Commercially available knee braces, as a means of providing knee stability for the nonoperative treatment and following surgical repair or reconstruction of the cruciate ligament injuries, fall short of providing anteroposterior stability with knee flexion. One of the major problem area is that a strap system becomes lax with knee flexion. We have developed a knee brace which has single or double coil-spring traction systems minimizing the abnormal sagittal deviation between femur and tibia within the range of knee motion. This new brace was introdused and has been used in 33 patients with ACL or PCL injuries. Radiological assessment of two cases of single coil-spring traction system demonstrated reduction by half of sagittal laxity. Three patients with ACL injuries were evaluated betore or without surgical treatment, and they were reduced in pain, episodes of giving way, and performance of down stairs, and their extension/flexion torques evaluated by Cybex II were improved by the brace. Other patients could not be evaluated objectively, because of short postoperative periods and influence by operative methods. Early rehabilitation, however could be possible with this brace.
