In this video, I'll look at different types of braces that may be useful if you have a meniscus
tear. Now, not everybody with a meniscus tear will need a brace; it's only in very specific
circumstances that they can be useful. I'll also point out some signs you want to be looking out
for that tell you that you need to immediately remove the brace because it's too tight and actually causing trouble.
For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Maryke. I'm one of the
physiotherapists from sports-injury-physio.com, where you can get online physiotherapy assessment
as well as treatment for your injuries. Have a look at the Description of this video if you want
a link to our website. Okay, so, not everybody with a meniscus tear actually needs a brace,
because when you injure a ligament, for instance, ligaments are meant to stabilise the knee. So, if
you injure them, the knee loses a bit of stability and it needs that extra support of a brace to get
it to heal, whereas the meniscus doesn't have that big a stability role in the knee. As long as the
ligaments are intact, the knee is actually quite stable. So, for meniscus tears, the most important
treatment is usually reducing the load through the knee for a while that the meniscus can recover,
and also doing gentle exercises and building your rehab up so that you strengthen your knee. Now,
I've made videos about all of those aspects for lateral, medial meniscus,
as well as exercises for meniscus tears. So have a look at the Description of this video – I'll put
links to that in there if you want more info on that. However, there are specific instances where
a brace may be useful. So, the first is that, even though your knee isn't structurally unstable,
if your knee is very swollen and painful, it can feel as if it wants to give away and if
it's unstable. And in that case, wearing a brace can just give it that extra little bit of support
and make it feel more comfortable and as if you can trust it a bit better,
and that can help you move around more easily. And again, that's important, because we know that
movement is super important for the meniscus, and it actually helps it heal. So, anything that helps
you move around with more confidence is a good thing. Then also, a brace signals to other people
that you knee is injured. And that's useful, especially when you're going to be in crowds. So,
always think of Victoria Station in London. It's so busy, and I once had a leg injury,
and I just remember everybody just bustling past me and getting annoyed with me walking so slowly
because they didn't know I was injured. Whereas if you've got a brace on, at least they can tell
there's an injury, and they're a little bit more patient, and they maybe don't bump into you
so much. Also, it can act as a reminder for yourself that your knee is injured. Now,
the funny thing with injuries is, especially if you're busy in the house, you may not think about
what movements actually cause it to hurt more. So, for instance, with the meniscus, it's things like
squatting down. There'll be a point where you go, “Oh, ouch! Okay, that hurt my knee!” And we want to avoid
those movements at the start to actually allow the meniscus to calm down. So, a brace can just act as
a reminder that you start the movement and then you feel the brace and you realise, “Ah, I shouldn't
be doing that right now.” There's also a type of brace called an unloader brace, that I will
explain about a bit more in detail in a minute, which can reduce the load on a very specific
part of your knee. So, if your knee is a bit iffy and remains painful, that might be a way to reduce the
strain on that part. And then lastly, if you have injured one of your major ligaments in your knee,
it may mean that your knee moves a little bit more than what it should … the joint. And that can put
extra strain on your meniscus and interfere with it recovering properly. So, in that case, a brace can
be really useful to provide that extra stability, and then the meniscus can recover as well. The
first type of brace that can be really useful is a soft knee brace. Now, these are typically the ones
that just wrap around the knee; they don't provide that much stability. So, if you have a ligament
injury, they're not appropriate. But if it's just an isolated meniscus tear, they can be useful. They are
typically the type of brace that you would want to wear to just give you support if you've got a
really painful, swollen knee, because they're easy to adjust for the amount of swelling you've got,
and they give you that bit of security that you just feel more confident to move. They are also
nice that, if you are busy with something, they will allow you to bend your knee and straighten
your knee, but just avoid those extremes of the ranges so that you don't go into the range that
actually hurts. I tend to tell my patients if they want to wear these braces, they can wear them
whenever they're busy with a task where they're maybe not going to pay enough attention to the
knee. So, it acts as a reminder to remember you've got a knee that you need to look after. Or if they
go outside in crowds or if they're going to wear … walk on uneven terrain. Although I have to say,
no brace will stop you from straining your knee if you're going to be on really uneven terrain.
So don't be crazy; allow your knee to calm down properly and rehab first before you go
there. The nice thing with these is, I prefer the ones that wrap around with the Velcro,
because your knee will swell more throughout the day. And if it's one of those that you pull
on, that you can't adjust, they can become too tight if your knee is really swollen, and then it
cuts off your circulation, and that's really bad. So, you need something that can adjust.
And as the swelling goes down, you can tighten it up more that it doesn't slide down your leg. I'll
put links to some different options for you that I found on Amazon that may be useful, so that you
can get an idea of what type of brace you’re looking for. So, have a look in the Description of
this video if you want more advice about that. Now secondly, you get the unloader knee brace. Now,
these braces are a lot more sturdy, and they've got scaffolding that comes around the knee,
and they are typically used actually for people with osteoarthritis in specific areas of the knee.
Because what you can do is, you adjust this ... the side hinges on the one side, and it
can reduce the pressure on the joint on the other side. So, if you have pain in one specific part of
your knee, either the inner or the outer side, you can set it that there’s a little bit less pressure
through that area, and it can make walking and other activities a lot more comfortable. Now,
recently, a group of researchers looked at, are these braces actually useful in reducing strain on
the meniscus as well? And they found evidence that it could. But I have to say, they tested these ... the
braces on cadavers, so, dead people's knees, where they looked at the strain, because only
the only way that you can really test it, but it doesn't say that it functions that way necessarily
when you're moving in real life. And the study was also paid for by one of the companies that create
these braces. So, one always needs to wait for other studies to confirm it, who's not actually
being paid by the company, to know that you can really, really trust the results. I will say,
I have seen these braces work for people with osteoarthritis, so I do think that they can reduce
the strain in specific areas. It's not the first choice of brace I would use for a meniscus tear,
and I don't think a lot of people really need it. But if you've done everything right and you're
still finding that it's really uncomfortable to move, it is something I would try, because it
could potentially just offload that part of the joint and make it more comfortable. Just note,
the links that I'm going to put in the Description of this video for this brace – some of them are
specific for the left knee, specific for the right knee. So, make sure that you look that you buy the
correct one. Some of them don't matter which side you wear it on, but I'll try to highlight it
in the Description of the video which is useful for what. So, the last type of brace is a rigid
hinge-supported brace. Now, these braces have metal rods on the sides, they've got hinges
that you can adjust how much the knee can bend and straighten, and they provide the most support.
Now, if you have an isolated meniscus tear – so, you've not injured any of your ligaments in your
knee – then these braces are really not needed. They're only needed if you have injured a
significant ligament. Now, you should choose the type of hinged knee brace or supported knee brace
according to the type of ligament injury you have. So, I've made videos about all of those; have a
look at the Description of this video if you want links to those videos about MCL tears, LCL tears,
and braces for ACLs as well. So yeah, the brace, if you need a proper support brace, it's
the ligament injury that determines what you need, not your meniscus tear. People often feel that
they should wear a brace at all costs, and they shouldn't take it off, even if it's uncomfortable.
Now that is just not the case. If a brace is uncomfortable, it's not doing its job. And if it's
causing funny symptoms and things, it could mean that it's squashing your nerves or it's actually
cutting off your blood supply, and that's not good at all. So, if you feel any of these symptoms that
I'm going to describe now, you need to remove that brace immediately. If those symptoms persist
after 10 minutes after taking the brace off, just check in with your doctor if you should be doing
anything else as well. But normally, you'll find that actually everything normalises quite quickly
after you remove the brace. Things to look out for are: If you can see that there is significant
swelling either at the top of the brace or below the brace, that's a sign that it's likely too
tight, so you need to remove it. Also, if your foot or your leg turns blue below the brace,
that means that you're cutting off your blood circulation, or you feel tingling in that area,
or a numbness, or funny sensations like pins and needles. All of those are signs that the
brace is likely too tight. Even a throbbing or a burning of the foot; any of those things – that's
not normal is not how it should be – remove that brace immediately. Brilliant! Hope you found that
useful! Now remember, if you need more help with an injury, you're welcome to consult one of the
team via video call – the link to the website is in the Description of this video. Take care!