A knee brace for supporting and stabilizing a knee. The knee brace includes anupper frame member, a lower frame member, a plurality of pivoting brackets,each pivoting bracket pivotably linking the upper frame member to the lowerframe member, at least one retention strap, each retention strap holding thekneebrace on the knee, a tightening mechanism for controlling the rigidity of thekneebrace and the circular compression around the knee, and a receptacle forreceiving the tightening mechanism. The receptacle is integrated directly intothelower frame member.
