Saturday, June 4, 2011

Don't Forget Lateral Compartment Unloaders

As medial compartment osteoarthritis is more common than wear in the lateral compartment, the majority of research papers and brace manufacturers promotional material is on medial unloaders.

Many people with lateral compartment osteoarthritis are unaware that just about every major brand has both medial and lateral versions of their braces available.

Lateral_unloader
The Donjoy OAdjuster has both medial and lateral options that look essentially the same. The overall frame shape is the identical, the only difference is the side that the adjusting hinge is on.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Knee Osteoarthritis Following Injury

Certain types of injury have been associated with a significantly higher risk of developing osteoarthritis at an early age.

Anterior Cruciate Ligament rupture is one such event, but potentially much more serious is a fracture that passes through the knee joint.

Known as an intra-articular fracture, it can lead to rapid wearing of the joint surface and early onset knee osteoarthritis.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Do Unloader Knee Braces Make a Knee Straight Again?

Unloader Knee Braces can be used by people who are both Knock-kneed and Bow-legged.

As the knee becomes progressively more worn by the osteoarthritis disease process, the angle at the knee slowly increases.

Although the primary reason for wearing an Unloader Knee Brace is to decrease pain, some people hope the brace will also straighten their knee as well. 

An Unloader does apply a force pushing against this angulation but there is generally little change in overall leg position. The brace does enough to relieve pain but the force required to physically straighten the leg would be so great it would be painful to wear. Modern unloading knee braces are more subtle in their workings and are comfortable to wear. If you are looking to see a large leg angle correction you will likely be disappointed.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Unicompartmental Osteoarthritis of the Knee - What Does this Mean?

Medical jargon can be confusing but it gets easier if you break it down.

Osteoarthritis is the "wear and tear" type of arthritis that commonly occurs in weight bearing joints.

Unicompartmental is a word that is unfamiliar to most. 

"Uni" here means 'one'.

In medical terms the knee is divided up into three compartments.

The joint between the thigh bone and shin bone is divided into two compartments. The medial compartment is the inside half of the knee joint. The lateral compartment is the outside half. The third compartment is the articulation between the knee cap and the thigh bone.

Unicompartmental osteoarthritis therefore means the arthritis is only present in one of the three compartments. Most commonly it is the medial compartment and when the wear becomes severe it can result in the knee becoming bow legged.

This is the most common type of osteoarthritis treated with an unloader knee brace.