Effect of bracing on patellar kinematics in patients with patellofemoral joint pain

Bracing is commonly used to correct patellar malalignment syndromes. However, there are little objective data documenting the effect of such supports on patellofemoral joint relationships. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of an elastic patellofemoral sleeve brace in altering patellar tracking in subjects with patellofemoral pain. Ten female subjects (12 patellofemoral joints) between the ages of 17 and 46 participated in this study. All subjects had a diagnosis of patellofemoral pain and demonstrated lateral patellar tracking based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) assessment. Each subject underwent kinematic MRI of the patellofemoral joint through a range of 45 to 0 degrees of knee flexion against a resistance of 15% body weight. Imaging was performed with and without a patellofemoral joint brace (Bauerfeind Genutrain P3 brace, Atlanta, GA). Measurement of medial/lateral patellar displacement, medial/lateral patellar tilt, and the depth of the trochlear groove (sulcus angle) were obtained with midpatellar image sections at 45, 36, 27, 18, 9 and 0 degrees of knee flexion. No statistically significant differences in medial/lateral patellar displacement or tilt were found between braced and unbraced trials across all knee flexion angles (P < 0.05). A small but statistically significant increase in sulcus angle was found across all knee flexion angles with the braced trials (P > 0.05). These results do not support the hypothesis that the brace used in this study corrects patellar tracking patterns in subjects with patellofemoral pain. However, the increased sulcus angle indicates a change in patella position within the trochlea. It is possible that the clinical improvements seen with bracing may be the result of subtle differences in joint mechanics and not gross changes in alignment.