title: Quantitative gait analysis after medial unicompartmental knee arthroplasty for osteoarthritis.
abstract: This study characterized the footstep pattern and knee kinematics during walking in 12 patients who had undergone unicompartmental knee arthroplasty for unilateral medial compartment osteoarthritis. Patients had all achieved a successful recovery and were tested at least 1 year after surgery. Gait analysis was conducted during self-selected comfortable and fast walking conditions using a 3-dimensional motion analysis system and electronic walkway. Results showed that patients were able to increase their walking speed by 28% by increasing both stride length and cadence. All but one patient showed a biphasic pattern of flexion-extension motion about the treated knee. In 8 of 12 patients, significant increases in knee flexion were seen in the treated limb compared with the contralateral limb, the cause and ramifications of which are yet to be determined.
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D019645:Arthroplasty, Replacement, Knee / Q000379:methods*; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020370:Osteoarthritis, Knee / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D016138:Walking