Patent ID: 7666156

Claim:
A method of manipulating the knee joint of a person's leg, comprising: obtaining a knee brace having a main body portion and at least two straps extending from the main body portion in opposite directions; positioning the knee brace on the person's leg with the main body portion positioned behind the knee joint and spaced from the patella of the person's knee joint; wrapping one of the straps in one direction around the front of the leg in a position spaced above the patella and securing a free end thereof operatively to the main body portion to hold the strap in place; and wrapping the other of the straps in the opposite direction around the front of the leg in a position spaced below the patella and securing a free end thereof operatively to the main body portion and including positioning a generally rigid stay to a lateral or medial side of the leg at a position spaced above the knee joint and securing it in place by one of the straps, and positioning another generally rigid stay to the opposite lateral or medial side of the leg at a position spaced below the knee joint and securing it in place by the other strap to impart opposite inwardly directed side loads to the leg above or below the knee joint and wherein the generally rigid stays are selected to be ones that extend lengthwise in the circumferential direction of the leg.