A viscoelastic knee brace for anterior cruciate ligament deficient patients.
A biomechanical review of the anterior cruciate ligament deficient knee shows that the unbraced knee undergoes instability once its angular velocity exceeds normal cadence rate. It also shows that various braces that utilize extension limits for purposes of preventing subluxation and tibial rotation introduce abnormal gait and posture responses, which may impose on the patient's activities. A speed-regulated, viscoelastic knee brace has been designed, fabricated, and tested on two patients. The brace allows full range of knee motion and reduces the angular velocity of the tibia from near-full extension to neutral at normal, non-unstabilizing walking speeds. Capability is incorporated for adjusting the terminal angular velocity for each individual patient as well as for the same patient during the recovery period.