Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA
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Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc · Jan 2001
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialBracing versus nonbracing in rehabilitation after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: a randomized prospective study with 2-year follow-up.
This study prospectively randomized 62 patients to rehabilitation programs either with or without postoperative brace for 6 weeks following bone-tendon-bone anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. The nonbraced group had a smaller knee circumference 2 weeks after surgery. At 6-month follow-up the nonbraced group had a better Tegner score. ⋯ There were no differences between the groups in either subjective or objective knee stability at 2 or 6 weeks or at follow-up 3, 6, and 24 months after surgery. This study found no benefit of using a postoperative knee brace on patients' knee function at any stage up to 24 months after surgery. Furthermore, the braced group was not more stable than the nonbraced group, indicating that the brace does not contribute to a more stable knee during rehabilitation or 2-year follow-up.