Supporting your recovery: custom braces from ACP

We all need a little support at times, and the same is true for our joints and muscles. After injury, your muscles may be weak and need to share the job of supporting your body for a while. Strapping, taping and braces can help share the physical load on your muscles, so they are not stressed or over-burdened.

At ACP, we use a combination of taping/strapping and medical grade braces to give your body the support it needs during your treatment and rehabilitation process. We can also fit custom braces for those with long-term conditions such as osteoarthritis to reduce pressure on joints affected by the condition.

Braces can be used to treat and aid recovery from a variety of injuries to your:

• head and neck
• shoulder
• back
• leg
• knee
• ankle
• foot
• thumb
• wrist
• elbow

Using braces after injury

It’s very important that you use the the correct brace for your particular need. This is particularly true for sports injuries.There are a whole range of ‘off the shelf’ braces available for almost any sports injury you can think of! However, use the wrong one or in the wrong way at the wrong stages of recovery, and you could actually aggravate your injury, or cause another part of your body to be under extra stress.

Far better to make an appointment with us where we can properly diagnose your type of injury and put in place a bespoke treatment plan. This could include physiotherapy sessions, exercises to do at home, and support with either taping or with a specific medical brace as required)

Types of braces for sportspeople

At ACP, we treat a lot of people who love their sport and just can’t wait to get back to playing again. A brace can give these keen sportspeople the ability to stabilize their joints and return to sports without risking damaging their muscles again. We recommend and fit DonJoy (DJO) braces, the brand that protects some of the world’s greatest athletes. The company believe that “Motion is Medicine®“ and their braces allow you to stay active for longer too.

Knee braces

Your knee is a remarkable joint, the point where your femur and tibia meet. The two bones are linked by muscles, tendons, a joint capsule and no less than four ligaments:

• medial collateral ligament
• lateral collateral ligament
• anterior cruciate ligament
• posterior cruciate ligament

Knee braces vary from light support to full hinged versions, all designed for stability of the knee ligaments, and to aid recovery from ailments including meniscus injuries, sprains, and osteoarthritis. Other braces proactively protect the ligaments of the knee from injury, especially the ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament), whilst still allowing a full range of movement.

It’s important to always seek profession advice if you’re experiencing knee pain, as its location is an indication of the possible cause. For example:

• pain at the front of the knee – arthritis, bursitis, softening of the patella cartilage
• pain at the side of the knee – collateral ligaments injury, arthritis, menisci tears
• pain in the back of the knee – arthritis, Baker’s cyst, infection

Call us at ACP for an appointment to discuss your knee pain, or visit your physician. If they diagnose knee pain that can be treated using physiotherapy, we can help.

Medical braces for osteoarthritis

Braces for osteoarthritis can help by easing the load on your arthritis joints. Depending on the location of your pain, these types of braces be medial or lateral unloaders. Unloader braces are suitable for anyone with arthritis that affects one side of their joint more than the other.

Call us and book an appointment to discuss how a custom brace can help relieve pain from arthritis and keep you more active and mobile for longer.