Bracing
Bracing at the Armoury
At the Armoury our bracing specialists are trained to assess your individual needs in regards to bracing. We provide you with the best product to optimize your recovery and reduce your pain allowing you to get back to your regular activity, whether that is elite sport or to help get you through the day.
Orthopedic Bracing
- The Armoury utilizes soft and customs orthopedic bracing to provide support, mobility and stability for every patient’s needs.
- There are soft braces for knee, ankle, wrist, and elbow for, osteoarthritis, and mild ligament and tendon strains.
- There are also custom braces for specific needs such as ACL tears, meniscal tears, osteoarthritis. Some braces can stabilize the knee and some can unload (alleviate narrowing such as in arthritis).
Why use a brace?
Bracing is used in a variety of medical conditions to assist in the healing process, reduce pain, support ligaments and muscles that have been damaged, reduce pressure off of joints and to prevent injuries and re-injury. At the Armoury we provide a wide range of braces from walking boots, wrist, ankle and thumb braces, compression sleeves, and knee braces including both custom and non custom braces
Some common reasons to brace are:
- Reduce pain
- Reduce Inflammation and swelling
- Provide stability to joints and ligaments – in both acute and chronic conditions
- Assist with muscles strains
- Reduce pain and offload joints in cases of meniscus injuries and osteoarthritis (OA)
- Prophylactically to reduce the chance of injury or re-injury
OTS (Off The Shelf) Bracing
- OTS bracing refers to braces that are available in a variety of pre-made sizes. We use multiple distrubutors to ensure we have the best products available for a large number of conditions.
- At the Armoury we carry a significant number of products in stock, available for sale at your visit. We provide a free bracing consult with all of our patients to go over exactly what you need and provide you the best options so you are informed of how the brace can help you, how to apply it properly and care instructions to ensure your brace lasts.
Ankle Braces
Knee Braces
Wrist and Thumb Braces
Back Braces
Custom Bracing
At the Armoury we offer custom knee and hip bracing for ligament instabilities (ACL, MCL, PCL,LCL), meniscus pathologies and osteoarthritis (OA). Custom bracing differs from OTS (Off The Shelf) bracing as each brace is made custom to fit you personally. Measurements of the knee/hip are taken by our brace specialists and sent to the manufacturer to make a brace unique to you. This provides the best fit possible for your brace, which in turn increases the comfort and effectiveness of your brace.
Our custom braces include braces manufactured by DonJoy (Enovis), VQ Orthocare and Ossur. We provide a variety of different options to ensure we get the best brace suited to your individual needs.
Ligament Knee Bracing (ACL)
Ligament brag is ancin important part of increasing stability and decreasing pain. We use custom braces to support knee ligaments for moderate to severe and complete ruptures of knee ligaments. We take individual measurements of the knee to customize each brace to fit each individual. These braces use a metal frame and hinge to provide maximum support but also allowing regular range of motion to allow you to fully participate in your activity. Bracing does not replace the importance of muscular support, nor does it cause the muscles to weaken or deactivate. Wearing a ligament brace only provides support to the damaged ligament allowing you to train better, walk or run easier, and move with less pain giving the muscles a better chance to develop and allow the injury to heal appropriately while protecting the damaged ligament.
Osteoarthritis (OA) Knee Bracing and Meniscus Knee bracing
OA is a progressive degeneration disease that causes the cartilage and underlying bone within a joint to break down. Knee OA is the most common form of OA causing pain, stiffness and swelling. It can affect a person’s ability to, walk, go up and down stairs, getting out of a chair and general mobility.
How does it work?
- OA braces are also referred to as Unloader braces. This is because the goal of the brace is to off load or unload the side of the knee joint that is degenerating. As OA progresses it cause the joint to collapse on one side decreasing the space in the joint which leads to bone rubbing on bone. Different styles of braces use different technologies, but the outcome is the same. The brace helps to open the joint, by changing the angle of the knee on the side of the OA creating space and reducing the bone on bone rubbing, in turn reducing your pain and swelling.
Bracing for knee Meniscus injuries
- Bracing for meniscus injuries is the same style of brace that we use in OA bracing, This is because meniscus injuries and osteoarthritis of the knee are similar in their effects on the knee. With meniscus injuries, the torn cartilage is usually only on one side of the knee, the damaged meniscus can then rub against the bone causing pain and inflammation. Using an off loader brace (same as in OA) we can open up the joint space on the damaged side reducing the chance of irritation and catching associated with meniscus tears.
CTi Brace
The CTi Custom is a custom manufactured knee brace used in the treatment of ligament instabilities and osteoarthritis. This includes ACL tears, collateral ligament tears, and meniscal tears.
The brace is comprised of:
- Carbon Titanium composite frame
- Velcro closures
- Dual Accutrac rigid hinges
CT Brace
The Rebound Cartilage Knee brace is a custom manufactured, low profile, lightweight knee brace that is used in the treatment of meniscal tears. This brace can be used for acute injury or post-surgical procedure.
The brace is comprised of:
- Thermoplastic molded shells
- Dual force BOA technology strapping for personalized adjustments
- Single medial or lateral rigid aluminum hinge
- Silicone liners & undersleeve
Rebound DUAL
- The Rebound DUAL (Double Upright Aluminum) is a custom knee brace for ACL and meniscal tears or osteoarthritis
The brace is comprised of:
- Cold-moldable Aluminum molded shells
- Double upright hinges
- Velcro strapping
- Field serviceable d-rings
- Adjustable frame for height and varus / valgus stress
- Optional SmartDosing strapping system
Hip Osteoarthritis (OA) Bracing
- Hip OA is a progressive degenerative disease causing the cartiledge and underlying bone to break down, In the hip this can greatly affect a persons ability to function and hinders walking, climbing stairs, and getting up and down. It can cause pain in the hip, back, glute region, and the entire leg. Hip OA brace can allow you to walk again with significantly reduced pain and allow you get moving again.
How it works
The hip joint is a ball and socket joint. The head of the femur sits inside the acetabulum (the socket) of the pelvis. Degenerative changes causes pain to occur when the two sides run against each other and when swelling within increases the pressure too much. The hip OA brace assists the hip by distracting (or opening) the hip joint which helps to create space inside the hip joint and reducing the painful contact points. Although it cannot stop the development of OA, it can hep to slow down the progression of OA and allow you to build more strength and flexibility with less pain.
The Unloader One
The Unloader One with Smartdosing powered by BOA technology is a custom manufactured low profile, lightweight knee brace used in the treatment of Osteoarthritis.
The brace is comprised of:
- Thermoplastic molded shells
- Quick-fit buckle strapping
- Dual Smartdosing dynamic strapping for personalized adjustments
- Single medial or lateral rigid hinge
- Silicone and doeskin liners
- Hip Unloader Brace
- The Unloader® Hip is designed to optimize Hip Osteoarthritis (OA) or hip Labral tear treatment in order to improve mobility and decrease hip pain.
Indications
The Unloader hip provides proprioceptive support during the gait cycle and provides hip stability. It is indicated for unilateral or bilateral mild to moderate supero-lateral hip OA where non-surgical treatment is indicated.
- Clinically proven Dynamic Rotation Strap system
- Easy to use a compressive pulley system
- Trochanteric pads for increased comfort