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Trial registered on ANZCTR


Registration number
ACTRN12612001010886
Ethics application status
Approved
Date submitted
18/09/2012
Date registered
19/09/2012
Date last updated
20/09/2012
Type of registration
Prospectively registered

Titles & IDs
Public title
Effect of knee bracing in people with osteoarthritis after knee reconstruction
Scientific title
The effect of a targeted brace on biomechanics, pain and function in people with post-traumatic knee osteoarthritis after knee reconstruction
Secondary ID [1] 262592 0
N/A
Universal Trial Number (UTN)
Trial acronym
POAK: Post-traumatic OsteoArthritis of Knee
Linked study record

Health condition
Health condition(s) or problem(s) studied:
Post-traumatic knee osteoarthritis 268270 0
Condition category
Condition code
Musculoskeletal 268404 268404 0 0
Osteoarthritis
Physical Medicine / Rehabilitation 268405 268405 0 0
Physiotherapy

Intervention/exposure
Study type
Interventional
Description of intervention(s) / exposure
Intervention: Commercially available Donjoy unloader knee brace (OA Adjuster) will be tested. The knee brace is designed to control abnormal sagittal and transverse plane rotations, and reduce frontal plane malalignment. The knee brace can be adjusted in the frontal plane to offload either medial or lateral knee compartment for use in medial and lateral knee OA, respectively. The degree of frontal plane adjustment is based on individual’s comfort during walking.

Brace will be fitted on the participants' knee by one investigator, who will be responsible for taking outcome measures. A second investigator will open the sealed opaque envelope indicating the order of the brace conditions and apply each test condition to the brace:
Arm 1: anterior-posterior support with frontal plane adjustment (adjusted)

Arm 2: anterior-posterior support without frontal plane adjustment (unadjusted). The brace condition will be set immediately prior to testing.

The outcome investigator will remain blinded to test condition (adjusted vs. unadjusted) for the study duration.



Exposure: The brace will be worn during biomechanical assessment for 90-120 minutes. Following baseline (no brace) functional measures (week 0), participants will regularly (daily) wear the adjusted brace during functional activities e.g. walking, stairs and running for a 4-week period. Functional measures will be repeated after 4 weeks of brace wear in adjusted and unadjusted brace conditions (30 minutes). Participants will then be asked to continue to wear the adjusted brace regularly for a further 3 months, after which time they will complete patient-reported outcome measures.
Intervention code [1] 266926 0
Treatment: Devices
Intervention code [2] 266927 0
Rehabilitation
Comparator / control treatment
The immediate effects of the knee brace (adjusted and unadjusted) on biomechanics will be compared against a no-treatment control (no brace). The duration between each of the three conditions (control, adjusted brace, and unadjusted brace) will be approximately 30 minutes. The three conditions will be compared at test time.
Control group
Active

Outcomes
Primary outcome [1] 287903 0
Primary outcome: Biomechanics
Kinematic, ground reaction force and electromyography (EMG) data will be collected during walking, hopping and stair-stepping under three conditions: no brace, adjusted brace, unadjusted brace (with the two brace conditions applied in a random order).
Timepoint [1] 287903 0
Biomechanics
Time point: 0 minutes (baseline), 60 minutes (brace condition 1) and 120 minutes (brace condition 2)
Primary outcome [2] 288010 0
Primary outcome: Functional tests
Functional tests of hopping, stair stepping and stair climbing tasks will be performed without the brace.
Timepoint [2] 288010 0
Functional
Time point: Baseline (week 0) and week 4
Secondary outcome [1] 299029 0
Pain and confidence will be measured on a 100 mm visual analogue scale during walking, hopping, stair-stepping tasks (while undergoing biomechanical assessment).
Timepoint [1] 299029 0
Pain and confidence
Time point: Immediately after each task without brace, adjusted brace, unadjusted brace at week 0.
Secondary outcome [2] 299271 0
Pain, confidence, stability and ease of performance will be measured on a 100 mm visual analogue scale during hopping, stair stepping and climbing tasks (during functional tests).
Timepoint [2] 299271 0
Pain, confidence, stability and ease
Time point: Immediately after each task at week 0 and week 4.
Secondary outcome [3] 299272 0
International Knee Documentation Committee Subjective Knee Evaluation Form
Timepoint [3] 299272 0
Baseline (week 0) and after 4 months of brace wear
Secondary outcome [4] 299273 0
Anterior Knee Pain Scale
Timepoint [4] 299273 0
Baseline (week 0) and after 4 months of brace wear
Secondary outcome [5] 299274 0
Patellofemoral Osteoarthritis Outcome Score
Timepoint [5] 299274 0
Baseline (week 0) and after 4 months of brace wear
Secondary outcome [6] 299275 0
Tegner Activity Scale
Timepoint [6] 299275 0
Baseline (week 0) and after 4 months of brace wear
Secondary outcome [7] 299276 0
Lysholm Score
Timepoint [7] 299276 0
Baseline (week 0) and after 4 months of brace wear
Secondary outcome [8] 299277 0
International Physical Activity Questionnaire
Timepoint [8] 299277 0
Baseline (week 0) and after 4 months of brace wear
Secondary outcome [9] 299278 0
Tampa Kinesiophobia Scale
Timepoint [9] 299278 0
Baseline (week 0) and after 4 months of brace wear
Secondary outcome [10] 299279 0
Pain Coping Attempts Scale of the Coping Strategies Questionnaire
Timepoint [10] 299279 0
Baseline (week 0) and after 4 months of brace wear
Secondary outcome [11] 299280 0
EuroQol
Timepoint [11] 299280 0
Baseline (week 0) and after 4 months of brace wear
Secondary outcome [12] 299281 0
Knee Self-Efficacy Scale
Timepoint [12] 299281 0
Baseline (week 0) and after 4 months of brace wear
Secondary outcome [13] 299282 0
Arthritis Self-Efficacy Scale
Timepoint [13] 299282 0
Baseline (week 0) and after 4 months of brace wear
Secondary outcome [14] 299283 0
Brace compliance diary
Timepoint [14] 299283 0
Weekly (Starting at week-1 and finishing at month-4)

Eligibility
Key inclusion criteria
i) ACL reconstruction 5 to 20 years previously; ii) aged at least 18 years at the time of ACL reconstruction; iii) knee pain severity of greater than or equal to 4 on an 11-point numerical pain scale during aggravating activities; iv) pain during aggravating activities present on most days during the past month; and v) radiographic OA severity of greater than or equal to 2 on Kellgren and Lawrence grading (Kellgren, 1957).
Minimum age
23 Years
Maximum age
No limit
Sex
Both males and females
Can healthy volunteers participate?
No
Key exclusion criteria
i) concomitant pain from hip or lumbar spine; ii) recent knee injections (3 months); iii) planned lower limb surgery in the following 6 months; iv) body mass index of less than or equal to 35; v) knee or hip arthroplasty or osteotomy; vi) physical inability to undertake testing procedures; vii) inability to understand written and spoken English; and viii) pregnant or breastfeeding (contraindications to x-ray).

Study design
Purpose of the study
Treatment
Allocation to intervention
Randomised controlled trial
Procedure for enrolling a subject and allocating the treatment (allocation concealment procedures)
Following provision of informed consent, the no brace condition will be tested. Following baseline testing (no brace), the second investigator will open the envelope that indicates the order of testing the brace conditions (adjusted, non-adjusted). The assessor will remain blinded to test conditions until all analyses have been finalized.
Methods used to generate the sequence in which subjects will be randomised (sequence generation)
Simple computer generated randomization
Masking / blinding
Blinded (masking used)
Who is / are masked / blinded?



Intervention assignment
Other
Other design features
For the biomechanical assessment, crossover design will be employed. Both unadjusted and adjusted brace conditions will be randomly tested following the no brace condition.

For the functional assessment, all participants will wear the adjusted brace for 4 weeks (single group design). Following the four week adjusted brace intervention both adjusted and unadjusted brace conditions will be randomly tested (crossover design). After the 4 week functional assessment, the participants will continue wearing the adjusted brace for another 3 months (single group design).
Phase
Not Applicable
Type of endpoint/s
Efficacy
Statistical methods / analysis

Recruitment
Recruitment status
Not yet recruiting
Date of first participant enrolment
Anticipated
Actual
Date of last participant enrolment
Anticipated
Actual
Date of last data collection
Anticipated
Actual
Sample size
Target
Accrual to date
Final
Recruitment in Australia
Recruitment state(s)

Funding & Sponsors
Funding source category [1] 285929 0
University
Name [1] 285929 0
The Univeristy of Melbourne
Country [1] 285929 0
Australia
Primary sponsor type
Commercial sector/Industry
Name
DJO Australasia Pty Ltd
Address
PO BOX 2057
Normanhurst NSW 2076
Country
Australia
Secondary sponsor category [1] 284751 0
None
Name [1] 284751 0
Address [1] 284751 0
Country [1] 284751 0

Ethics approval
Ethics application status
Approved
Ethics committee name [1] 287955 0
Human Research Ethics Committee
Ethics committee address [1] 287955 0
Ethics committee country [1] 287955 0
Australia
Date submitted for ethics approval [1] 287955 0
Approval date [1] 287955 0
10/09/2012
Ethics approval number [1] 287955 0
1238328

Summary
Brief summary
Trial website
Trial related presentations / publications
Public notes

Contacts
Principal investigator
Name 32849 0
Address 32849 0
Country 32849 0
Phone 32849 0
Fax 32849 0
Email 32849 0
Contact person for public queries
Name 16096 0
A/Prof Kay Crossley
Address 16096 0
Division of Physiotherapy
School of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences
The University of Queensland
St Lucia, QLD, 4072
Country 16096 0
Australia
Phone 16096 0
+61733653008
Fax 16096 0
Email 16096 0
Contact person for scientific queries
Name 7024 0
A/Prof Kay Crossley
Address 7024 0
Division of Physiotherapy
School of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences
The University of Queensland
St Lucia, QLD, 4072
Country 7024 0
Australia
Phone 7024 0
+61733653008
Fax 7024 0
Email 7024 0

No information has been provided regarding IPD availability


What supporting documents are/will be available?

No Supporting Document Provided



Results publications and other study-related documents

Documents added manually
No documents have been uploaded by study researchers.

Documents added automatically
No additional documents have been identified.