Objective
This study tested the hypothesis that gait changes related to knee osteoarthritis (OA) of varied severity are associated with increased loads at the ankle, knee, and hip.

Methods
Forty-two patients with bilateral medial compartment knee OA and 42 control subjects matched for sex, age, height, and mass were studied. Nineteen patients had Kellgren/Lawrence (K/L) radiographic severity grades of 1 or 2, and 23 patients had K/L grades of 3 or 4. Three-dimensional kinematics and kinetics were measured in the hip, knee, and ankle while the subjects walked at a self-selected speed.

Results
Patients with more severe knee OA had greater first peak knee adduction moments than their matched control subjects (P = 0.039) and than patients with less severe knee OA (P < 0.001). All patients with knee OA made initial contact with the ground with the knee in a more extended position than that exhibited by control subjects. An increased axial loading rate was present in all joints of the lower extremity. Patients with more severe knee OA had lower hip adduction moments compared with their matched control subjects.

Conclusion
The secondary gait changes observed among patients with knee OA reflect a potential strategy to shift the body's weight more rapidly from the contralateral limb to the support limb, which appears to be successful in reducing the load at the knee in only patients with less severe knee OA. The increased loading rate in the lower extremity joints may lead to a faster progression of existing OA and to the onset of OA at joints adjacent to the knee. Interventions for knee OA should therefore be assessed for their effects on the mechanics of all joints of the lower extremity.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/art.21262

Secondary gait changes in patients with medial compartment knee osteoarthritis: Increased load at the ankle, knee, and hip during walking

https://www.rheumatic.theclinics.com/article/S0889-857X(08)00045-8/pdf

Etiopathogenesis of Osteoarthritis

https://me.queensu.ca/People/Deluzio/publications/files/RM2393.pdf

Biomechanical changes at the hip, knee, and ankle joints during gait are associated with knee osteoarthritis severity

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 × height) and were in more varus alignment (6.0 ± 4.5°) than knees with less-severe OA (2.94 ± 0.70% body weight × height; and 0.0 ± 2.9°, 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.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/art.20132

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

Despite the multifactorial nature of musculoskeletal disease, obesity consistently emerges as a key and potentially modifiable risk factor in the onset and progression of musculoskeletal conditions of the hip, knee, ankle, foot and shoulder. To date, the majority of research has focused on the impact of obesity on bone and joint disorders, such as the risk of fracture and osteoarthritis. However, emerging evidence indicates that obesity may also have a profound effect on soft-tissue structures, such as tendon, fascia and cartilage. Although the mechanism remains unclear, the functional and structural limitations imposed by the additional loading of the locomotor system in obesity have been almost universally accepted to produce aberrant mechanics during locomotor tasks, thereby unduly raising stress within connective-tissue structures and the potential for musculoskeletal injury. While such mechanical theories abound, there is surprisingly little scientific evidence directly linking musculoskeletal injury to altered biomechanics in the obese. For the most part, even the biomechanical effects of obesity on the locomotor system remain unknown. Given the global increase in obesity and the rapid rise in musculoskeletal disorders, there is a need to determine the physical consequences of continued repetitive loading of major structures of the locomotor system in the obese and to establish how obesity may interact with other factors to potentially increase the risk of musculoskeletal disease.

Musculoskeletal disorders associated with obesity: a biomechanical perspective.

https://www.oarsijournal.com/article/S1063-4584(02)90797-1/pdf

A Karrar

Papers

Increased knee joint loads during walking are present in subjects with knee osteoarthritis