Article

Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) can affect the spatiotemporal (ST) aspects of gait as
well as the variability of select ST parameters based on standard linear measures
of variability (e.g., standard deviation (SD) and coefficient of variation).
Non-linear measures (e.g., fractal scaling index (FSI) and sample entropy) can be
more sensitive to changes in gait variability, and have been used to quantify
differences in the stride patterns of patients with Parkinson's disease and the
motion of ACL-deficient knees. However, the effect of KOA on the dynamic
complexity of the stride pattern has not been investigated. Therefore, the
purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of KOA on gait variability
(linear and non-linear measures) in a group of older adults, and to compare these
results to a healthy control group. Participants walked for 10min with a
tri-axial accelerometer placed at the lower back. Mean and SDs of stride time and
step time as well as the FSI for the entire series of stride times were
calculated for each participant. Participants with KOA had significantly greater
mean stride time (p=0.031) and step time (p=0.024) than control group
participants. While stride and step time variability (SD) were greater in the KOA
group, the differences were not significant, nor was the difference in the FSI.
Low statistical power (beta=0.40 and 0.30 for stride and step time SD,
respectively) combined with the confounding effects of walking speed and
heterogeneous KOA severity likely prevented significant differences from being found.
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Langue : ANGLAIS