Brief summary, from the abstract
In people with medial knee osteoarthritis, those who bent the knee less during the loading phase of walking carried more side-to-side (frontal-plane) load on the joint, suggesting that limited knee flexion shifts stress in a way that may drive disease progression.
- Twenty patients with medial knee osteoarthritis were studied using 3D motion analysis during gait.
- Greater knee flexion excursion was positively correlated with the peak and angular impulse of the knee flexion moment.
- After adjusting for age and gait speed, knee flexion excursion was negatively correlated with knee adduction moment angular impulse, meaning less flexion went with more frontal-plane joint stress.
- Evidence is limited: this is a small single-sample observational study (n=20) reporting correlations, with no effect sizes or p-values given, so it shows association rather than cause.
Clinically assessing this area? See the knee special tests.