In just a few decades the sports brace industry has come along way. TodayÕs lightweight, durable and technologically-advanced new deisigns, make the bulky modles of the past look so basic and ancient that they donÕt even compare to the new designs of today.
The need for braces of all kinds still continues to grow, even though experts continue to examine the effectiveness of funtional braces and still when so little conclusive data on exactly how or why these seem to their job. And although sports medicine and surgical procedures improve and or make it possible for more and more atheletes to recover from and continue to keep playing after serious knee injuries, braces still top the charts for what athletes wear when the return to their sport.
The athleteÕs choice of wearing a brace may seem pretty obvious, but the decision of which one is the right one is a little more difficult than you would think. Just as every brace is different from the next so does the physical needs of each athlete, and only the athlete-with help of their coach, physical therapist, and athletic trainer-can make the right choice.
The American Acadamy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS) divides braces into three different catagories: prophylactic, rahabilitive, and funtional. Prophylactic knee braces are those that are meant to prevent or reduce the severity of the injuries to the knee. Rehabilitive braces, which are used after surguries, restrict leg motion more then the other two types. Funtional braces are designed for the stability of the knee joint.
In most cases, the stability that is provided by functional braces is required to make up for the deficits in the ligaments of knee.