Biomechanical Study of a Tricompartmental Unloader Brace for Patellofemoral or Multicompartment Knee Osteoarthritis.

ABSTRACT: Objective: Off-loader knee braces have traditionally focused on redistributing loads away from either the medial or lateral tibiofemoral (TF) compartments. In this article, we study the potential of a novel "tricompartment unloader" (TCU) knee brace intended to simultaneously unload both the patellofemoral (PF) and TF joints during knee flexion. Three different models of the TCU brace are evaluated for their potential to unload the knee joint. Methods: A sagittal plane model of the knee was used to compute PF and TF contact forces, patellar and quadriceps tendon forces, and forces in the anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments during a deep knee bend (DKB) test using motion analysis data from eight participants. Forces were computed for the observed (no brace) and simulated

SUBMITTER: McGibbon CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7876241 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature