Dear John
As a current PT student that just finished Orthopaedics and a previous ACL
reconstruction patient who wished to return to snow skiing, I have done some
research on the validity of knee braces. From the research I have reviewed, I
found that several studies have determined that knee braces don't prevent
excessive anterior translation or rotation of the tibia at physiological
loads. The only positive results i came across were that the braces proved to
improve cutting and pivoting abilities. However, they were not able to
prevent any injury or in your patients case re-injury. A large number of the
studies found that knee braces mainly serve a psychological purpose and can
actually be harmful by providing the patient with a false sense of security.
As for the different options available (surgery or nonsurgery) it depends on
your patients activity level and age. If your patient plans to return to an
active lifestyle then he or she should be educated to the possibility of
further damaging the knee structures.
Sincerely,
Ana Gutierrez SPT
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