AposTherapy device can reduce the forces acting on the joint

Haim A et al., Journal of Biomechanics. 2008
The study found that patients using AposTherapy reduced the forces acting on the joint with a 20% reduction in the adduction moment in the knee. The results helped understand the relationship between the centre of pressure on the joint and the knee adduction movement that causes progressive joint damage in osteoarthritis.
In diseases like osteoarthritis of the knee a pathological pattern develops where the muscles in the inner part of the knee joint work too much and the adduction moment influencing the knee joint is too big.
Knee load is one of the main causes of disease progression in knee osteoarthritis. A bow-legged (varus) posture is a result of the lack of cartilage on the inner part of the joint. While walking there is an external knee adduction moment which forces the knee laterally into a varus deformity and compresses the medial joint compartment. Therapeutic exercise can help reduce this action by re-distributing the load on the knee joint. Studies have also shown that footwear such as wedges and insoles can also reduce the amount of adduction moment around the knee. The theory is that they laterally shift the centre of pressure and so reduce the distance between the foot touching the ground and the centre of the knee joint. However, no therapy has as yet combined the two in a single dynamic solution.
This clinical trial was conducted in the Computerised Gait Analysis Laboratory at the Technion Haifa, Israel. Whilst participating in AposTherapy the study patients underwent successive walking analysis testing in a controlled setting and their walking patterns were analysed.
The AposTherapy unique biomechanical system was adjusted to create three different centres of pressure while walking. The study showed that laterally shifting the Pertupods in the AposTherapy biomechanical technology reduces the adduction moment in the knee by approximately 20% while walking. The result helps understand the biomechanical process which allows AposTherapy patients to experience reduction in pain, by dispersing the pressure on the damaged joint and adjusting the alignment of the body during motion.

Haim A, Rozen N, Dekel S, Halperin N, Wolf A.Control of knee coronal plane moment via modulation of center of pressure: a prospective gait analysis study. Journal of Biomechanics 2008, 41: 3010–3016.

Haim A et al. Journal of Biomechanics. 2008