Knee joint angle sensing in healthy young adults using flexible orthosis with different wearing pressure.
Hiroaki Yamamoto, Chikamune Wada
PMID 34219960WHAT IT FOUND
In healthy young men, a soft knee brace at standard or tight pressure did not improve knee position sense compared with no brace.
Tight pressure produced the largest errors.
Key findings
01No significant difference was found among not wearing, standard force, and tight force conditions, and the largest joint position sense errors occurred with tight force at both 30° and 60° flexion.
02At 30° flexion, mean error was 2.5 ± 1.5° in the not wearing condition, 3.0 ± 2.7° in the standard force condition, and 3.8 ± 1.8° in the tight force condition.
03At 60° flexion, mean error was 4.2 ± 2.8° in the not wearing condition, 3.7 ± 2.0° in the standard force condition, and 4.5 ± 2.3° in the tight force condition.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The study included only 8 healthy males with 14 knee joints, so it cannot show what happens in people with knee osteoarthritis or impaired joint position sense. The authors suggest the null result may reflect normal knee function in healthy participants, leaving little room for improvement. The tight force condition showed the largest errors, but this was not a statistically significant difference, so it should not be read as proof that overtightening worsens position sense.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that tighter knee braces improve knee position sense or help patients with knee osteoarthritis. The study tested healthy young men, found no significant difference among brace pressure conditions, and reported the largest errors in the tight condition.