THE EFFECT OF FUNCTIONAL KNEE BRACE MIGRATION ON THE KNEE JOINT MOMENT AND POWER PATTERNS DURING WALKING

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the differences in joint moment and power patterns during walking with and without a functional knee brace and when the brace was deliberately misaligned with the knee axis of rotation. Five participants were asked to walk over a force platform with and without the brace as well as during a condition where the axis of rotation of the brace had been deliberately shifted 1 cm down the leg. Inverse dynamics were used to calculate changes in joint moments and powers at the knee joint. Initial findings indicate that the extensor moment during push-off and ils corresponding eccentric power were greatest in the braced and misaligned brace conditions, though the differences in peak joint moments and powers between these two conditions was not large enough to implicate brace migration as an injury mechanism. KEY WORDS: knee brace, inverse dynamics, locomotion, walking. INTRODUCTION: Since the 1960s, there has been a deluge of functional knee brace designs appearing on the market in order to resolve the problem of knee instability and ACL insufficiency in the athletically active population. Despite the fact that functional knee braces have been commonly believed to positively affect the performance of individuals with knee instability, ther