Association between pain in knee osteoarthritis and mechanical properties of soft tissue around knee joint

Abstract

Pain is the most significant symptom of knee osteoarthritis (OA), which seriously affects the quality of life of patients. However, the cause of pain, pain relief, and targeted treatment methods are still unclear. Based on the diversified characteristics of knee pain location, this study was aimed to explore the associations between knee pain location and the mechanical properties of soft tissues in patients with knee OA. Fifteen healthy participants and 55 patients with knee OA were recruited and divided into five groups: no pain, anterior superior pain, anterior inferior pain, medial pain, and lateral pain. The Young's moduli of the muscles, tendons, and ligaments around the knee joint were measured by shear wave elastography (SWE), and the differences between the five groups of soft tissue material properties were compared in this study. The Young's moduli of the quadriceps tendon (QT), patellar tendon (PT), medial collateral ligament (MCL), and lateral patellar retinaculum (LPR) were strongly associated with pain location and were significantly increased compared with the other four groups, respectively. In addition, the Young's moduli of the remaining soft tissue were not associated with pain location, and did not change significantly compared with the other four groups. This study provides data reference for the mechanical properties of soft tissue of healthy people and patients with knee OA, and provides a theoretical basis for more targeted pain relief, treatment, and rehabilitation in knee OA.