A Study to Evaluate Spatial Gait Parameters in Patients of Osteoarthritic Knee

Abstract

Osteoarthritis is a slowly evolving articular disease, which appears to originate in the cartilage and affects the underlying bone, soft tissues and synovial fluid. Quantitative gait analysis is an important clinical tool for quantifying normal and pathological patterns of locomotion, and has also been shown to be useful for prescription of treatment as well as in the evaluation of the results of such treatment. The objectives of this study was to evaluate spatial gait parameters variations in patients with osteoarthritic knee as compared to normal healthy individuals. 100 subjects were included in the study, 50 normal healthy subjects and 50 subjects with bilateral knee osteoarthritis with age group of 40-60 years based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Before gait analysis, all subjects were given informed consent as advised by the Institutional Ethical Committee. Gait analysis was done for both groups with same protocol. Following gait parameters was measured individually for each subject: Step length [m], Stride length [m], Normalised stride length [%], Step width [m] and Foot angle [degree]. Paired and unpaired t- test will be used for the analysis of data. The study concluded that there was significant difference is spatial gait parameters in patients with osteoarthritic knee as compared to normal healthy individuals.