Potential strategies to reduce medial compartment loading in patients with knee osteoarthritis of varying severity: Reduced walking speed

✍ Scribed by Anne Mündermann; Chris O. Dyrby; Debra E. Hurwitz; Leena Sharma; Thomas P. Andriacchi

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 120 KB
• Volume: 50
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0004-3591
• DOI: 10.1002/art.20132

✦ Synopsis

Objective:

To determine whether reducing walking speed is a strategy used by patients with knee osteoarthritis (oa) of varying disease severity to reduce the maximum knee adduction moment.

Methods:

Self-selected walking speeds and maximum knee adduction moments of 44 patients with medial tibiofemoral oa of varying disease severity, as assessed by using the kellgren/lawrence grade, were compared with those of 44 asymptomatic control subjects matched for sex, age, height, and weight.

Results:

Differences in self-selected normal walking speed explained only 8.9% of the variation in maximum knee adduction moment for the group of patients with knee oa. the severity of the disease influenced the adduction moment-walking speed relationship; the individual slopes of this relationship were significantly greater in patients with less severe oa than in asymptomatic matched control subjects. self-selected walking speed did not differ between patients with knee oa, regardless of the severity, and asymptomatic control subjects. however, knees with more-severe oa had significantly greater adduction moments (mean +/- sd 3.80 +/- 0.89% body weight x height) and were in more varus alignment (6.0 +/- 4.5 degrees ) than knees with less-severe oa (2.94 +/- 0.70% body weight x height; and 0.0 +/- 2.9 degrees, respectively).

Conclusion:

Patients with less-severe oa adapt a walking style that differs from that of patients with more-severe oa and controls. this walking style is associated with the potential to reduce the adduction moment when walking at slower speeds and could be linked to decreased disease severity.