EFFECTS OF FUNCTIONAL KNEE BRACE ON LOWER EXTREMITY MUSCLE ACTIVATIONS AFTER ANTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT RECONSTRUCTION

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze effects of functional knee brace on muscular activation of lower extremity for the ACLR athletes during single leg drop landing. Marker trajectories, ground reaction forces and EMG signals were collected and synchronized by Vicon Nexus software. Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare muscle activations of ACLR athletes when wearing knee brace verses no knee brace, and the significance level was set at a = .05. The results showed that the GM, RF and BF muscle activation levels were significant increased when wearing knee brace than no knee brace at singleleg drop jump. Wearing knee brace for ACLR athletes can help to increase activation of knee flexors and help to stabilize knee joint during dynamic situation. We suggest that knee brace could help ACLR athlete to maintain better knee stability.