The first braces we received for this story were the CTi’s OTS (Off-the-Shelf). Suggested use for ACL, MCL, LCL, PCL, rotary and combined instabilities. One huge benefit of the CTi braces is that they are medically approved, which is to say your doctor can prescribe them for you. The bad thing about this is, well you know… you have to get hurt before they can be prescribed. And from what we hear they only prescribed one for the injured knee. You get to spring for the other one. Isn’t the American health system great? Anyway, some key features of the CTI’s are: anatomically correct Accutrac hinges which are pretty cool. The top one moves more than the bottom one so the hinge enables the brace to stay with the anatomic arc you knee goes through when it bends. Extension stops which limit how straight you can make your leg. With no adjustment we were able to lock our knees and even hyper-extend them backwards. The lock is a good feature and all of the braces in our test have this element. The CTI’s are hand laminated carbon composite, made of non-corrosive materials so they can be used in water sports as well. The padding has a gripper material to prevent migration. The CTI braces are the most compact of the group making them the least intrusive which was nice. We have one complaint about them though, the knee cup doesn’t cover the top of the knee leaving more vulnerable than the other braces.

Next to arrive was the Asterisk Cell which also has their own version of the anatomic hinge called the Asymitri-glide which has to be seen to be believed. Not only does it pivot anatomically following the bend of the knee, it shifts ever so slightly side to side allowing the pivoting to more closely follow the knee’s natural movement, it lets the knee move a bit more freely than the others in the test and gives the feeling of not wearing a brace at all. Another key difference is the way the Cell closes. It uses quick release buckles and a “uni-quad” Fastener System which relies on a criss-cross pattern of laces that apply balanced tension across the entire back of the brace, this one piece liner helps hold your knee in the joint if a hyper extension was to happen. In addition, at the top and bottom are adjustable “Tendon Cuffs” that let you tighten or loosen the fit to customize it even more. Asterisk is all about protecting the industry, they offer a full medical truck unit with doctors at all the AMA SX and MX nationals free of charge.
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