Effects of knee osteoarthritis and joint replacement surgery on gait

Abstract

Knee joint osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common condition that is managed with knee joint replacement surgery. Gait has provided a model to study knee OA processes as knee joint function is altered in the presence of knee OA including joint level angular motions, joint level moments, and muscle activation patterns during walking. In the pre-total joint arthroplasty state, there is significant joint damage and severe symptoms (pain) that manifest as altered musculoskeletal function during walking. These alterations in joint and muscle function during gait can be accurately quantified with state-of-the-art surface motion capture systems, force plates, biomechanical modeling, and surface electromyography to capture muscle activation patterns. This chapter provides an overview of the gait biomechanics and EMG studies related to (i) knee joint OA processes and (ii) knee joint replacement surgery. The summary and conclusions provide ideas on future directions suggesting that human movement studies need to be better integrated in clinical musculoskeletal practice to provide the quantitative measures of function that can inform clinical decision making.