About Foot/Ankle Bracing

There are two categories of bracing for the foot and ankle. Ankle braces and walker boots are designed to support, stabilize, immobilize or limit the range of motion of the foot and ankle either post-surgery or post-injury.

Ankle braces are used to protect the ankle during sports or post-injury to provide stability. They come in a variety of styles and materials, varying from soft fabric to very rigid.

Walker boots, an alternative to casting, are used post-surgery or after trauma. Walker boots cover the foot and the ankle, sometimes coming up as high as the knee. They are sometimes preferred to casting because they can be removed so patients can perform rehabilitation exercises and make hygiene cleansing easier.

The type of brace or walker boot used is dependent upon physician protocols and indications.

To find out more about ankle braces and walker boots, go to Breg Foot/Ankle Braces.

Foot and ankle emergencies happen every day. Broken bones, dislocations, sprains, contusions, infections, and other serious injuries can occur at any time. Early attention is vitally important. Whenever you sustain a foot or ankle injury, you should seek immediate treatment from a podiatric physician. This advice is universal, even though there are lots of myths about foot and ankle injuries.

To learn about some of the most common foot and ankle injuries and conditions, view the videos, below.

The patella is a disk shaped bone in the front of your knee. Your patella is attached to your tibia bone by a tendon called the patellar tendon. The kneecap also attaches to the quadriceps muscles which are the large muscles in the front of your thigh. The patellar tendon, quadriceps, and other soft tissue surround the patella in what we call a soft tissue envelope. Normally this soft tissue envelope is well balanced and strong allowing your knee to function without pain.

Normally your patella rides smoothly in a groove at the end of your thigh bone, or femur, when you bend and straighten your knee. The vastus medialis obliquus, or VMO, is important in maintaining this normal patellar movement and allowing balance of the soft tissue envelope around the patella. The movement of the patella in this groove at the end of the femur is called patellar tracking.

Your ankle is made up of three main bones: the tibia, the fibula and the talus. These bones are held in place by three main sets of ligaments: the lateral ankle ligaments, the deltoid ligament and the syndesmosis ligament. These ligaments connect one bone to another bone and provide stability by preventing the bones from moving too far away from each other.

Taken together, these bones and ligaments give the ankle stability which is similar to the stability found in a ring. If you break a ring in one place, the remainder of the ring remains stable. This is also true for the ankle. If you fracture one of the bones or tear one of the ligaments, the ankle usually remains stable.

However, like a ring, if you break the ankle or tear ligaments in two places, the ankle becomes unstable. It is important to determine whether your ankle injury is stable or unstable because stable ankle injuries are usually treated without surgery, many times by just applying a cast, a boot or a brace, whereas unstable ankle injuries are usually treated with surgery.

The largest joint in the body, the knee is also one of the easiest to injure. Knee problems can be caused by trauma, particularly from sports; physiologic issues like misalignment; degeneration from conditions like osteoarthritis; or just plain overuse. To learn about some of the most common knee injuries and conditions, view the videos, below.

Knee braces, sometimes known as knee orthoses, are supports worn on the knees, typically to provide joint stability and correct maladjustments. Braces can be made of metals, fabric and plastic. Braces are part of a treatment program that should be administered by a licensed medical professional.

Knee braces are divided into categories depending on the type of support they provide: ligament, functional, adjustable range-of-motion, OA, post-op and soft supports.

To find out more about knee braces, go to Breg Knee Braces.

If you and your doctor have decided surgery is the best treatment for you, your options may include arthroscopic surgery to repair joint damage, partial knee replacement surgery to replace only the damaged portion of your knee, or total knee replacement surgery. To learn about more about these and other surgical procedures, view the videos, below.