Article

Increased walking knee joint stiffness has been reported in patients with knee
osteoarthritis (OA) as a compensatory strategy to improve knee joint stability.
However, presence of episodic self-reported knee instability in a large subgroup
of patients with knee OA may be a sign of inadequate walking knee joint
stiffness. The objective of this work was to evaluate the differences in walking
knee joint stiffness in patients with knee OA with and without self-reported
instability and examine the relationship between walking knee joint stiffness
with quadriceps strength, knee joint laxity, and varus knee malalignment.
Overground biomechanical data at a self-selected gait velocity was collected for
35 individuals with knee OA without self-reported instability (stable group) and
17 individuals with knee OA and episodic self-reported instability (unstable
group). Knee joint stiffness was calculated during the weight-acceptance phase of
gait as the change in the external knee joint moment divided by the change in the
knee flexion angle. The unstable group walked with lower knee joint stiffness
(p=0.01), mainly due to smaller heel-contact knee flexion angles (p<0.01) and
greater knee flexion excursions (p<0.01) compared to their knee stable
counterparts. No significant relationships were observed between walking knee
joint stiffness and quadriceps strength, knee joint laxity or varus knee
malalignment. Reduced walking knee joint stiffness appears to be associated with
episodic knee instability and independent of quadriceps muscle weakness, knee
joint laxity or varus malalignment. Further investigations of the temporal
relationship between self-reported knee joint instability and walking knee joint
stiffness are warranted.
CI - Copyright (c) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS