Sustained brace good for knee pain

I am in my late 40s and play table tennis as a hobby. As the saying goes that table tennis is played with the feet, it is a sport that involves a lot of lower body movement, which puts strain on my knees. Also, I have a habit of pressing my left foot hard when serving, which caused more pain in my left knee. When I went to the hospital, I was told I had cartilage softening disease. Since then, I started doing knee strengthening exercises and wore a Sunst knee brace when playing table tennis. As a result, the pain significantly decreased. Knee strengthening exercises are really important, and wearing a brace during exercise seems to be very crucial as well.