Pneumatic osteoarthritis knee brace.
Knee osteoarthritis is a chronic disease that necessitates long term therapeutic intervention. Biomechanical studies have demonstrated an improvement in the external adduction moment with application of a valgus knee brace. Despite being both efficacious and safe, due to their rigid frame and bulkiness, current designs of knee braces create discomfort and difficulties to patients during prolonged periods of application. Here we propose a novel design of a light osteoarthritis knee brace, which is made of soft conforming materials. Our design relies on a pneumatic leverage system, which, when pressurized, reduces the excessive loads predominantly affecting the medial compartment of the knee and eventually reverses the malalignment. Using a finite-element analysis, we show that with a moderate level of applied pressure, this pneumatic brace can, in theory, counterbalance a greater fraction of external adduction moment than the currently existing braces.
Stamenović
Dimitrije
D
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, 44 Cummington Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA. dimitrij@bu.edu
Kojić
Milos
M
Stojanović
Boban
B
Hunter
David
D
D001915:Braces; D055119:Elastic Modulus; D004548:Elasticity; D004867:Equipment Design; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D020342:Finite Element Analysis; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008954:Models, Biological; D020370:Osteoarthritis, Knee / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D016474:Weight-Bearing