EXTERNAL KNEE SUPPORT IN RUGBY UNION - EFFECTIVENESS OF BRACING AND TAPING

Rugby football is associated with a number of biomechanical stresses w hich are frequently associated with knee injury. Consequently, there h as been a significant interest within the game regarding the technique s of knee surgery and accelerated rehabilitation and the prophylactic use of external knee support. Knee bracing and strapping techniques ar e widely practised by rugby players but their results vary and there a re mixed opinions over their usefulness. This article discusses the cu rrent trends in external knee support, draws on the experiences of oth er professional football codes and extrapolates these to the rugby uni on setting. Widespread opinion confirms that improper or incomplete re habilitation is linked to re-injury. There is also a general acceptanc e that external support fur the knee in sport should never be used to mask an injury. There is no evidence that the prophylactic taping of t he knee joint provides any significant external stabilisation for more than the first few minutes of play. This lack of lasting stabilisatio n is due to the vigorous physical activity associated with rugby which results in a rapid loss of the custom fit of the external support to the profile of the joint. The taping the patella to reduce the pain as sociated with poor pateliar alignment is considered to be effective; h owever, the correction of other biomechanical influences is also impor tant. Adhesive tape, when applied correctly, will reposition the patel la but this technique is limited by factors such as sweating and movem ent. A number of knee braces are currently available and these are cla ssified according to their prophylactic, rehabilitative or functional design. In this article, their use in rugby applies to external suppor t as an aid to rehabilitation rather than injury prevention.