Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41331771›Full record

Trial reportProsthetics and orthotics international2026

The effectiveness of the UniReliever offloading knee brace for treating medial knee osteoarthritis: A randomized clinical trial.

Michael Benning, Stéphanie Villet, Alyssia Marques, Ralf-Dieter Hilgers

Registry-linked trialAbstract readRandomized Controlled TrialComparative Study
In one paragraph

Trial report in Prosthetics and orthotics international, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05905809 (Controlled, Randomized, Open Label Study to Assess the Efficacy of UniRelieverTM Offloading Brace in the Management of Knee Osteoarthritis), which is not on this map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT05905809 nacompletednot on this map

Controlled, Randomized, Open Label Study to Assess the Efficacy of UniRelieverTM Offloading Brace in the Management of Knee Osteoarthritis

TypeinterventionalSponsorThuasneRan2023 to 2023Enrolled60ConditionsOsteoarthritis, KneeArmsUniRelieverTM offloading brace (THUASNE), Unloader One® X brace (Össur)
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Michael BenningMVZ Orthopädie und Unfallchirurgie Nordrhein GmbHFriedrich Wilhelm Platz 5-6, 52062 Aachen, Germany.ORCID 0009-0001-5168-9501
Stéphanie VilletThuasne, Clinical Department, Saint-Etienne, France.ORCID 0009-0006-5868-5542
Alyssia MarquesThuasne, Clinical Department, Saint-Etienne, France.
Ralf-Dieter HilgersRWTH Aachen University Institute of Medical Statistics, Aachen, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-5945-1119

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundOffloading knee braces can reduce pain and improve mobility in patients with knee osteoarthritis.

objectivesThis study aimed to determine the effectiveness of the new UniReliever knee brace and to compare it to the widely used Unloader One X device.

methodsIn this open-label, three-arm parallel-group randomized trial, 60 patients with medial knee osteoarthritis (Kellgren-Lawrence grade II‒IV), 34 male and 26 female with a mean age of 69.62 ± 9.57 years and mean body mass index of 26.86 ± 3.18 kg/m 2 , were recruited from an orthopedic center. The patients were randomly allocated to receive a UniReliever device, an Unloader One X device, or no knee brace (control). The primary outcome was the change in the pain-free walking distance from baseline to 6 weeks. Other measures included the Lequesne index, pain on exertion, range of motion, and analgesic use.

resultsThe mean pain-free walking distance more than doubled for the UniReliever group (from 2.0 ± 1.4 km to 4.6 ± 3.4 km) and the Unloader One X group (from 2.6 ± 2.3 to 5.6 ± 3.7 km), but not for the controls (from 1.3 ± 1.2 to 1.4 ± 1.3 km; comparisons with controls: p < 0.0001). The Lequesne index and pain on exertion also improved for the 2 knee brace groups ( p < 0.05 for all comparisons with controls; p > 0.05 for comparisons between the knee brace groups), and the use of analgesics fell (UniReliever: 4/7 patients; Unloader One X: 8/11 patients; whereas controls: 1/9 patients). There were no serious adverse events.

conclusionsThe UniReliever offloading knee brace can improve mobility and reduce pain in patients with medial knee osteoarthritis. The benefits are similar compared with the Unloader One X.

trial registrationClinical Trials NCT05905809.

Indexed as

BracesOsteoarthritis, KneeAgedEquipment DesignFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedPain MeasurementRange of Motion, ArticularTreatment OutcomeWalkingWeight-Bearingfunctional impairmentmedial knee osteoarthritisoffloading knee bracepainwalking distances

Identifiers

PMID41331771
PMCPMC13440599

What Socratic holds

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Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.