{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\cocoartf1187\cocoasubrtf340
\margl1440\margr1440\vieww21880\viewh6680\viewkind0
\pard\tx720\tx1440\tx2160\tx2880\tx3600\tx4320\tx5040\tx5760\tx6480\tx7200\tx7920\tx8640\pardirnatural
\f0\fs24 \cf0 Hello, my name is Dr. J. Michael Bennett.
I'm an orthopedic sports medicine physician practicing in the Sugar Land, Katy, and Houston
areas.
I specialize in minimally invasive and open procedures involving the shoulder, elbow and
knee.
\ \
Today we're going over a topic that is often asked in our offices and we often see this
online regarding bracing, regarding knee injuries.
So we're just going over a couple of braces that we have here, that you'll run across
in your local CVS's or your Targets.
First off, a very popular brace that you'll find a lot of people wearing, particularly
when they come into the clinic is this neoprene brace here.
It's basically a circumferential brace, there's no holes.
Sometimes you can find a variation of this brace with a hole in the middle where your
kneecap goes.
These braces are not necessarily braces, all they are is a sleeve.
If you have any mechanical issues with your knee such as a ligament issue or your knee
is unstable, these are not going to help you because the ligament issue is a mechanical
issue.\ \
These are good primarily for swelling.
If you have any puffiness in your knee.
a little arthritis in your knee, you may want to purchase one of these and just use it if
you notice any swelling going on in the knee in addition to doing some ice therapy and
maybe taking an anti-inflammatory if it's recommended by your physician.
Uh, but be warned.
The more you wear these braces, the weaker your quadriceps are going to get, because
your body depends on the brace to stabilize your knee.
So these are very good if you're having swelling, if you want to decrease your swelling, you
can use these, if you're playing a sport, but I would not use these on a daily basis.
If you're having to use this on a daily basis or you have an instability of the knee, please
see an orthopedic surgeon immediately and get an evaluation.\
\ The next type of brace, this is called a lateral
stabilizer brace, is a little bit different.
It slides up on the knee like the last brace, unstraps here, here, and this is actually
called a J brace.
You slide this up, the kneecap actually goes in the middle here.
The reason this is called a J brace is because this provides a buttress of support here.
This is primarily for patients that have patellar instability.
If your kneecap is popping out of joint or riding up on the outside of the knee, this
J support helps hold it in position.
Now all that these straps do on top is reinforce it, so they wrap over and they kinda, hold
that, vice grip the patella, that kneecap in position so that it doesn't pop out of
joint or mal-track.\ \
Once again, if you're having multiple instabilities of the knee cap, and you've not been evaluated
by an orthopedic surgeon or sports medicine specialist, I do advise you to get it evaluated.
Because if you have multiple dislocations, you could be giving injury to the ligaments
of the knee or you could be injuring the cartilage underneath the kneecap, and knocking off small
flaps or flecks of cartilage under the kneecap, which would increase your risk of arthritis
and also increase your risk of recurrent dislocation, it will not get better.
So like before, you can find these over the counter and they might be able to help you
temporarily, but if you have issues regarding kneecap instability, please see an orthopedic
specialist or a sports medicine specialist.\ \
The last brace here.
This is called a road runner brace, also known as a double-hinged brace.
The difference between this brace and all the other braces, all the other braces are
soft braces.
This brace actually has a hinge with a metal bar on either side.
This brace allows you to bend your knee.
So you basically slide the brace on and it's got multiple straps that wrap around the brace
to fit it to your knee.
Now this brace is better for ligament injuries, particularly for injuries of the medial collateral
ligament and lateral collateral ligament, which is the ligament, which is the ligament
on the inside and the outside of the knee.
This is not necessarily as good for an anterior cruciate ligament injury, due to the fact
that this does not help prevent rotation.
It may help varus or valgus, which is bowleggedness or knock-kneed instability, but it's not going
to help you with rotational instability..
But if you have to have something to give you some support until you see an orthopedic
or sports medicine specialist, this is probably the best kind of brace you're going to be
able to get over the counter, until you see your specialist and they want to give you
some sort of custom anterior cruciate ligament brace, or a custom brace to use for posterior
cruciate ligament injuries.
But this is good for MCL sprain or an LCL sprain, or even just a ligament sprain in
the knee.
But as I mentioned before, it's not going to control for rotational instability.
It's very hard to control for, even in a custom brace.
So if you do have rotational instability, meaning instability or looseness in the knee
when you twist or turn, then please get evaluated by an orthopedic specialist or a sports medicine
specialist because you may have a cruciate ligament injury, and it needs to be diagnosed.
These, if you leave these alone, you're going to cause further damage to your cartilage,
such as your meniscus or even your articular cartilage, which is the lining of the joint.
And you're going to significantly increase your risk for arthritis and problems down
the road.\ \
So as usual, please go to my website, jmichaelbennett.com and orthopedicsportsdoctor.com for more information.
If you do have any questions or you'd like a consultation, please call our office at
281-633-8600, and thank you very much.}