Lia is a mid 30’s mother of three. She “used to be an athlete.” She used to play college volleyball, snowboard, and could be found living a high-motion life of activity as often as possible. She lived for pushing her limits, but that was all before. Her life is now very different. Not because of the kids, but because an ACL tear put an end to the life she once had. Surgery, physio, rehabilitation, strengthening, and bracing, none of it was enough to bring back the confidence in her own body that allowed her to perform and live an active lifestyle .
 
This story is all too familiar. Friends, family, colleagues, and professionals, are all taken out of their careers, their hobbies, their enjoyment—their life—because of an injury. As someone who strives to build products to solve this problem, this trend is heartbreaking. So why aren’t these athletes finding solutions that serve and empower them to regain the lives they’ve lost? When originally setting out to create “the world's best knee brace” the answer from athletes was unanimous, “we don’t want a better knee brace, we want our lives back!”

Advancement in Sport Culture

This response from athletes was interesting. Still, upon stepping back, it started to make sense. In the last several decades, significant changes in athletic culture have taken place. Athletes are pushing their bodies faster, higher, and harder to see what is possible. Traditional, individual, and team sports continue to advance to greater heights, while at the same time, we see extreme sports surging in participation.
 
Generally, we are seeing athletes, and even the gear they use, push the human body to its limits in the pursuit of what is possible. Additionally, we are seeing athletic participation continuing later in life. Whether it be snowbirds getting in more rounds of golf during retirement, snowboarders pushing for new, more complex tricks in pursuit of the podium, or the likes of Harriette Thompson (oldest woman, 92,  to run a marathon), we are pushing our bodies harder, further, and longer than ever before. But have we seen the same advancements in the bracing space?
 
The first knee brace came to life in 1967. It provided lateral knee protection and was invented by Dr. Robert F. McDavid. This idea gave birth to the current paradigm of knee bracing, the rigid double upright hinge. They are fantastic products for the right athlete, but in the last 55 years, we’ve seen little more than an aesthetic makeover of these products. What isn’t being addressed in the bracing space that would cause athletes to ask for their “lives back” and reject the idea of “the world’s best knee brace”?
 
My hypothesis? Compliance.

The Compliance Problem

Patient compliance is a notorious problem. Interventions can advance and medicine can bring miracles, but if patients are not compliant, it simply does not matter. Bracing provides a clear example. The world’s best knee brace could be created, but if it sits on an athlete's shelf, it will do them no good.
 
Those who prescribe bracing devices are keenly aware of this issue. In discussions with several medical professionals, they shared the sentiment that they prescribe based on the mental model of patients because they knew it would drive compliance. They cared less about the supportive efficacy of the brace they prescribed, and more about tolerance of the product to drive its use and patient confidence to get back to activity.
 
Talking to athletes showed trends that highlighted this problem. Time and time again they shared stories of “expensive, cumbersome, uncomfortable” braces that now collect dust on their shelves. More often than not, athletes had used braces in the past but their experience drove them to discard the products and modify their lives around their new injury, rather than tolerate the tradeoffs of bracing.

Support as Table Stakes

What should be the response of the bracing space? How can product developers hold the functional need of users paramount, while maximizing compliance, and therefore benefits, to the end-user?
 
We need to move beyond supportive function. Athletes demand far more than support these days, just as they are demanding more of their bodies. Efforts focused there, on product features and experience that drive compliance, will pay dividends both for the user and the developer.
 
So, what are athletes looking for? They are seeking products and brands that deliver on their supportive needs, all while being comfortable, beautiful, and empowering. They need support that doesn’t restrict, hinder, or distract. Comfort that enables them to move freely and focus on movement rather than pinching, rubbing, or pain. An aesthetic that is empowering, rather than a sign of their injury. They want to be athletes, not patients; and we need to deliver products which instill the confidence to participate in athletics and live the life they had before injury.

It’s Time for Change

Athletes are demanding their lives back. Will we listen to them? Are we content to continue recycling the same tired ideas and living in the paradigm of 1967? There is value here! Athletes need support and we must deliver. But will we push beyond support into what they have asked for? I’ll ask you the same question I asked them, do you want to create a better knee brace, or do you want to give someone their life back?