Gait Modification and Knee Joint Load

Northwestern University

Status: Suspended

Conditions: Knee Osteoarthritis

Treatments: Other: Gait modification

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04946136

STU00212048

Details and patient eligibility

About

This pilot study aims to assess the effect of a 6-week individualized gait retraining program on knee load and symptoms in persons with knee osteoarthritis (OA).

Full description

This study aims to pilot-test an individualized gait retraining intervention to reduce knee load, guided by real-time visual feedback of the external knee adduction moment (KAM), a commonly used determinant for medial tibiofemoral (TF) joint load, during walking. Our central hypothesis is that individuals with predominantly medial TF OA can adapt their gait patterns to lower KAM during walking; consequently, reduce knee load and pain.

Enrollment: 16 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 50 to 70 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• people with radiographic TF OA fulfilling American College of Rheumatology classification criteria
• reporting average knee pain on walking > 3 on an 11-point scale (0-10) in at least one knee
• pain or tenderness predominantly located on the medial knee.

Exclusion criteria

• medial TF joint space width greater than lateral
• Kellgren/Lawrence (K/L) grade 4
• knee surgery or intra-articular corticosteroid injection in the past 6 months
• uncomfortable walking on treadmill for 20 minutes
• unable to walk without a walking aide
• inflammatory arthritis
• other musculoskeletal or neurological disorders that affect gait patterns
• currently receiving physical therapy

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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16 participants in 1 patient group

Gait modification

Experimental group

Description:

In this pilot study, participants modify their gait patterns guided by real-time visual feedback on their medial knee load while walking on an instrumented treadmill.

Treatment:

Other: Gait modification