Temporal Changes in Wearing Pressure of Soft Knee Orthosis during Standing Up

Abstract

[Purpose] The wearing pressure of the soft knee orthosis does not change during operation, resulting in insufficient fixation. Therefore, a soft knee orthosis that dynamically changes the wearing pressure is required so that fixation is permanent during operation. In this study, for the development of such an orthosis, we investigated the temporal changes in the wearing pressure of a soft knee orthosis during the rising to stand motion. [Participants and Methods] The subjects were 18 healthy young men. We investigated the temporal changes in the wearing pressure during the standing up motion using soft knee orthoses with different wearing pressures. [Results] A significant difference was observed in the wearing pressure in each phase of the rising motion. The wearing pressure was the highest when the buttocks lifted off the bed. In addition, the wearing pressure tended to increase according to the knee flexion angle. [Conclusion] We were able to confirm the change in the wearing pressure of the soft knee orthosis and the index during the standing up motion. In the future, we will proceed with the development of flexible knee orthoses whose wearing pressure changes dynamically.