Supportive braces can prevent pain and get you back to your daily activities. Braces can be stabilizing, immobilizing or flexible to suit your pain and desired range of motion. A brace is often a preferred alternative to invasive surgery, but a reduction in pain may only be temporary, even when coupled with physical therapy.
Knee Braces
Knee braces come in four fits, and your doctor most often determines the style you should wear after careful assessment of your pain. Prophylactic braces are for protection from contact sports like football. Functional braces provide support for previous injuries to your knee. Rehabilitative braces limit harmful movement of your knee while you are healing from an injury or surgery. Unloader or offloader braces provide relief for those with knee joint arthritis. According to FamilyDoctor.org, a good knee brace can provide comfort and speed healing, but braces are not as important as stretching and strengthening your knees daily.
Wrist Braces
Doctors treating patients with repetitive stress injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome often prescribe wrist braces. A good wrist brace should not cover your fingers--so that you can still type and pick up objects--but should keep your wrist immobilized so that it can rest and heal. Wearing a brace does not mean that you should perform increasingly strenuous tasks; you should keep your activities minimal until the pain subsides.
Back Braces
A back brace is one treatment option for scoliosis--curvature of the spine. The brace is worn under clothing and places pressure on the back and ribs to push the spine into a straighter, more natural position. This type of brace is usually worn full-time until the curvature of bones has slowed, notes the University of Maryland Medical Center. Other types of back braces can be worn for sports, injuries or chronic pain relief at your discretion; they do not have to be prescribed by your doctor. For example, many recreational weightlifters wear back braces for compound movements such as squats and lunges to prevent injury and correct their form.
Ankle Braces
Ankle braces and supports come in a variety of styles similar to knee braces. Mild support braces provide light compression and stabilization and are ideal for first-degree sprains and strains. Moderate support braces give you extra stability during sports and activities where you may be likely to twist your ankle. These braces can also be worn during the recovery period after a sprain. Maximum support and walking braces immobilize your ankle after severe injuries such as third-degree sprains and fractures and provide compression to reduce painful swelling.
