title: Movement of the knee in osteoarthritis. The use of electrogoniometry to assess function.
abstract: We used electrogoniometers to measure the range of movement (ROM) of the knee during various activities, comparing 50 patients with osteoarthritis of the knee (OA) with 20 healthy age- and sex-matched subjects. The minimum and maximum joint angles and the ranges of excursion of the patient and control groups were tested for significant differences, using an unrelated Student's t-test with pooled variance. Knee flexion in patients with OA was significantly reduced during all activities (p < 0.05), but differences in knee extension were not significant except when patients negotiated stairs. We believe that this reduction in ROM is caused by inhibition due to pain when load-bearing. Static non-load-bearing measurements of the ROM poorly reflected the functional ROM, with a coefficient of determination (r2) of 0.59 in the patient group and 0.60 in the control group. Electrogoniometry of the ROM of the knee provides a reliable, accurate and objective measurement of knee function.
authors: Southern General Hospital, Glasgow,  Scotland, UK.
authors: C R
authors: CR
authors: Walker
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Myles
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Nutton
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Rowe
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D004594:Electrophysiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007717:Knee / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D009068:Movement; D010003:Osteoarthritis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular; D016474:Weight-Bearing