A comparison of muscle activation and knee mechanics during gait between patients with non-traumatic and post-traumatic knee osteoarthritis

Abstract

Objective: The objective was to compare muscle activation and knee mechanics during gait between participants with non-traumatic knee osteoarthritis (OA), post-traumatic knee OA, and healthy adults. Design: Participants with non-traumatic knee OA (n ¼ 22), post-traumatic knee OA (n ¼ 19), and healthy adults (n ¼ 22) completed gait trials for this observational, cross-sectional study. Post-traumatic OA group had a history of traumatic anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture. Surface electromyography (EMG) measured activation of seven lower extremity muscles. Motion capture cameras and force plates measured motion and force data. Principal component analysis (PCA) determined waveform characteristics (principal components) from EMG, knee angle, and knee external moment waveforms. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) examined group differences in principal component scores (PC-scores). Regression analyses examined if a variable that coded for OA group could predict PC-scores after accounting for disease severity, alignment, and lateral OA. Results: There was lower gastrocnemius EMG amplitudes (P < 0.01; ANOVA) in the post-traumatic OA group compared to healthy group. Non-traumatic OA group had higher vastus lateralis, vastus medialis, and rectus femoris EMG compared to post-traumatic OA group (P ¼ 0.01 to 0.04) in regression analyses. Also, non-traumatic OA group had higher and prolonged lateral hamstring EMG compared to healthy (P ¼ 0.03; ANOVA) and post-traumatic OA (P ¼ 0.04; regression) groups respectively. The non-traumatic OA group had lower knee extension (P < 0.05) and medial rotation (P < 0.05) moments than posttraumatic and healthy groups. Conclusions: Muscle activation and knee mechanics differed between participants with non-traumatic and post-traumatic knee OA and healthy adults. These OA subtypes had differences in disease characteristics that may impact disease progression.

Osteoarthritis year in review 2020: mechanics

“…In contrast, clinical progression was characterized by prolonged rectus femoris and lateral hamstring activity through mid-stance, describing a similar mechanism as Hatfield et al 19 of sustained coactivity of muscles contributing to worsening clinical symptoms. A cross-sectional study by Robbins et al 24 found non-traumatic OA patients displayed similar types of muscle co-contraction patterns to the clinical progression group, as compared to those with posttraumatic OA. Therefore, while the magnitude of loading appears to be important to structural disease progression, loading patterns and contributions from muscle are important considerations in reducing the burden of progression to advanced clinical symptoms, especially in non-traumatic OA.…”

“…The assessment of muscle activation patterns through EMG remains an important method in understanding the etiology and progression of OA 71 , and the past year saw number of important findings in this area 19,21,24 , including advancements in using EMG in musculoskeletal force modeling 72e74 . Diamond et al 72 used EMG and marker trajectories with patient-specific neuromuscular modelling to estimate and compare hip joint contact forces in individuals with hip OA and controls.…”

The relationship between knee loading during gait and cartilage thickness in nontraumatic and posttraumatic knee osteoarthritis

“…Exclusion criteria included knee trauma or surgery within the last 12 months, history of joint arthroplasty in the lower extremities, neurological conditions (e.g., previous stroke), severe cardiovascular conditions (e.g., angina pectoris), or any other conditions affecting gait. Participants were part of an ongoing longitudinal study, 21,23 and all available participants were analyzed for the current study. Participants provided written, informed consent before enrollment.…”

Regeneration of meniscal avascular zone using autogenous meniscal fragments in a rabbit model

“…However, biomechanical and clinical studies have shown increased joint load and articular cartilage degeneration after knee meniscus resection [ 4 ]. A study by Robbins et al demonstrated differences between OA subtypes with respect to the disease characteristics that may impact disease progression [ 5 ]. Another study reported approximately 25–50% lower risk of medical consultation for knee OA after meniscus repair as compared to arthroscopic partial meniscectomy [ 6 ].…”