Characteristics of trunk lean motion during walking in patients with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis.
OBJECTIVE
Trunk lean motion on the frontal plane shifts the pressure across the medial-lateral cartilage of the stance limb's knee. The purpose of this study was to investigate trunk lean motion during walking in patients with knee osteoarthritis.


METHODS
The study involved five healthy normal controls and 12 patients with symptoms of knee osteoarthritis (six with unilateral and six with bilateral). The trunk lean angle and the direction during one stride cycle of walking were calculated using a three-dimensional gait analysis.


RESULTS
There was no significant difference between the three groups (normal, unilateral knee OA, and bilateral knee OA group). However, patients with bilateral limb knee osteoarthritis displayed a tendency to lean their trunk toward the swing side.


CONCLUSIONS
This study determined that bilateral OA patients exhibit the characteristic gait which may progress knee OA.
Tanaka
Kosuke
K
Graduate School of Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, Japan. kt19801126@hiroshima-u.ac.jp
Miyashita
Koji
K
Urabe
Yukio
Y
Ijiri
Tomohito
T
Takemoto
Yukiko
Y
Ishii
Yoshimasa
Y
Ochi
Mitsuo
M
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000368:Aged; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D020370:Osteoarthritis, Knee / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology*; D014741:Video Recording; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology*