1.1 Introduction
Balance ability plays an important role during skiing. When the skier loses balance injuries might happen (Natri
et al. 1999). Ski boots impede the balance regulation at the ankle, and the regulative mechanisms have to be
compensated by the knee and hip joints (Milder et al. 2010).
The most common injuries during skiing involve the knee (Burtscher et al. 2008, Ruedl et al. 2009). Women are
more susceptible to anterior cruciate ligament injuries (ACL) than men (Ruedl et al. 2009).
Knee braces and sleeves are nowadays commonly used for injuries prevention and return to sport after injuries
(Rishiraj et al. 2009, Kelvin et al. 2007). Although of the use of knee supports during sport activity is accepted, it is
still not clear if and when they have a positive effect in balance control. Palm et al. (2010) found a better balance
ability wearing a knee brace. Kaminski and Perrin (1996) could, as well, find an improvement in the double stance
antero-posterior balance ability wearing a brace, but, they did not find any influence during single stance testing.
Furthermore, Birmingham et al. (2001) found that knee braces improve balance ability only testing on a stable
platform with eyes open, however, these improvement fade away as soon as the test condition required more effort
from the somatosensory system (e.g. eyes closed and instable platform). Bruhn and Gollhofer (2002) demonstrated
that the knee flexor muscles are stimulated by wearing a knee brace during simulated injury situations. A higher
activation of the knee flexor muscles might help in preventing Anterior Cruciate Ligament injuries (Hewett et al.
2005, Malinzak et al. 2001).
To the best of our knowledge nobody evaluated the effect of knee braces on balance ability wearing ski boots.
The objective of this study was to determine if knee braces influence balance ability wearing ski boots. Knee braces
might stimulate the receptors at the knee (Palm et al. 2010) and therefore help in the correction to the balance
ability impairment that ski boots might produce.