A knee brace can help knee pain in many ways depending on the specific problem for which it is being used. The benefits of using a knee brace for knee pain include:

• Patellar dislocation: If you have suffered a dislocated patella (kneecap), a brace can help keep the patella in the right place during walking, running and athletic activity. A patellar control brace should be used for this condition.
• Anterior cruciate ligament sprain: After knee surgery like a meniscus repair or an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) repair, a knee brace may help stabilize the joint. Initially, after surgery, a Bledsoe brace is worn. After some healing has taken place, a motion stabilizing brace can be worn during athletic activity.
• After fracture: A brace may be used on your knee if you have suffered a fracture. This may be used in place of a cast, allowing for some gentle motion to take place as your fracture is healing. The type of brace used after fracture is a knee immobilizer.
• Patellar Tendonitis and Chondromalacia Patellae (CMP): Patellar tendonitis is a painful condition in the front of your knee. Chondromalacia patellae, also known as “runner’s knee,” is a condition where the cartilage on the undersurface of the patella (kneecap) deteriorates and softens. Many patients with these conditions benefit from a patellar motion control brace with a J-pad in the front to gently lift the patella.
• Arthritis: People with knee osteoarthritis sometimes benefit from an OA adjuster brace. This helps to unload the joint surfaces of your knee.

In general, a knee brace should be specific for your condition and should help to manage and distribute forces around your knee. After an injury, a brace can protect your knee and the surrounding structures as healing takes place.

When comes to knee support accessories, people are always confused between knee brace and knee sleeve. While both provide support to knee ligaments and muscles, there are quite some differences in between them. In a Nutshell: Knee braces are for injuries; Knee sleeves are for support. For more detail about Knee Brace vs Knee Sleeve.

Knee sleeves

These are not technically braces, but they are the most common type of knee support. There are typically two types of knee sleeves, one is made from neoprene and the other is machine weaved compression fabric. They are designed to provide compression around the knee joint. This helps support the knee, and can control pain and swelling.

Knee pads

Knee pads may include knee sleeves with additional padding or rigid outer shells that cover the front of the knee with straps that wrap around the leg to secure it in place. Knee pads do not provide increased stability but may reduce injury risk, particularly in activities with the potential for direct blows to the front of the knee such as volleyball, skateboarding, biking, or roller skating.

Patella Stabilizer Knee Brace

This brace typically has an opening for the patella and straps or buttressing around the opening. This may limit movement of the patella, thereby reducing the likelihood of patellar subluxation or dislocation.They may also include hinge along the sides of the knee to provide an additional sense of stability. While definitive evidence is lacking, these braces may reduce pain for some individuals with patellofemoral pain due to improper tracking of the patella.

Patella straps

Patellar straps should be positioned midway between the bottom of the kneecap and the bump on the shin, applying pressure to the patellar tendon that runs down the front of the knee and inserts on the lower leg. This is thought to relieve some of the stress on the tendon and its attachment on the tibia and may relieve pain associated with patellar tendonitis and Osgood-Schlatter disease.

Hinged/Metal bar knee braces

These braces consist of one or two bars with or without hinges along the sides of the knee and straps to hold it in place. While there are a variety of different hinged braces, they are all designed to increase stability by supporting the ligaments along the inside or outside of the knee (medical and lateral collateral ligaments).

Prophylactic knee braces are designed to prevent injury during contact sports. Although these are commonly worn and may reduce injury risk among a certain subset of athletes (football linemen, for example), it is not yet clear whether these are cost-effective or applicable to other sports.

Functional and postoperative knee braces can be either a combination of metal and plastic or foam liners that wrap around the upper and lower leg. They are intended to improve the stability of an injured knee and are most commonly worn following injury while awaiting surgical reconstruction, or after surgery to protect the reconstructed knee.They can be adjusted to allow various amounts of range motion, can accommodate swelling better than casts or splints, and are easy to remove and replace for icing and re-examinations.