Neoprene sleeve, knee brace similar effect

CALGARY, Alberta, July 12 (UPI) -- Users of functional knee braces and neoprene sleeves have similar recoveries from anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, says a Canadian study.

Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction surgery is common, particularly in young, athletic individuals, which involves replacing the torn anterior cruciate ligament with a strip of tendon called a graft.

"For patients returning to sport after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, a functional knee brace, which is sturdy, elaborate and expensive, does not provide advantages over a soft neoprene elastic sleeve," principal investigator Trevor Birmingham of the University of Western Ontario and the Fowler Kennedy Sport Medicine Clinic in London, Ontario said in a statement.

Birmingham and colleagues studied 150 athletes preparing to return to sport following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. Seventy-six patients were randomized to receive a functional knee brace and 74 to receive a neoprene sleeve.

The researchers found no significant differences between the groups at the one- and two-year follow-up visits.

The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine at the Telus Convention Center in Calgary.