Influences of treadmill speed and incline angle on the kinematics of the normal, osteoarthritic and prosthetic human knee

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to measure and to study the influence of the treadmill speed and incline angle on the kinematics of flexion– extension angles of the human knee joints during 23 tests of walking overground and on plane and inclined treadmill performed by a sample of 14 healthy subjects and during of seven tests performed by a sample of five patients suffering of knee osteoarthritis (KOA), before and three months after the total knee replacement (TKR) surgery. The medium cycles computed and plotted for all experimental tests performed by the healthy subjects’ sample and for the osteoarthritic (OA) patients’ sample before and after TKR surgery are compared and conclusions are formulated.