Studying the effects of Knee Braces using Weight Bearing MR

Callaghan MJ (1), Reeves ND (2), Cootes TF (1), Hodgson R (1), Felson DT (1)
(1) The University of Manchester
(2) Manchester Metropolitan University

Methods

We imaged two subjects with and without two different knee braces:

The SERF Brace
The Bioskin patellar tracking Q-Brace

In order to study the effect of the brace, it was necessary to align the images. We performed a rigid registration to align the femur in each image with one without a brace. All images were then resampled (using trilinear interpolation) for display. We then display the with/without-brace images in the same reference frame (see below). This registration ensures that the femur doesn't appear to move, allowing the movement of the other bones and tissues relative to the femur to be examined.

Results

The movies below each show two frames, one with the brace on, one without.

Subject 1 with/without SERF Brace:

Subject 1 with/without BIOSKIN Q-Brace:

Subject 2 with/without SERF Brace:

Subject 2 with/without BIOSKIN Q-Brace:

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the School of Healthcare Science at Manchester Metropolitan University, and to Greg May for MRI technical support.