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Does increasing step width alter knee biomechanics in medial compartment knee osteoarthritis patients during stair descent?
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Does increasing step width alter knee biomechanics in medial compartment knee osteoarthritis patients during stair descent?

Max R Paquette, Songning Zhang, Clare E Milner and Gary Klipple
The knee, v 21(3), pp 676-682
Jun 2014
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.knee.2014.02.020
PMID: 24679984
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel

Abstract

Aged Biomechanical Phenomena - physiology Equipment Design Female Humans Knee Joint - physiopathology Locomotion - physiology Male Middle Aged Osteoarthritis, Knee - physiopathology Visual Analog Scale
Research shows that one of the first complaints from knee osteoarthritis (OA) patients is difficulty in stair ambulation due to knee pain. Increased step width (SW) has been shown to reduce first and second peak internal knee abduction moments, a surrogate variable for medial compartment knee joint loading, during stair descent in healthy older adults. This study investigates the effects of increased step width (SW) on knee biomechanics and knee pain in medial compartment knee OA patients during stair descent. Thirteen medial compartment knee OA patients were recruited for the study. A motion analysis system was used to obtain three-dimensional joint kinematics. An instrumented staircase was used to collect ground reaction forces (GRF). Participants performed stair descent trials at their self-selected speed using preferred, wide, and wider SW. Participants rated their knee pain levels after each SW condition. Increased SW had no effect on peak knee abduction moments and knee pain. Patients reported low levels of knee pain during all stair descent trials. The 2nd peak knee adduction angle and frontal plane GRF at time of 2nd peak abduction moment were reduced with increasing SW. The findings suggest that increases in SW may not influence knee loads in medial compartment knee OA patients afflicted with low levels of knee pain during stair descent.

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12 Record Views
20 citations in Web of Science
21 citations in Scopus

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UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#3 Good Health and Well-Being

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Orthopedics
Sport Sciences
Surgery
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