Patent ID: 8308671

Claim:
A knee orthosis device for stabilizing and/or immobilizing a knee joint of a patient, the knee orthosis comprising: a) at least one vertical strut member having a hinged element intermediately disposed top and bottom portions of the at least one vertical strut member, the hinged element permitting the patient to flex and extend a leg associated with said knee joint; b) a semi-rigid, dynamically conformable thigh cuff adapted to be positioned above the knee joint and attached to at least one side thereof to an upper end portion of the at least one vertical strut member top portion, the semi-rigid, dynamically conformable thigh cuff adapted to generally surround a portion of a circumference of a thigh muscle group; c) a semi-rigid, dynamically conformable shin cuff adapted to be positioned below the knee joint and attached to at least one side thereof to a lower end portion of the at least one vertical strut member bottom portion, the semi-rigid, dynamically conformable shin cuff adapted to generally surround a portion of a circumference of a shin/calf muscle group; d) a thigh strapping system including at least one elastic thigh strap member for completing a remaining circumference of the thigh muscle group; e) a shin strapping system including at least one elastic shin strap member for completing a remaining circumference of the shin/calf muscle group; f) the semi-rigid, dynamically conformable thigh cuff, the thigh strapping system, the semi-rigid, dynamically conformable shin cuff and the shin strapping system all working in coincidence to permit circumferential dimensional change to the knee orthosis during ambulatory or athletic motion of the patient's knee and surrounding muscle groups above and below said knee joint; and g) the at least one elastic thigh strap member and the at least one elastic shin strap member have a higher coefficient of elasticity at opposed end portions thereof as compared to middle portions there between.