The Effect of Knee Osteoarthritis Severity on Spatiotemporal Parameters of the Female Gait: a Pilot Study

Abstract

Objective: Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is one of the most common age related joint diseases. Various grades of KOA lead to change in gait pattern by different compensatory mechanisms. The aim of current study was to determine how KOA severities will affect spatiotemporal parameters of gait. Methods: Forty subjects, in three groups of mild, moderate and severe KOA and a group of people without KOA were recruited in this study according to the K–L scale. The subjects walked with a self‐selected speed along the walking path to collect five successful trials. The spatiotemporal parameters of gait i.e. stride length, speed, cadence, stance percentage, stride time and stance time were analyzed Results: The ANOVA results and post hoc analysis shown "stride length" and normalized stride length are the only parameters that are significantly different in healthy groups with moderate and severe OA subjects (P=0.004, P=0.001 for stride length and P=0.014, P=0.001 for normalized stride length respectively). Severe KOA was significantly different from mild KOA and control group (P<0.05) for all studied variables. In addition, stride time in moderate OA participants was significantly less than severe KOA patients (P=0.038). Conclusion: It seems that spatiotemporal parameters of gait are valuable parameters for distinguishing KOA severities and differentiating it from healthy joint. Among them, stride length may be a good parameter for identifying healthy subjects and those suffering from different OA severities. Key Words: Knee Osteoarthritis; Severity; Gait; Spatio-temporal