• The Knee · Oct 2012

    Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study

    Effects of knee bracing on postural control after anterior cruciate ligament rupture.

    • Hans-Georg Palm, Florian Brattinger, Bernd Stegmueller, Gerhard Achatz, Hans-Joachim Riesner, and Benedikt Friemert.
    • Trauma Research Group, Department of Orthopedics and Trauma Surgery, German Armed Forces Hospital of Ulm, Ulm, Germany. HG_Palm@yahoo.de
    • Knee. 2012 Oct 1;19(5):664-71.

    Study DesignRandomized clinical trial.ObjectivesTo investigate the effects of functional knee braces on postural control in patients with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture.BackgroundACL rupture leads to both mechanical knee instability and deficits in proprioception. Although elastic knee braces do not increase mechanical stability, patients report improved stability when wearing a brace. Elastic braces were found to reduce the loss of proprioception. It is, however, still unclear whether they also improve postural control, which involves the processing of proprioceptive input at a higher level.MethodsWe studied 58 patients with isolated unilateral ACL rupture using computerized dynamic posturography and compared overall stability index (OSI) scores for injured and uninjured legs with and without a knee brace. In addition, patients were classified as copers and non-copers depending on knee function.ResultsWithin subjects, OSI scores were 3.0 ± 1.1° for uninjured legs when unbraced, 2.8±1.3° for uninjured legs when braced (p=0.17), 3.7 ± 1.5° for unbraced injured legs, and 2.9 ± 1.3° for braced injured legs (p<0.001). For the injured legs of copers and non-copers, OSI scores were 3.4° ± 1.2° for copers and 4.0° ± 1.6° for non-copers in the unbraced condition (p=0.11) and 2.7 ± 1.0° for copers and 3.1 ± 1.4° for non-copers in the braced condition (p=0.26).ConclusionElastic knee braces increase postural stability by approximately 22% in patients with ACL rupture. There was no difference in postural stability between uninjured and injured legs in the braced condition. One possible explanation is that bracing improves both proprioception and postural control.Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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