Knee Support for Arthritis: GenuTrain OA or GenuTrain A3?

The best knee support for arthritis depends on where the pain sits. If a clinician has told you the osteoarthritis is mainly in the inner or outer side of the knee, the Bauerfeind GenuTrain OA knee orthosis (£488) is built for that. If the knee aches more generally, the Bauerfeind GenuTrain A3 knee support (£114) is the place to start.

Why sort this out before winter

With the clocks gone back, walks get shorter, stairs feel steeper and the knee that grumbled in September has fewer easy days. The evidence for knee supports in osteoarthritis is about staying active, so buy the one you will actually wear all winter. For the condition itself, read our guide to knee arthritis causes, symptoms and treatment.

How a knee support for arthritis works: two different approaches

Osteoarthritis is the gradual wearing of the cartilage that cushions a joint. In the knee it usually affects one side, called a compartment, more than the other, most often the inner (medial) one, which bow-legged (varus) alignment loads a little more with every step.

GenuTrain OA: a side splint, straps and a dial

The GenuTrain OA is a semi-rigid knee orthosis: an elastic mesh fabric with a lateral joint splint and an adjustable strap system following the three-point correction principle, as the 2024 study below describes it. The splint on one side and the straps on the other apply pressure at three points to shift load away from the painful compartment. It is designed to relieve the inner or the outer compartment, you choose the variant for your knee and side, and a Boa dial adjusts the effect while you wear it. One honest caveat: whether it actually reduces load on the compartment has not been measured in the studies we hold.

GenuTrain A3: a knitted support with a pad and a stay

The GenuTrain A3 is a knitted compression support rather than an orthosis. Its product page lists it for osteoarthritis, an irritated knee joint and complex knee pain, and describes it as suited to active older adults. Built into the knit are a two-component silicone pad around the kneecap, Hoffa spots over the fat pad below the kneecap, a plastic side stay with a flexible zone, and donning aids. It has no splint, straps or dial, so it cannot target one compartment. We have no clinical study of the A3 in our evidence base, so that description comes from the product page, not research.

The plain GenuTrain: the entry point

Below both sits the Bauerfeind GenuTrain knee support (£90), a knitted sleeve with the Omega+ pad around the kneecap and flexible side stays. It is the model with published research behind it.

What the research says about the GenuTrain OA and the A3

GenuTrain OA: one peer-reviewed study and one manufacturer survey

In a 2024 study by Stetter and colleagues at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine, 24 adults (average age about 60) with osteoarthritis in the inner compartment of one knee wore the GenuTrain OA for six weeks, for an average of 5.13 hours a day. By week six, pain while walking had fallen from 2.84 to 1.54 out of 10 and pain on stairs from 2.97 to 1.74; the authors summarise the four pain measures as a 41% to 48% reduction. Six-minute walk distance rose from 534.8 m to 559.3 m, about 5%. Daily steps did not increase.

The caveats matter. There was no control group, so the researchers call the effects potential. The group was small and unusually active, and their pain was mild to begin with: every average was under 3 out of 10. Whether the orthosis actually unloaded the compartment was never measured. Bauerfeind funded the study and two authors are paid Bauerfeind consultants, although the funder had no role in the design, analysis or write-up. We go further into this study in our post on unloader knee braces for osteoarthritis.

Separately, Bauerfeind published a survey of 113 patients (average age 64) prescribed the GenuTrain OA for inner or outer compartment osteoarthritis. After about five weeks, average pain fell from 7 to 3.4 out of 10 and the sense of knee stability rose from 3.8 to 7.3. 92% found it easy to put on and 74% were happy or very happy with it. It is a manufacturer survey with no comparison group or peer review: patient experience, not proof.

GenuTrain A3: no study, but the sleeve family has data

There is no clinical study of the GenuTrain A3 in our evidence base. The sleeve research below was done on the plain GenuTrain, and we do not transfer it to the A3. In a 2015 University of Freiburg study by Schween, Gehring and Gollhofer of 18 adults with inner-knee osteoarthritis, walking in a GenuTrain sleeve reduced the first peak knee adduction moment (the inward-loading force on the knee) by 10.1% on the day of testing. In a 1993 University of Tübingen study by Sell, Zacher and Lack of 59 people with knee osteoarthritis (average age about 70), joint-position sense improved while a GenuTrain support was worn, and did not change in healthy knees. The A3 adds a side stay and a different pad, and nobody has tested whether that changes the result. We cover what a knee support for osteoarthritis does when you walk in its own post.

How to choose between the GenuTrain OA and the A3

1. Notice where it hurts. If a GP or physiotherapist has told you the osteoarthritis is in the inner or outer compartment, the GenuTrain OA is designed for you. If it is all over the knee, the A3 or the plain GenuTrain fits better.
2. Start cheaper if you are unsure. If nobody has named the compartment, begin with the GenuTrain or the A3. They cost a fifth of the OA.
3. Step up when a sleeve is not enough. If one-sided pain on walking and stairs still limits you after a few weeks in a knitted support, that is when the OA earns its price.
4. Measure before you order. Use the size guide on each product page. The OA comes in sizes 1 to 5, the A3 in sizes 1 to 7 with a left and a right version, and the GenuTrain in sizes 0 to 7 plus Comfort sizes C3 to C7 for a more conical leg shape.

GenuTrain OA vs GenuTrain A3: the short version

	GenuTrain OA	GenuTrain A3
Price	£488	£114
Type	Semi-rigid orthosis with side splint, straps and Boa dial	Knitted support with pad and plastic side stay
Designed for	Osteoarthritis mainly in one compartment	Osteoarthritis, irritated knee joint, active older adults
Sizes and options	1 to 5, black, two side variants	1 to 7, left or right, three colours
Evidence in our files	One six-week study (n = 24, no control) and one survey (n = 113)	None on the A3 itself
Choose it if	A clinician has named the compartment	Pain is general or budget matters

Which knee support is right for you?

When a knee support for osteoarthritis at £114 is the right call

Choose the GenuTrain A3 if the ache is spread across the knee or you want more structure than the plain sleeve without spending £488. If you want the support with the most research behind it, the plain GenuTrain at £90 is the honest answer.

When to step up to the GenuTrain OA knee brace for arthritis

Choose the GenuTrain OA if a clinician has told you the osteoarthritis is in one compartment, especially with bow-legged or knock-kneed alignment. The variant labelled Right-medial / left-lateral is for a right knee with inner-compartment wear or a left knee with outer-compartment wear; the other variant is the mirror image.

• Bauerfeind GenuTrain OA knee orthosis: the best-in-class option for one-sided knee osteoarthritis, and the only product here with a peer-reviewed study.
• Bauerfeind GenuTrain A3 knee support: the knitted option with a pad and side stay for general knee osteoarthritis pain.
• Bauerfeind GenuTrain knee support: the entry point, and the sleeve the Freiburg and Tübingen studies used.

Browse the full Knee: Everyday Pain and Support range.

Quick answers

Is the GenuTrain OA worth the extra cost over the GenuTrain A3?

Only if your osteoarthritis sits in one compartment of the knee. The GenuTrain OA costs £488 against £114 for the A3, and the extra buys a side splint, straps and Boa dial designed to relieve the inner or outer compartment. If your pain is general, that mechanism has nothing to work on and the A3 is the better buy.

Which is the best knee support for arthritis if the pain is all over the knee?

A knitted support rather than an orthosis. The GenuTrain A3 (£114) adds a shaped pad and a side stay to the knit, and the plain GenuTrain (£90) is the model with published gait and joint-sense research. Start with one of these and consider the GenuTrain OA only if a clinician identifies one-sided compartment wear.

Does a knee brace for arthritis slow the arthritis down?

No study we hold shows that. The 2024 GenuTrain OA study measured pain, activity and function over six weeks, and its authors say the effect on disease progression is unknown. The Freiburg sleeve study found a 10.1% reduction in the knee adduction moment while walking, but that was a same-day measurement, not a long-term result.

Do I still need physiotherapy if I wear a support?

Yes. Every study in our evidence base positions a support as an addition to exercise and physiotherapy, not a substitute. The Tübingen researchers found that people having regular physiotherapy had better joint-position sense in their own right, and the 2024 GenuTrain OA participants kept up their normal activity throughout.

This article is for general information only and is not medical advice. If you have persistent pain, swelling, locking, giving way or an injury, speak to a GP or physiotherapist before using a support. Reviewed by the Joint Operations product team.

Sources

1. Stetter BJ, Fiedler J, Arndt M, Stein T, Sell S, 2024. Impact of a Semi-Rigid Knee Orthotic Intervention on Pain, Physical Activity, and Functional Capacity in Patients with Medial Knee Osteoarthritis. Journal of Clinical Medicine 13, 1535. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm13061535
2. Bauerfeind AG, 2021. Evaluation of effect and therapeutic safety of the GenuTrain OA knee orthosis (observational case series, n = 113). Manufacturer white paper.
3. Schween R, Gehring D, Gollhofer A, 2015. Immediate Effects of an Elastic Knee Sleeve on Frontal Plane Gait Biomechanics in Knee Osteoarthritis. PLoS ONE 10(1): e0115782.
4. Sell S, Zacher J, Lack S, 1993. Proprioception decline in the osteoarthritic knee. Zeitschrift für Rheumatologie 52: 150 to 155.
5. Bauerfeind UK product pages for the GenuTrain OA, GenuTrain A3 and GenuTrain, bauerfeind.co.uk, October 2026.