None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Knee injuries are very prevalent and affect individuals everyday. Some knee injuries, like an anterior cruciate ligament tear (ACL) can result in irreversible damage where only a small portion of the individuals are able to come back to pre-injury level, despite surgery and physical therapy. As a result, injury prevention knee braces emerged as a way of protecting the knees from injuries during high risk activities like sports. The effectiveness of these braces have been controversial and we aim to study the braces in a more realistic environment by using a virtual reality system that can fully immerse our subjects and deliver unanticipated perturbations while the subjects are safely harnessed.
Interventions
Knee injuries are prevalent in many sporting activities, which often involve high demand manoeuvres such as landing. The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is a strong stabilising ligament between the femur and tibia bones; however, the ACL is susceptible to rupture during landing and sports. The overall goal of this study is to provide insight into the efficacy of prophylactic braces in stabilising the knee and reducing the risk of injury. By collecting non-injurious and non-
Knee injuries are prevalent in many sporting activities, which often involve high demand manoeuvres such as landing. The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is a strong stabilising ligament between the femur and tibia bones; however, the ACL is susceptible to rupture during landing and sports. The overall goal of this study is to provide insight into the efficacy of prophylactic braces in stabilising the knee and reducing the risk of injury. By collecting non-injurious and non-invasive motion analysis data while participants perform a series of motions: walking at a speed of 1.1 m/s, running at speed of 2.0 m/s, walking at a speed of 1.1 m/s with physical perturbations, drop landing tasks from heights of 30cm and 60cm on both legs and on a single leg, squats, side steps, and plant and cut movements. These motions will be completed 3 times, once with no braces (control), once with a set of sports braces (POD Active K8) braces on both knees, and once with a set of military braces (SpringLoaded Technology Upshot) on both knees, in random order. Five repetitions of each motion is performed. Each set of braces are worn until all motions are performed (Approx 45 minutes) with a 10-minute sitting down resting period between each full set of trials (wash-out period). The trials are conducted/supervised by a PhD student: Raneem Haddara. There is a subsection of the study that is only applicable to army soldiers. Soldiers perform a 10-minute walking trial while wearing a 25 kg backpack with and without braces. This trial is performed approximately 20 minutes after the completion of the set of trials that were previously mentioned. The studies will be undergone at The University of Melbourne where we will be using a virtual reality rehabilitation system called Computer Assisted Rehabilitation Environment (CAREN). The study will be conducted by a PhD student that is certified to operate the CAREN and has experience in biomechanics studies and human movement experiments.
Sponsors
University of Melbourne
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Crossover
Primary purpose
Prevention
Masking
Open (masking not used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to 45 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
You can participate in the study if you are between the ages of 18-45 years old and have been free from lower limb injury or surgery in the past six months. In addition, you must participate in regular exercises and have experience with jumping and landing activities (e.g. basketball, netball, volleyball, etc.). For the load carriage trials, the subject needs to fall within the previously mentioned criteria and be an army soldier.
Exclusion criteria
You are NOT eligible if you have a history of permanent lower extremity injuries (e.g. ligament tear, fractures) or diseases (e.g. osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis).
Outcome results
None listed