Chuang Shih-Hung, Huang Mao-Hsiung, Chen Tien-Wen, Weng Ming-Chang, Liu Chin-Wei, Chen Chia-Hsin
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Kaohsiung J Med Sci. 2007 Aug;23(8):405-11. doi: 10.1016/S0257-5655(07)70004-4.
Patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA) find that use of elastic knee sleeves gives them partial pain relief and a greater sense of joint stability. However, the scientific effects of knee OA patients wearing braces are unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of knee sleeves on static and dynamic balance in knee OA patients. Fifty patients with knee OA were enrolled in the study and all subjects were randomly divided into two groups. Initially, subjects in group A did not wear a neoprene sleeve while receiving balance tests but then wore them to be re-tested. Subjects in group B did just the reverse procedure. In this investigation, an instrument (KAT 2000; Breg Inc., Vista, CA, USA), which quantified motor control performance of the lower extremities was used and balance scores from the KAT 2000 software were obtained. The results revealed that the scores of patients wearing braces were significantly lower than those of patients without braces (p < 0.05).The finding of this study demonstrated that knee OA patients wearing knee sleeves could experience increased balance ability in both static and dynamic conditions. The improvement might prevent knee OA patients from falling down and increase their sense of security during physical activities.
膝关节骨关节炎（OA）患者发现，使用弹性护膝能让他们的疼痛得到部分缓解，并增强关节稳定性。然而，膝关节OA患者佩戴支具的科学效果尚不清楚。本研究的目的是调查护膝对膝关节OA患者静态和动态平衡的影响。五十名膝关节OA患者参与了该研究，所有受试者被随机分为两组。最初，A组受试者在接受平衡测试时不佩戴氯丁橡胶护膝，之后佩戴护膝重新进行测试。B组受试者则采取相反的程序。在本次调查中，使用了一种能够量化下肢运动控制表现的仪器（KAT 2000；美国加利福尼亚州维斯塔市的Breg公司），并从KAT 2000软件中获取平衡分数。结果显示，佩戴支具的患者得分显著低于未佩戴支具的患者（p < 0.05）。本研究结果表明，佩戴护膝的膝关节OA患者在静态和动态条件下都能提高平衡能力。这种改善可能会防止膝关节OA患者摔倒，并增强他们在体育活动中的安全感。
