Take Back Your Movement: Custom Knee Braces at Peach Physiotherapy
If knee pain is keeping you from the activities you love, a custom knee brace may be the solution you’ve been searching for. At Peach Physiotherapy & Wellness Centre, we specialize in providing and fitting industry-leading custom knee braces from Ossur Unloader and Spring Loaded.
Our expert physiotherapists will conduct a comprehensive assessment to determine the best brace for your unique needs, ensuring a perfect fit and maximum relief.
Our Featured Custom Knee Osteoarthritis (OA) Braces
We offer cutting-edge braces designed to offload pressure, reduce pain, and improve your mobility.
Ossur Unloader One and Unloader One X
For patients with pain concentrated on one side of the knee (unicompartmental osteoarthritis), Össur Unloader braces, including the Unloader One and Unloader One X, are the industry standard and supported by extensive clinical evidence.
When is an Unloader Brace Beneficial?
An Össur Unloader brace is an excellent non-surgical treatment option to consider if you are dealing with:
- Unicompartmental Knee Osteoarthritis (OA): Mild to severe arthritis that is predominantly affecting either the inner (medial) or outer (lateral) side of the knee.
- Degenerative Meniscal Tears: Providing pain relief and support for symptomatic tears.
- Delaying or Avoiding Surgery: Wearing an unloader brace can delay or potentially avoid the need for total knee replacement surgery by managing symptoms effectively.
What the Unloader Brace Does
The Unloader brace is designed to relieve pain and improve function by generating targeted unloading of the knee joint.
- 3-Point Leverage System: The brace utilizes a patented 3-Point Leverage System to shift pressure away from the affected, painful side of the knee joint. The thigh and calf shells provide two points of support, while the Dynamic Force System (DFS) straps create the third, resulting in a reduction of pain.
- Improves Mobility and Quality of Life: By reducing bone-on-bone contact and alleviating pain, the brace helps improve mobility and functional capacity, leading to a better overall quality of life.
- Reduces Medication Reliance: Clinical studies have shown that patients using the Unloader One have reported a significant reduction in their use of prescription and over-the-counter pain medications.
Key Positive Features of Össur Unloader Braces
Össur braces are designed with patient comfort, compliance, and ease of use in mind:
- Adjustable SmartDosing®: This feature uses a single-hand dosing dial to allow you to easily fine-tune the strap tension and customize the unloading force on the fly, directly managing your pain level throughout the day.
- Low-Profile and Discreet: The braces are lightweight and feature a slender, low-profile design that fits comfortably against the skin and is discreetly worn under clothing.
- Anti-Migration Liners: Össur’s proprietary Sensil® silicone liners are specially designed to comfortably secure the brace in place, maximizing its effectiveness and ensuring it stays put during activity.
- Easy Care: The Unloader One X is fully machine washable (with a washbag included), and other models feature detachable, hand-washable liners, simplifying hygiene and care.
- Intuitive Application: Features like color-coded Quick Fit buckles and an alignment guide make the process of putting the brace on and taking it off simple and intuitive.
Spring Loaded Knee Brace
The Spring Loaded brace offers a fundamentally different approach to knee bracing by addressing pain across the entire knee joint, making it the first brace of its kind to effectively treat all patterns of osteoarthritis (OA).
When is a Spring Loaded Brace Beneficial?
Traditional bracing with straps is only designed to treat OA in one compartment of the knee, leaving the majority of patients whose arthritis affects multiple areas without adequate relief. A Spring Loaded brace is the ideal solution for:
- Multi-Compartmental OA: Patients with arthritis affecting more than one area of the knee, including the inner side, outer side, and the kneecap (patellofemoral compartment).
- Patellofemoral OA: Arthritis specifically targeting the kneecap (patellofemoral joint), which is often difficult to treat with standard braces.
- Meniscus and Ligament Injuries: Since the brace reduces painful forces across the entire joint, other knee conditions like meniscus and ligament injuries can also benefit from the technology.
- Difficulty with Activities of Daily Living: It is particularly effective for weight-bearing movements like squatting, climbing stairs, and rising from a seated position.
What the Spring Loaded Brace Does
The brace uses advanced technology to absorb energy and provide assistance to the leg muscles, effectively reducing strain on the joint.
- Powerful Spring Assistance: It uses liquid spring technology housed in a Spring Pack.
- During flexion (bending the knee), the springs absorb energy from your body weight, which significantly reduces painful knee forces.
- During extension (straightening the leg), the springs release this stored energy, reducing pain and powering your legs to facilitate movement.
- Massive Load Reduction: This powerful assistance results in over 40% of joint forces being reduced during weight-bearing knee flexion, which is equivalent to losing 45 lbs of body weight off the knee joint.
- Clinically Proven Outcomes: Patients have reported rapid, significant pain relief, with 100% of users surpassing the Patient Acceptable Symptom State (PASS). Many also report a reduction in the use of injections, walking aids, and medication.
Key Positive Features of the Spring Loaded Brace
The Spring Loaded design focuses on comfort, control, and comprehensive support.
- Customizable Spring Power: A convenient Power Dial allows you to instantly customize and fine-tune the intensity of the spring assist, matching the support level to your activity or current pain.
- Low-Profile Design: The brace features a lightweight, low-profile frame that rests discreetly on the back of your leg for a comfortable fit.
Our Approach to Getting the Right Brace
At Peach Physiotherapy & Wellness Centre, we know that the key to a successful brace is a perfect fit. That’s why we offer professional recommendations and fitting services. We will:
- Assess Your Knee: Our physiotherapists will perform a complete evaluation of your knee, including your alignment, range of motion, and pain levels, to determine if a brace is the right treatment for you.
- Find the Right Solution: If a brace is a good fit, we will recommend, fit, and distribute a custom brace that is specifically tailored to your body’s needs.
- Extended Health Coverage: In most cases, benefits packages cover most or all of the cost of the brace with a quote and a doctor’s note. We provide every patient with a detailed written quote that can be submitted to their benefits company for pre-approval, and can contact their doctor to assist with receiving a script.
- Provide a Personalized Plan: A brace is just one piece of the puzzle. We will combine its use with a personalized exercise program to strengthen your knee, improve your mobility, and help you get the most out of your brace and your recovery.
Don’t let knee pain hold you back any longer. An unloader brace could be the solution you’ve been looking for to help you reclaim your active life.
