A brace for augmenting the extension of a limb. In a knee brace embodiment thebrace comprises an upper arm for engaging against the femoral portion of auser's legpivotally connected to a lower arm for engaging against the tibial portion ofthe user'sleg. At least one compression element is fixed to one of the upper and lowerarms. Asubstantially inelastic tensioning element such as a cord is affixed to thehead throughthe compression element such that applying a tensile force to the cordcompresses thecompression element. The cord is affixed to the other arm over a tensioningmember,so that applying a force to bend the knee brace to a flexed position tensionsthe cordand compresses the compression element. Upon removal of the flexing force thecompression element applies a restoring force to urge the knee brace back totheextended position.
