Who benefits from an unloader brace?
The Unloader Brace is designed specifically for active people who have arthritic damage on just one side of the joint. The idea is to reduce the forces through the joint cartilage of one side of the knee when cartilage damage is still restricted to just one half of the joint.
It is important to choose the correct brace (left or right, unloading medial or lateral compartment), and advice should be sought from your physiotherapist orthotist.
Unloaders are often used to give symptomatic relief to patients whose knee osteoarthritis is not severe enough to warrant a total knee replacement, or to patients who are waiting for a knee replacement, either a total or a partial one. They are also used to 'unload' one side of the knee after cartilage repair surgery.