The knee joint is vulnerable to various injuries and degenerative conditions, potentially leading to instabilities. Usual treatments involve orthoses, which are medical devices aimed at supporting, aligning or immobilizing the joint. However, the evaluation of these devices lacks standardisation despite high prescription and demand.In relation with clinicians and manufacturers, different tools were developed to assess their biomechanical efficiency. Firstly, a finite element analysis (FEA) of a braced lower limb was used to investigate the effects of brace design on its ability to prevent a pathological motion and understand the force transfer mechanisms. This model provided a basis to validate an experimental surrogate limb with the aim of providing an innovation and certification tool for manufacturers. In an attempt to apprehend comfort issues, full-field measurements of brace migration and FEA of contact pressures were performed. Finally, their in vivo actions were measured on ACL-deficient patients using a laxity testing device.Results highlight the importance of brace technical characteristics and patient-specificity on characterized levels of action and comfort. Furthermore, some key design factors allowed to target devices to particular pathologies. However, when compared to in vivo passive stabilizing structures (ligaments), the efficiency of knee braces was restrained to low load conditions. Nevertheless, these devices may also have a substantial effect on active stabilizing mechanisms such as neuro-muscular control.These tools were found to be complementary and may hopefully pave the way to a standardised procedure for evaluating and developing new designs.
