title: Effects of knee bracing on tibial rotation during high loading activities in anterior cruciate ligament-reconstructed knees.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To test whether knee bracing restores normal rotational knee kinematics in anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)-reconstructed knees during high-demand, athletic activities.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty male patients who had undergone unilateral ACL reconstruction with a bone-patellar tendon-bone autograft were assessed in vivo. The mean time from surgery to data collection was 26 months (range, 25 to 28 months). An 8-camera optoelectronic system was used to collect kinematic data while each patient performed 2 demanding tasks: (1) immediate pivoting after descending from a stair and (2) immediate pivoting after landing from a platform. Each task was performed under 3 conditions for the reconstructed knee: (1) wearing a prophylactic brace (braced condition), (2) wearing a patellofemoral brace (sleeved condition), and (3) without a brace (non-braced condition). As a control group, patients with intact ACLs were tested without any bracing. This study protocol was identical to the protocol of a previous study that investigated the effect of bracing on ACL-deficient athletes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For both tasks, the range of motion of tibial rotation was significantly lower in the intact knee compared with all 3 conditions of the ACL-reconstructed knee (P ≤ .014). Placing a brace or a sleeve on the ACL-reconstructed knee resulted in lower rotation than the non-braced condition (P ≤ .022), whereas no significant differences were found between the sleeved and the braced conditions (P ≥ .110).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Bracing limited the excessive tibial rotation in ACL-reconstructed knees during pivoting that occurs under high-demand activities. However, full restoration to normative values was not achieved. Thereby, braces have the potential to decrease rotational knee instability that still remains after ACL reconstruction.
authors.affiliation: Orthopaedic Sports Medicine Center, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece. Electronic address: dimitris.p.giotis@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Dimitrios
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Giotis
authors.forename: Franceska
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zampeli
authors.forename: Evangelos
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pappas
authors.forename: Grigoris
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mitsionis
authors.forename: Pericles
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Papadopoulos
authors.forename: Anastasios D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Georgoulis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016118:Anterior Cruciate Ligament / Q000502:physiology* / Q000601:surgery; D059549:Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena / Q000502:physiology*; D001915:Braces; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D006801:Humans; D007593:Joint Instability / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular / Q000502:physiology; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000502:physiology; D012399:Rotation; D013977:Tibia / Q000502:physiology*; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous