Short-Term Effects of a Dedicated Knee Orthosis on Knee Adduction Moment, Pain, and Function in Patients With Osteoarthritis
By Pagani, Cynthia H. Fantini; Boehle, Caroline; Potthast, Wolfgang; Brueggemann, Gert-Peter; Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Vol. 91, No. 12, pp.. 1936-1941Publication Date: December 2010
Study analyzed knee joint loading, subjective pain relief, and improvements in function in patients with osteoarthritis with the use of 2 orthosis adjustments. Participants were 8 women and 3 men with a mean age of 55.5 years and a diagnosis of unilateral osteoarthritis in the medial knee compartment. Participants wore a modified Genu Arthro Knee Orthosis 28K20/21, incorporating unilateral tubular frames with straps for fixation on the wearer’s leg and adjustment screws permitting the valgus/varus alignment to be set. Testing was conducted before fitting and wearing the orthosis, after 14 days of wearing the orthosis with an adjustment of 4-degree valgus, and after 14 days of wearing it with a neutral, very flexible adjustment. Net knee adduction moment and net knee adduction angular impulse during the stance phase were analyzed by using inverse dynamics. Subjective pain relief, stiffness, and function improvement were evaluated using a questionnaire. A 6 minute walk test and a stair climbing test were also performed. Both orthosis adjustments induced subjective pain relief and improvement in function compared with the condition without orthosis. Knee adduction moment was significantly decreased with both adjustments, whereas the decrease observed with the 4-degree valgus adjustment was significantly greater than the flexible adjustment at 25 percent versus 12.5 percent. Compared with the condition without orthosis, changes in knee adduction angular impulse of 29 percent and 15 percent were found with 4-degree valgus and the neutral flexible orthosis, respectively. Time required for the stair climbing activity was significantly decreased using the orthosis in 4-degree valgus adjustment compared with the condition without orthosis. No significant differences were observed among conditions during the 6 minute walk test.
Published by: W.B. Saunders Company, a division of Elsevier Health Sciences (Website:http://us.elsevierhealth.com)
American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (Web Site: http://www.aapmr.org/ )
American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (Web Site: http://www.acrm.org )
This publication is included in the library of the National Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC), accession number J60343
