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Knee immobilizer is an orthopedic aid that serves the purpose of restricting complete range of motion of knee joint and the knee. While the knee brace supports the knee and does the work of providing the compression element for pain relief, knee immobilizer is different. The knee immobilizer goes by its name and immobilizes the knee joint and knee post any knee injury, post surgery, post tendon/ligament injury or post knee flexion. The idea is to support and hold the injured knee in place, so as to avoid a situation where the knee gets re-injured by uninhibited movement of the knee. Looking at the complete immobilization factor, people often question the use of knee immobilizer because they feel that a plaster cast also serves the same purpose and should thereby be used instead of a knee immobilizer, because at least it is custom fit. The difference, however is that unlike plaster cast that cannot be removed, the knee immobilizer can be taken off for gentle motion during healing process. The major problem patient face while using an orthopedic aid is that in the beginning the aid seems to help but later on, people start getting annoyed with the use of these support devices. Not just orthopedic aids, say you are very sick, in that moment you will be ready to take any medicines, injections, go for painful tests, just because the pain of the injury/disease is far worse than anything else. Once you start with the treatment, the healing process starts. While your body is healing, the pain subdues, at this point of time, you are most likely to dump the medicine because you no longer want the medicine, yes you need it, but you would not want to take it. Similarly, with orthopedic aids like knee immobilizer or shoulder Support, initially the feeling of having some support device for the injured area is far greater, they will cause pain relief, support the injured area, thus exhilarate your healing process, but after a while, when you do not feel the same amount of pain in your knee anymore, the knee immobilizer will seem like a useless aid that is just not letting you sleep/walk/stand freely. Prolonged use of any orthopedic aid is never advisable, in fact it is rather better to keep in constant touch with your physician and seek his/her guidance on the matter. If your doctor advises you on wearing a knee immobilizer, then trust him, doctor(s) know better. Most of the knee immobilizer come with metal struts inside and sometimes on the outside as well, the rigid struts hold the knee in place, at times the knee immobilizer has foam liner to cushion the knee. Here are simple steps on how to wear a knee immobilizer that will help you kick start the support and healing process. How to wear Open the Velcro straps that hold the knee immobilizer in place. The knee immobilizer is usually worn in a way that it starts from the thigh area just above the knee and ends at the shin. Place the opened up knee immobilizer behind the leg, now make sure that the knee immobilizer‘s strut is centered i.e. it is equidistant to the knee from top and bottom. Now just wrap up the foam liner and secure it in place by securing all the Velcro snugs. See, the aid is easy to wear and you can always loosen up the straps, if you feel uncomfortable. Ask your doctor for the time duration for which you should wear a knee immobilizer and also ask him if there is any specific type of knee immobilizer that is best suited for your knee condition.
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