| Author: | Lin, Yangmin |
| Title: | An investigation of the treatment effectiveness and compliance of Unloader One® knee brace for patients with medial compartmental knee osteoarthritis |
| Advisors: | Wong, Man-sang (BME) |
| Degree: | M.Sc. |
| Year: | 2015 |
| Subject: | Knee -- Diseases -- Treatment Osteoarthritis -- Treatment Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | Interdisciplinary Division of Biomedical Engineering |
| Pages: | xxiv, 135 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 30 cm |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | Introduction: Osteoarthritis is a chronic disease which could result in joint stiffness, severe long-term pain, limited function and reduction of quality of life. Knee, especially on the medial compartment is most likely affected by osteoarthritis. High prevalence of knee osteoarthritis is found in people over 40 years of age. An increasing need of its conservative managements such as knee bracing draws more attention to clinicians and researchers. Objective: The thesis aimed to determine the effectiveness of the Unloader One® knee brace in improving symptoms, function and quality of life along with the compliance of the patients with medial compartmental of knee osteoarthritis and to study the correlation between compliance and efficacy of the knee brace. Methodology: Self-reported symptom, function and quality of life were measured by 4 instruments namely pain visual analog scale, Lysholm knee scoring scale, knee injury and osteoarthritis outcome score, and the short 36-item questionnaire. Thermo sensor was utilized to determine the brace wearing time and patients' compliance. The subjects' lower limb alignments were measured in shoulder-width standing base without brace and the alignment immediate after wearing the brace. All assessments were conducted at baseline and at the 2nd week and 6th weeks after fitting with the Unloader One® knee brace. Results: Nine patients were recruited including 3 males and 6 females with age of 60±4 years and BMI of 27±4 kg/m². Improvement of function and symptom was observed while no mental health improvements could be found. Significant improvements were found in stair climbing function assessed by Lysholm scoring scale with 27% higher score (p<0.05). Activity of daily living measured by knee injury and osteoarthritis outcome score was observed significant difference that scored 13.74% higher (p<0.05). From SF-36, it was observed that physical components role limitations due to physical problems and general health were significantly improved (p<0.05). Older patients was observed to have less improvements in quality of life (p=0.044, r=-0.679) and physical function (p=0.015, r=-0.773). The brace wearing time was negatively correlated with the prescribed duration (p=0.024, r=- 0.925). However, better compliance was positively correlated with wearing time (p=0.039, r=0.691). Patients with better compliance was observed to have more improvements in symptom (p =0.026, r=0.728). Longer wearing time was associated with better improvement of sport and recreation value (p=0.032, r=0.709). Conclusion: The Unloader One® knee brace was shown to be efficient in physical function improvement in this study. It tended to be effective in symptom relief, function and QoL. However, the compliance of the knee brace was not satisfied according to the prescribed duration. This study suggested a better compliance could facilitate symptom relief; a longer wearing time could improve the function of activities of daily living. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | restricted access |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| b28110730.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 4.84 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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