Effect of Center of Pressure Modulation on KAM in Medial Compartment Knee OA
Haim A. et al. Journal of Orthopaedic Research 2011
Background
The knee adduction moment (KAM) provides a major contribution to the elevated load in the medial compartment of the knee. An abnormally high KAM has been linked with the progression of knee osteoarthritis (OA). Footwear-generated biomechanical manipulations reduce the magnitude of this moment by conveying a more laterally shifted trajectory of the foot’s center of pressure (COP), reducing the distance between the ground reaction force and the center of the knee joint, thus lowering the magnitude of the torque. This study sought to examine the outcome of a COP shift in a cohort of female patients suffering from medial knee OA.
Methods
Twenty-two female patients suffering from medial compartment knee OA underwent successive gait analysis testing and direct pedobarographic examination of the COP trajectory with a foot-worn biomechanical device (AposTherapy) allowing controlled manipulation of the COP.
Conclusions
Results indicate that controlled manipulation of knee coronal kinetics in individuals suffering from medial knee OA can be facilitated by customized COP modification.
Amir Haim, Alon Wolf, Guy Rubin,Yulya Genis, Mona Khoury, Nimrod Rozen. Journal of Orthopaedic Research 2011 Apr 13. doi:1002/jor.21422. [Epub ahead of print].