Immediate effects of a knee brace with a constraint to knee extension on knee kinematics and ground reaction forces in a stop-jump task.
BACKGROUND
A small knee flexion angle in landing tasks was identified as a possible risk factor for noncontact anterior cruciate ligament injuries that are common in sports.


OBJECTIVE
A specially designed knee brace with a constraint to knee extension would significantly increase the knee flexion angle at the landing of athletic tasks preceded with horizontal movement components, such as stop-jump tasks.


METHODS
Repeated measure design for brace effects.


METHODS
Three-dimensional videographic and force plate data were collected for 10 male and 10 female recreational athletes performing a stop-jump task with and without the specially designed brace. Knee flexion angle at landing, maximum knee flexion angle, and peak ground reaction forces during the stance phase of the stop-jump task were determined for each subject with and without the knee brace.


RESULTS
The knee brace decreased the knee flexion angle at the landing by 5 degrees for both genders but did not significantly affect the peak ground reaction forces during the landing.


CONCLUSIONS
The specially designed knee brace may be a useful device in the prevention and rehabilitation of noncontact anterior cruciate ligament injuries in sports.
Yu
Bing
B
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 27599-7135, USA. byu@med.unc.edu
Herman
Daniel
D
Preston
Jennifer
J
Lu
William
W
Kirkendall
Donald T
DT
Garrett
William E
WE
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001915:Braces; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular / Q000502:physiology*; D013177:Sports / Q000502:physiology