Patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA) find that use of elastic knee sleeves gives them partial pain relief and a greater sense of joint stability. However, the scientific effects of knee OA patients wearing braces are unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of knee sleeves on static and dynamic balance in knee OA patients. Fifty patients with knee OA were enrolled in the study and all subjects were randomly divided into two groups. Initially, subjects in group A did not wear a neoprene sleeve while receiving balance tests but then wore them to be re-tested. Subjects in group B did just the reverse procedure. In this investigation, an instrument (KAT2000; Breg Inc, Vista, CA, USA), which quantified motor control performance of the lower extremities was used and balance scores from the KAT2000 software were obtained. The results revealed that the scores of patients wearing braces were significantly lower than those of patients without braces (p < 0.05). The finding of this study demonstrated that knee OA patients wearing knee sleeves could experience increased balance ability in both static and dynamic conditions. The improvement might prevent knee OA patients from falling down and increase their sense of security during physical activities.

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