The effect of knee brace and knee sleeve on the proprioception of the knee in young non-professional healthy sportsmen

BackgroundProprioception has been defined as the capacity to feel the position of a joint in space as sensed by the central nervous system. Prophylactic knee braces are supposed to help in knee injury prevention not just with a mechanical support of the joint but also improving proprioception. The main aim of this study was to determine the effects of a knee brace and a knee sleeve on knee proprioception. The secondary aim was to determine if different starting angles of the knee and different movement directions influence knee proprioception.MethodsWe tested a group of twenty healthy male sport students without knee injuries. They were tested with the brace, with the sleeve and without support. The threshold of detection of passive knee movement with a starting knee angle of 30° and 60°, both in flexion and extension was determined.ResultsWe did not find any statistically significant change in the threshold of detection of passive knee movement wearing the brace or the sleeve compared to the unsupported condition (p = 0.462, α = 0.05). We found a significantly lower proprioceptive sensitivity starting at the more flexed knee angle (p = 0.005, α = 0.05) and moving in extension than in the other test situations (p = 0.001, α = 0.05).ConclusionMovement direction and starting position appear to influence the threshold of detection of passive knee movement. The results of this study also suggest that knee supports do not influence either positively or negatively knee proprioception of uninjured active subjects.