(ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Tearing an anterior cruciate ligament can be a painful experience, and it usually requires extensive surgical reconstruction. Though surgery can be expensive, researchers report a patient's recovery doesn't have to be. A recent study reveals people who wore relatively inexpensive neoprene sleeves following surgery recovered just as well as those who wore more expensive functional knee braces.

The vast majority of ACL reconstructions are performed on people who are very young and very athletic, according to the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine. During ACL reconstruction surgery, doctors replace a patient's anterior cruciate ligament with a piece of tendon or a graft, and they may advise the patient to wear a brace for a few weeks while the knee heals. There are two basic types of braces: functional knee braces and neoprene sleeves. Functional knee braces are usually made of metal, titanium or fiberglass, as they are designed to give the patient rigid support in the knee. Neoprene sleeves do not offer patients a great deal of support, but they do give patients improved muscular control by compressing the area around the knee.

After studying 150 athletes with ACL injuries, researchers found there were no significant recovery differences in those who wore functional knee braces and those wore neoprene sleeves after reconstructive surgery.

"Initially, when the surgery was done, it wasn't a great surgery, so people would brace the knee to protect the repair," Richard Lehman, M.D., orthopaedic surgeon and medical director at U.S. Center for Sports Medicine in St. Louis, Mo., told Ivanhoe. "Now, the reconstructions are so solid that the only reason to brace somebody, in my mind, is for comfort." Dr. Lehman said neoprene braces provide just as much comfort as functional ACL braces and are much more cost effective. "A conventional ACL brace is probably $1,200 to $1,300, where a sleeve is $50 or $60," he said. "That's a huge difference."

In addition to being more economical, lightweight braces like the neoprene sleeve might also make it easier for a patient to recover. "Putting someone in a big heavy brace that mentally and physically challenges their ability to move their knee makes the rehab harder," said Dr. Lehman. "I think it's better if you put them in a lighter brace because they get their range of motion back and they don't feel like the doctor's being so protective. It's almost a better mechanism."

SOURCE: Ivanhoe interview with Richard Lehman, M.D., The Annual Meeting of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine at the Telus Convention Center in Calgary, Alberta, July 12-15, 2007