  Purpose: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of an innovative
prophylactic knee orthosis on postural balance. This prophylactic knee orthosis
is designed with a compression that is oriented in a chosen direction. The
purpose of this compression is to improve stability in dynamic situations.
Orthoses are used to provide functional improvements to knee problems. However,
more scientific validation is needed for this type of product. Methods: 20
sportsmen in team sports performed a functional test: the Y-Balance Test. This
reliable and reproducible test allows to evaluate the postural balance of the
lower limb. The subjects were tested in 3 conditions: prophylactic orthosis
with innovative compression, control orthosis (with no compression) and without
orthosis. The average of the three trials were collected in each direction and
condition. Results: The prophylactic orthosis had a better standardized score
in the anterior direction (p<0.05) and a better composite score (p<0.05) than
the control orthosis (no compression). However, there were no differences in
the normalized score in the other directions. There were no significant
differences between the prophylactic orthosis and without orthosis.
Conclusion:Wearing the prophylactic orthosis improves postural balance compared
to a orthosis with no compression. But there is no difference between the
prophylactic orthosis and without orthosis on postural balance.
