Buckling Restraint Braces

Background: Biomechanical factors, such as spinal deformities can result in balance control disorders. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of bracing on static and dynamic balance control of hyperkyphotic female adolescents. Study Design: Clinical trial. Methods: A force platform was employed to record center of pressure (COP) parameters. Ten adolescents undergoing Milwaukee brace for hyperkyphosis and 14 normal subjects participated in the study. The COP data were collected with and without brace immediately on first day and after 120 days of continuous brace wear. Results: No significant difference was found in dynamic and static balance tests with and without brace on the first day (P > 0.05). After 120 days, the values of COP displacement in functional reach to the right and left for the hyperkyphotic adolescents when performing without brace enhanced significantly compared to the first day. The forward reach distance was not significantly different between the normal and hyperkyphotic subjects (P = 0.361); however, hyperkyphotic participants had significantly smaller reach distance in the functional reach to the right (21.88 vs. 25.56cm) and left (17.04 vs. 21.25cm). Conclusion: It might be concluded that bracing had a possible effect on improvement of dynamic balance performance, because the subjects could reach the target in dynamic reach tests with higher displacement in sagittal plane without losing their balance control. © 2012 The International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics.

http://poi.sagepub.com/content/37/1/76.short 
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22751219

The paper presents and evaluates the technical solution for a post-tensioned bolted connection applied to inserting infill steel braces in order to improve seismic behavior of reinforced concrete frames; in present case, buckling restrained braces (BRB) have been considered. In order to validate a simple design approach that establishes the connection behavior, a complete finite element model was build. The proposed connection technique was validated through experimental tests, conducted on the entire RC frame.

Background: Biomechanical factors, such as spinal deformities can result in balance control disorders. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of bracing on static and dynamic balance control of hyperkyphotic female adolescents. Study Design: Clinical trial. Methods: A force platform was employed to record center of pressure (COP) parameters. Ten adolescents undergoing Milwaukee brace for hyperkyphosis and 14 normal subjects participated in the study. The COP data were collected with and without brace immediately on first day and after 120 days of continuous brace wear. Results: No significant difference was found in dynamic and static balance tests with and without brace on the first day ( P…

Knee injury is one of the major problems in sports medicine, and the use of prophylactic knee braces is an attempt to reduce the occurrence and/or severity of injuries to the knee joint ligament(s) without inhibiting knee mobility. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of one recently designed prophylactic knee brace and two neoprene knee sleeves upon performance of healthy athletes. Thirty-one healthy male athletes (age = 21.2±1.5) volunteered as participants to examine the effect of prophylactic knee brace/sleeves on performance using isokinetic and functional tests. All subjects were tested in four conditions in a random order: 1. nonbraced (control) 2. using a neoprene knee sleeve 3. using a knee sleeve with four bilateral metal supports and 4. using a prophylactic knee brace. The study design was a crossover, randomized, controlled trial. Subjects completed single leg vertical jump, cross-over hop, and the isokinetic knee flexion and extension (at 60, 180, 300°/sec). Data were collected from the above tests and analyzed for jump height, cross-over hop distance, peak torque to body weight ratio and average power, respectively. Comparisons of these variables in the four testing conditions revealed no statistically significant difference (p>0.05). The selected prophylactic brace/sleeves did not significantly inhibit athletic performance which might verify that their structure and design have caused no complication in the normal function of the knee joint. Moreover, it could be speculated that, if the brace or the sleeves had any limiting effect, our young healthy athletic subjects were well able to generate a mean peak torque large enough to overcome this possible restriction. Further studies are suggested to investigate the long term effect of these prophylactic knee brace and sleeves as well as their possible effect on the adjacent joints to the knee. © 2012 Mortaza et al.

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0050110

Biomechanical factors, such as spinal deformities can result in balance control disorders. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of bracing on static and dynamic balance control of hyperkyphotic female adolescents. Clinical trial. A force platform was employed to record center of pressure (COP) parameters. Ten adolescents undergoing Milwaukee brace for hyperkyphosis and 14 normal subjects participated in the study. The COP data were collected with and without brace immediately on first day and after 120 days of continuous brace wear. No significant difference was found in dynamic and static balance tests with and without brace on the first day (P > 0.05). After 120 days, the values of COP displacement in functional reach to the right and left for the hyperkyphotic adolescents when performing without brace enhanced significantly compared to the first day. The forward reach distance was not significantly different between the normal and hyperkyphotic subjects (P = 0.361); however, hyperkyphotic participants had significantly smaller reach distance in the functional reach to the right (21.88 vs. 25.56 cm) and left (17.04 vs. 21.25 cm). It might be concluded that bracing had a possible effect on improvement of dynamic balance performance, because the subjects could reach the target in dynamic reach tests with higher displacement in sagittal plane without losing their balance control. Clinical relevance Little is known about the biomechanical aspects of brace wear in individuals with hyperkyphosis. This study investigated balance differences between the healthy and hyperkyphotic individuals, and outcomes of Milwaukee brace wear. It might provide some new insight into the conservative treatment of hyperkyphosis for clinicians and researchers.