Varus or Valgus?

When choosing an unloader knee brace there is one thing you have to be certain about....

Which side of your knee the osteoarthritis is on.

Is it the inside (most common) or outside half of your knee?

If it is the inside part of your knee your Doctor may say you have a Varus knee - what is commonly called bowlegged.

When the outside half is worn, the foot tends outwards and this is described as having a Valgus knee. You may call it being knock-kneed.

An Unloading Knee Brace will only work if you get the right one. The wrong one will not only fail to help,it is likely to increase symptoms.

Knee Arthritis Community

One of the best online forums for all things related to the knee is:

http://www.kneeguru.co.uk/KNEEtalk/

There are sections on acute sporting injuries all the way through to knee osteoarthritis.

There is a good mix of health professionals, the first time injured and the old battle-axes who have been through many operations.

There is a lot of talk about operations but you will also find the odd discussion on non-surgical treatments like Hyaluronic acid injections, exercise and unloader knee braces.

It is a good place to catch up on developments and new procedure that may not yet be available in your country (e.g.the LARS ligament for ACL reconstructions). I go there frequently to catch up on the latest osteoarthritis news and I recommend registering or just browsing the forum topics to see if there is anything that interests you.

 

Unload - Don't Overload

Unloader Knee Braces apply a force to the leg that decreases the load on the affected area of the knee joint.

The inside half of the knee (the medial side) is more commonly affected. Unloader braces push or pull the lower part of the leg outwards, decreasing the load on the inside. Most brace companies also make a brace that can offload the outside half of the knee for those with lateral joint osteoarthritis.

If you got confused and ordered the wrong brace, not only wouldn't you be offloading the arthritic area, you would be compressing the worn part of the joint. This is likely to greatly increase your pain and other symptoms.

The moral to the story: If there is any doubt as to where you arthritis is located, speak to your doctor first.

This knowledge is absolutely required before you buy an unloading knee brace.

High Tibial Osteotomy Complications - Opening Wedge Vs Closing Wedge

A  recent sturdy looked at the incidence of complications in the two types of high tibial osteotomy.

They found that outcomes were similar for both procedures and there was no statistically significant difference in the rate of complications.

They did note that one of the biggest predictors of complication was patient obesity.

 

Those considering a High Tibial Osteotomy should first investigate the use of an Unloader Knee Brace. This non-operative management also aims to reduce the load through the worn half of the knee but is essentially risk free. An unloader brace may buy you a few extra years and delay the need for major surgical interventions such as osteotomies and joint replacements.

 

For more on the osteotomy article click here.