Evaluation of Balance in Patients With Knee Osteoarthritis Compared to Healthy Controls

Abstract

Purpose: Over the past 20 years, the center of pressure (COP) has been commonly used as\ran index of postural stability in standing. While many studies investigated COP excursions\rin patients with knee osteoarthritis and healthy individuals, no comprehensive analysis of the\rdifferences in their postural sway pattern exists. The present study aimed to review the previously\rpublished studies concerning differences in COP pattern performance in patients with knee\rosteoarthritis compared to healthy controls.\rMethods: A literature search was performed on articles published from 1995 to 2014 using\rElsevier, Science Direct, ProQuest, Google scholar, PubMed, and Medline databases. The search\rkeywords were “knee Osteoarthritis”, “healthy people”, “postural stability”, “balance”, and\r“force plate”.\rResults: Five articles were selected according to the inclusion criteria of the study. There was a\rwide variation among studies in terms of methodology, sample size, and procedure. All available\rstudies investigated postural control in patients with knee osteoarthritis. According to the results,\r3 study showed that patients group reported more postural sway and less stability compared to\rhealthy group with both eyes open and closed, especially with eyes closed. However, in 2 other\rstudies, no difference was observed in the parameters of the balance between patients and healthy\rpeople. So that COP displacement was similar in patients compared to healthy people.\rConclusion: The results demonstrate that patients with knee osteoarthritis compared to healthy\rpeople show more postural instability. This difference was more pronounced under eyes closed\rcondition. The possible mechanism in association with balance alteration can be pain inhibition,\rloss of proprioception, and muscle weakness.