Patent ID: 7059329

Claim:
A brace mountable about a knee having a patella to maintain proper tracking of the patella during movement of the knee, said brace 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 an upper pivot element, a lower pivot element, an upper tension strap lever including an upper tension strap connection point, and a lower tension strap connection point, wherein said upper arm is rotatable about said upper pivot element and said lower arm and said upper tension strap lever are rotatable about said lower pivot element to transition between a flexion position and an extension position; an upper tension strap connected to said upper tension strap lever at said upper tension strap connection point; a lower tension strap connected to said hinge assembly at said lower tension strap connection point; a compression member positionable on the opposite side of the patella from said hinge assembly, said upper and lower tension straps engaging said compression member to apply a tension force to said compression member, wherein said tension force increases when said upper tension strap lever rotationally transitions from said flexion position to said extension position and said tension force decreases when said upper 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.