Effects of a New Knee Brace for Treatment of the Knee Osteoarthritis

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the immediate effects of a knee brace with a new mechanism on the pain and medial knee loading during gait among medial knee osteoarthritis patients. The effects of this new brace is compared to a stabilizing brace and a typical valgus knee brace. The investigators recruited 24 knee osteoarthritis and they have to wear each of the three braces during three months. A fifteen days wash-out period is given after each three months. Biomechanical evaluation is carried out before and after each three months. This evaluation consisted of three questionnaires (KOOS, WOMAC and Medical Outcome Score Short Form-36 (MOS-SF36)), a motion analysis with an optoelectronic system, then a 6-min walk test. During motion analysis, ten gait trials are executed without brace and ten with the brace.