Knee brace wear can boost proprioception, German study finds

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Biomechanics Magazine August 2006

Knee brace wear can boost proprioception, German study finds

By: Jordana Bieze

http://biomech.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=192700628

German research suggests that wearing a knee brace improves

performance on proprioceptive tests in subjects as young as 12 years

old, although proprioception overall appears to increase with age.

Investigators from the University of Hamburg tested proprioception

with and without a knee brace in 60 subjects, of whom 20 were very

young (average age 12 years), 20 young (16 years), and 20 adult (27

years). All subjects performed an angle reproduction test at varying

degrees of knee flexion and dynamic balance tests involving single-

leg and two-leg stance.

Although angle reproduction error increased with knee flexion angle

in the young and very young groups, brace wear was associated with

improvement of 20% to 30% in all groups, for both dominant and

nondominant limbs.

The researchers also found that brace wear was associated with

improved balance index scores during single-leg stance, regardless of

leg dominance.

The findings were presented in June at the annual ACSM meeting.