Patent ID: 7060045

Claim:
An orthosis mountable on a knee having a patella to maintain proper tracking of the patella during movement of the knee, said orthosis comprising: an upper arm and a lower arm positionable about the knee; a hinge assembly positioned between said upper arm and said lower arm and positionable at the knee to one side of the patella, said hinge assembly having a hinge pivot and a tension strap lever including a tension strap connection point, wherein said upper arm, said lower arm and said tension strap lever are each rotatable about said hinge pivot to transition between a flexion position and an extension position; a tension strap connected to said tension strap lever at said tension strap connection point; a compression member positionable on the opposite side of the patella from said hinge assembly, said tension strap connected to said compression member to apply a tension force to said compression member, wherein said tension force increases when said tension strap lever rotationally transitions from said flexion position to said extension position and decreases when said tension strap lever rotationally transitions from said extension position to said flexion position; and means for applying a counter force to said compression member opposing said tension force.