal tibial rotation as the subtalar joint pronates. However, the influence of the footwear that orthoses are placed in is often ignored. This study aimed to determine the immediate effects of footwear and foot orthoses on transverse plane rot...

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...

BACKGROUND Despite evidence for use of foot orthoses in the treatment of anterior knee pain, there is a paucity of research into their mechanisms of action. This study (i) determined the immediate lower limb kinematics and muscle activity adaptations, and (ii) evaluated the effect of individual's comfort and foot mobility. METHODS Forty individuals diagnosed with anterior knee pain were measu...

We examined the effects of medially wedged foot orthoses on knee and hip joint mechanics during running in females with and without patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS). We also tested if these effects depend on standing calcaneal eversion angle. Twenty female runners with and without PFPS participated. Knee and hip joint transverse and frontal plane peak angle, excursion, and peak internal knee...

Braces are commonly used for the management of musculoskeletal injuries. With improvements in design and application, the knee brace has gained recognition by many as a treatment and prevention modality. However, there exist many different categories of knee braces, leading to confusion among many end users. The theoretical basis of the mechanism of action of the unloader, prophylactic, patello...

Users of traditional knee-ankle-foot orthoses (KAFOs) walk with either locked or unlocked knee joints depending on the level of stability required. Some users may benefit from new stance-control KAFOs that prevent stance-phase knee flexion but allow swing-phase flexion. We collected data from nine nondisabled adults who walked with KAFOs that incorporated the Horton Stance-Control Orthotic Knee...

The goal of this study was to investigate clinically relevant biomechanical conditions relating to the setup and alignment of knee-ankle-foot orthoses and the influence of these conditions on knee extension moments and orthotic stance control during gait. Knee moments were collected using an instrumented gait laboratory and concurrently a load transducer embedded at the knee-ankle-foot orthosis...

Background Mechanical foot pain is a syndrome in which local pain is associated with musculoskeletal tissues, occurring as a result of mechanical stress. Recent research has indicated that bone marrow lesions (BML) in the knee are associated with mechanical knee pain and increased forces, and that changing the forces within the knee can alter the pattern of BML. As foot orthoses are thought to ...