Knee Braces - Ossur CTi vs Donjoy

[willyt]

Ok.. will say this to start things off - I am not a surgeon, a doctor, or even work in the medical field, so i need some advice from people who do/personal experiences.

Blew my left ACL out in March snowboarding (stupid previous-level frozen water sport). Had surgery, had some joint damage on the medial part of the knee, and they had to remove 50% of my lateral meniscus. Had a patellar tendon graft.

Finally got cleared to wakeboard again by PT, but I also need a brace. They're pushing donjoy, i believe only because they have a relationship with them. My experience with donjoy in the cincinnati area has not been great, took them 3-4 weeks to replace my iceman after it stopped working randomly after my surgery. not quite a fan of their rep (even though she's kinda hot)

Enter Ossur. Every single alliance wakeboard mag i get has their 2 page spread listing all the riders that rock their braces. the list is quite incredible. This peeks my interest. Asked PT about them, they said they didnt know anything about them because they do not know the rep. Got the name of the rep and working with my insurance for a pre-approval for the brace.

Attended a going away party for one of my friends moving to texas. Talked with a guy that's had both the donjoy and Ossur CTi brace - was raving about the CTi. One of my other buddies i ride with all the time (great rider) has the CTi...

Even though my PT is pushing donjoy (i would argue solely because they have the relationship built) I think i want to pursue working with Ossur and getting the CTi that (i would assume) most of the pro riders have, and my friends have had good experiences with personally. I took a look on WW and it seems like there are alot of positive reviews on the CTi. What's the consensus around here?

[tommcat]

i had the exact same surgery, i've been through 3 braces now and the one i'm currently using and am happiest with is a donjoy. i play hockey, wakeboard and snowmobile with it. it needs to go out to get refurbished right now but that's due to 8 years of hard using and being kept in my hockey bag.

i have not used the ossur, so i cannot comment on that brace

[plunk77]

I wear two donjoys for football and i barely notice them when they're on. my problem is when they get real wet from me sweating so much (like during two a days when its super super hot) they tend to slide down and become somewhat annoying. I don't know that i would want to wear it wakeboarding but i have no idea. just my two cents.

[76S&S]

My son has the donjoy (football acl injury) and a good friend has the cti. My son doesn't like the donjoy when it's wet (^see 77's comment), my friend loves his cti. On my son's donjoy he has taken a couple of hard wb falls where the pads on the side of the knee have came out of the kneebrace. He wishes he had the cti for wakeboarding, but of course he's never worn one.

[_fng_]

I'm a PT and in my experience Donjoy has good customer service (one football player I was working with had three new braces in a year due to him breaking it during football). I haven't heard of Ossur but it sounds like a good alternative especially for watersports. I'd say look into their warranty/replacement policy and if it looks good go that route.

Either brace, fit is important otherwise the in/out (varus/valgus) movements can be excessive and minimize the effectiveness of the brace.

[tommcat]

I wear two donjoys for football and i barely notice them when they're on. my problem is when they get real wet from me sweating so much (like during two a days when its super super hot) they tend to slide down and become somewhat annoying. I don't know that i would want to wear it wakeboarding but i have no idea. just my two cents.

i had that issue with my first donjoy brace, the one i'm wearing now has an "anti-migration strap" thats keeps it from slipping down.

[plunk77]

i had that issue with my first donjoy brace, the one i'm wearing now has an "anti-migration strap" thats keeps it from slipping down.

this year we got new braces that had those but even with them if i sweat enough it still falls. i sweat a lot

[tommcat]

this year we got new braces that had those but even with them if i sweat enough it still falls. i sweat a lot

mine stays in place pretty well during hockey, only issue i have had with movement is from a nasty wakeboard crash or 2.

[Fletchx7]

I wore a Donjoy in college and never had an issue. It finally gave out on me after 10 years this summer so I replaced it with another one. (Plus the price was right....a small donation back to the athletic training dept )

[tex]

Blown ACL/PCL/MCL-I wear the donjoy defience with anti migration strap. I have the neo sleeve under it and the neo cover over it. The under neo helps with sliding and the cover keeps the straps from coming undone. I jump/foot/sky ski/etc and love it! Customer service was so so and when I complained they sent all sort of product to make any issues right! Never heard of the other brand!

[tommcat]

Blown ACL/PCL/MCL-I wear the donjoy defience with anti migration strap. I have the neo sleeve under it and the neo cover over it. The under neo helps with sliding and the cover keeps the straps from coming undone. I jump/foot/sky ski/etc and love it! Customer service was so so and when I complained they sent all sort of product to make any issues right! Never heard of the other brand!

tex, i tried the sleeves at first and found with all that on my knee it was too restrictive for me. it limited my movement as a goalie but i would guess it would be ok if you weren't trying to bend like gumby?

[TN X-45]

I had the Cti. I had to push hard for it based on the reasons you guessed- they don't do a lot of volume with the ortho guys. My PT didnt know anything about it. It stayed on well while riding. Not sure if this will sway you, but, I re-tore mine this summer (SX in November). I don't think the brace had anything to do with it - just think I was riding too hard too early. Almost all the pros wear it. Spoke with Josh Palma about it at PWT and he swears by it.

[bcboy]

I have the Ossur CTi custom...I have played high level soccer all my life and have all the knee issues that come with it.

Did not think I would be able to play,run or board again until my surgeon suggested the brace...really thought it may be a gimmick and help a little but was desperate so i got one(not cheap but covered by my medical).

Now lets just say I am a completely amazed at how good it works and would highly reccomend the Ossur....I will also add I have never used or know anything about the other one so I can't comment on that.

Good luck

[Matt L.]

Sept 2001, ACL, MCL, Lateral Minscus, Medial Condyl micro fracture:

No brace, no problems since, and I've greatly abused it. According to my doc a properly repaired ACL has less play than any brace because the brace is anchored to flesh. The only time he considers them is when the knee has excessive play and repair isn't an option.

Just what I was told.

Good luck,

Matt

[squishd]

CTI is the only way to go. The doc can write the script for them to.