Custom Bracing

Custom Bracing in Recovery

Bracing supports and stabilizes a joint or in the middle of your spine, multiple vertebral joints. But they can’t be effective if they don’t fit properly. That’s why custom bracing is very important.  

A brace tailored to fit your unique body shape and designed to support your specific joint problem produces optimal results and ensures maximum comfort. You can’t depend on the same level of joint care from a one-size-fits-all brace. In addition to not providing the precise joint support you need, a brace that isn’t a good fit can irritate your skin, pinch nerves, and cause pain.

How Orthopedic Bracing Works

Braces consist of many rigid and soft materials. Some examples include plastic, metal, foam, gel pads, knitted fabrics, and neoprene (synthetic rubber). Rigid materials control movement and protect injured joints, while soft materials support mobility and offset pressure. Each custom brace combines the materials needed to achieve one or more of the following goals:
 

  • Stabilize the joint 
  • Immobilize the joint
  • Restrict joint movement 
  • Improve and maintain proper alignment 
  • Compensate for weak muscles and ligaments 
  • Remove pressure from injured joints and muscles 
  • Correct function and movement 
  • Improve contractures (short, tight, or scarred muscles and tendons) 
  • Distribute weight properly 
  • Prevent or correct deformities 
  • Prevent sports injuries and re-injuries 

 

Many people need a brace to protect the joint and support healing after an injury. But custom braces also help you prevent injuries.

Custom Bracing Benefits

The list above shows many ways orthopedic braces improve the health of your joints. While physical support is the overall goal, braces achieve other results equally vital for our patients.


  1. Relieving Pain – Joint problems typically involve inflammation and injured or degenerated tissues — problems that cause pain when you try to move or use the joint. You get relief from the pain as a custom brace limits mobility and eliminates pressure on damaged tissues.  Custom bracing is especially important for optimal pain relief because the brace targets your specific joint needs.

  2. Accelerating Healing – Joints must be protected when recovering from an injury. Putting too much weight on the joint or moving bones, ligaments, and tendons too soon can stop the healing process and lead to re-injury.

  3. Supporting Rehabilitation – Custom bracing limits the joint’s range of motion and adds additional support, like an external skeleton. As a result, you can safely participate in physical therapy and rehabilitation and get back in the game faster.

  4. Improving function – Braces improve the joint’s function by achieving one or more of the goals listed above.

Contact the team at Vertex Performance today, and we will get you started on your journey to recovery!