A recent study conducted in France by nine private and one hospital-based physician showed that the unloading braces provide a significant reduction in pain related to knee osteoarthritis.

Unloading knee braces provide extraordinary relief from arthritis pain. However, evidence regarding its efficacy is still indefinite. This study was conducted to determine the efficacy of unloading knee brace in patients with knee OA. The study is a randomized, prospective, multicenter, controlled, two-arm, parallel-group, open-label, phase III trial which involved 67 patients having symptomatic knee osteoarthritis. Out of these, 32 patients placed in the brace group who received usual care with unloading knee brace treatment. Patients in the control group received only usual care. The global last 24h-pain relief at 6 weeks was considered as primary endpoint and function, safety, pain on motion and observance was taken as secondary endpoints. The visual analogic scale (VAS) was used to measure pain and Lequesne index to measured function.

The brace group exhibited a significant reduction in mean last 24h-pain, pain on motion and better Lequesne index score as compared to the control group at 6 weeks. The observance and safety were also better among brace group.