Össur Releases Brace for Patients with Hip Osteoarthritis

Reykjavik, Iceland-based Össur hf., a prosthetic and orthopedic device company best known for providing the prosthetics worn by Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius, has launched the Unloader Hip, a brace intended to provide relief for patients with mild-to-moderate hip osteoarthritis (OA). Hip OA is a progressive, degenerative, incurable disease. It is considered to be the most common arthritic condition of the hip, and estimated to affect an estimated one in every four U.S. adults.

Unloader Hip’s proprietary design is intended to improve patients’ mobility by using compression to encourage external rotation and abduction of the femoral head whenever the patient is walking. This helps reduce the load on the affected joint by dispersing the load to an area of less worn cartilage during heel strike. The sleek, lightweight design includes Össur’s patented Smartdosing system, allowing patients to adjust the fit to best suit their comfort and activity level.

In field studies, patients who wore the Unloader Hip brace showed significant improvements in the daily living activities over a four week period. According to peer-reviewed clinical literature, increased patient activities have been associated with less hip limitations at later disease stages.

“Although hip osteoarthritis cannot be cured outright, clinicians recommend a multi-modal approach including education and pharmaceuticals as the condition progresses,” said Jason Thorne, Össur’s vice president of Global Marketing OA&I Solutions. “We designed Unloader Hip with these clinical practices in mind, and believe it serves as an excellent complement to support hip OA patients throughout the process.”