Impact loading in osteoarthritic women during varied walking conditions

Background: Although osteoarthritis affects a great portion of the population little is known on the loading of the human locomotor system of osteoarthritics during ambulation.Purpose: To examine and compare the characteristics of shock generation and absorption between healthy and osteoarthritic females during various walking conditions.Material and Method: Ten middle-aged healthy and ten osteoarthritic women walked barefoot on a motorized treadmill at 1.5 and 2.5 miles per hour while its surface was level, uphill and downhill. The peak decelerations of the shank and head during the contact of the foot with the ground were recorded with a low mass accelerometer. In order to secure unbiased estimation of the results, ten steps were computed for each walking condition in all subjects. A three-way ANOVA compared all dependent variables.Results: Similar peak shank deceleration was recorded between healthy (2.83 + 0.19 g) and osteoarthritic women (2.78 + 0.23 g) (p>0.05) whereas osteoarthitic displayed significant (p