Bilateral knee osteoarthritis does not affect inter-joint coordination in older adults with gait deviations during obstacle-crossing
Journal
Journal of Biomechanics
Journal Volume
42
Journal Issue
14
Pages
2349-2356
Date Issued
2009-10-16
Author(s)
Abstract
Fifteen elderly subjects with bilateral medial knee osteoarthritis (OA) and 15 healthy elderly subjects walked and crossed obstacles with heights of 10%, 20%, and 30% of their leg lengths while sagittal angles and angular velocities of each joint were measured and their phase angles (φ{symbol}) calculated. Continuous relative phase (CRP) were also obtained, i.e., φ{symbol}hip-knee and φ{symbol}knee-ankle. The standard deviations of the CRP curve points were averaged to obtain deviation phase (DP) values for the stance and swing phases. Significant differences between the OA and control groups were found in several of the peak and crossing angles, and angular velocities at the knee and ankle. Both groups had similar CRP patterns, and the DP values of the hip-knee and knee-ankle CRP curves were not significantly different between the two groups. Despite significant changes in the joint kinematics, knee OA did not significantly change the way the motions of the lower limb joints are coordinated during obstacle-crossing. It appears that the OA groups adopted a particular biomechanical strategy among all possible strategies that can accommodate the OA-induced changes of the knee mechanics using unaltered inter-joint coordination control. This enabled the OA subjects to accommodate reliably the mechanical demands related to bilateral knee OA in the sagittal plane during obstacle-crossing. Maintaining normal and reliable inter-joint coordination may be considered a goal of therapeutic intervention, and the patterns and variability of inter-joint coordination can be used for the evaluation of treatment effects. ? 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Subjects
Continuous relative phase
Coordination
Gait
Knee osteoarthritis
Obstacles
Phase plot
Variability
SDGs
Other Subjects
Continuous relative phase; Coordination; Gait; Knee osteoarthritis; Obstacles; Phase plot; Variability; Angular velocity; Biomechanics; Crossings (pipe and cable); Dynamic positioning; Graph theory; Motion control; Percolation (solid state); Transplantation (surgical); Joints (anatomy); aged; ankle; article; biomechanics; clinical article; controlled study; female; gait disorder; hip; human; kinematics; knee osteoarthritis; leg length; leg movement; male; motor coordination; motor performance; musculoskeletal system parameters; priority journal; standing; walking; Aged; Ataxia; Female; Gait; Humans; Knee Joint; Male; Osteoarthritis, Knee; Psychomotor Performance; Range of Motion, Articular
Type
journal article