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ABSTRACT: This article presents data comparing the restraining effect of the Lenox Hill® and the CTi brace to static loading using the KT-1000 Knee Ligament Arthrometer. Testing was performed at 25° and 90° in 15 patients with documented single ligament injuries involving the anterior cruciate. The opposite knee was determined to be normal by subjective and objective testing and was used as the control.
Results showed that the anterior drawer was more sensitive at 25° than at 90°, in differentiating the ACL deficient knee from the control leg. At 25°, using passive and active drawer tests, both the Lenox Hill and the CTi brace improved the ACL deficient knee significantly. With 15 Ib of passive loading, both the Lenox Hill and the CTi brace improved the drawer to within normal limits. However, only the CTi brace was able to return the drawer to within the normal range at the 20 Ib force level. Neither brace improved the drawer to norma! when subjected to the higher loads created by an active drawer test. At 90°, 15 Ib of passive loading could not discriminate between the braced and the unbraced knee or between the normal and ACL deficient knee. When 20 Ib of force was applied, only the CTi brace improved the drawer significantly, which placed the drawer into the normal range.
Under static testing conditions, the CTi brace proved to be better than the Lenox Hill in controlling the anterior drawer in flexion and at 20 Ib of passive loads; however, when higher loading forces were used in the active anterior drawer test, neither brace was effective in controlling anterior tibial translation.
Bracing systems designed to control the unstable knee during athletic events have become an important tool in the total treatment plan to reduce knee instability. In 1972, Castiglia presented a revolutionary new brace designed to control specific ligament instability during athletic events.1 The following year, Nicholas suggested it had a definite role in the management of the unstable knee, particularly in the young and active patient.2 Since then, over 20 different knee bracing systems have been developed. The majority have been aimed at controlling pathologic laxities that may occur with a tear of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), such as an anterolateral,...