Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of three lateral knee braces on speed and agility in subjects experienced as brace wearers and subjects with no prior experience and 10 subjects having no prior experience as brace wearers were tested for speed and agility under four treatment conditions including: 1) no brace, 2) McDavid Knee Guard, 3) Donjoy Defender, and 4) Anderson Knee Stabler. Subjects performed a 40 yard forward sprint and a 10 yard shuttle run during one test session, and a 20 yard backward sprint and a 40 yard square cone drill during a second test session. Analysis of Variance indicated that for experienced wearers, no differences were found between any of the treatment conditions during the 20 yard backward sprint, square cone drill, or shuttle run. During the 40 yard dash, the no brace times were faster than each of the braced times. For non-experienced wearers, significant differences were found between the no brace and braced times during the 40 yard dash, shuttle run, 20 yard backward sprint, and square cone drills. These findings suggested that for experienced wearers the effect of knee bracing is greatest on reducing only forward speed, while for non-experienced wearers both forward and backward running speed and agility is reduced. In general, little difference was found between the three braces during any of the performance tests. Verf.-Referat