Immediate Effects of an Elastic Knee Sleeve on Frontal Plane Gait Biomechanics in Knee Osteoarthritis

Abstract

IntroductionOsteoarthritis of the knee affects millions of people. Elastic knee sleeves aim at relieving symptoms. While symptomatic improvements have been demonstrated as a consequence of elastic knee sleeves, evidence for biomechanical alterations only exists for the sagittal plane. We therefore asked what effect an elastic knee sleeve would have on frontal plane gait biomechanics.Methods18 subjects (8 women, 10 men) with osteoarthritis of the medial tibiofemoral joint walked over ground with and without an elastic knee sleeve. Kinematics and forces were recorded and joint moments were calculated using an inverse dynamics approach. Conditions with sleeve and without sleeve were compared with paired t-Tests.ResultsWith the sleeve, knee adduction angle at ground contact was reduced by 1.9±2.1° (P = 0.006). Peak knee adduction was reduced by 1.5±1.6° (P = 0.004). The first peak knee adduction moment and positive knee adduction impulse were decreased by 10.1% (0.74±0.9 Nm•kg-1; P = 0.002) and 12.9% (0.28±0.3 Nm•s•kg-1; P < 0.004), respectively.ConclusionOur study provides evidence that wearing an elastic knee sleeve during walking can reduce knee adduction angles, moments and impulse in subjects with knee osteoarthritis. As a higher knee adduction moment has previously been identified as a risk factor for disease progression in patients with medial knee osteoarthritis, we speculate that wearing a knee sleeve may be beneficial for this specific subgroup.

Application of Lateral Wedge in Knee Osteoarthritis for Improving Pain and Quality of Life

“…We found that wearing a laterally wedged insole significantly increased the valgus moment arm of the subtalar joint, creating a lateral shift in COP location. Although the beneficial effect of reducing knee joint Varus moment with a laterally wedged insole were evident in both the healthy elders and the patients with OA, the patients with OA wearing such an insole had significantly greater knee joint Varus moments during gait compared with healthy elders 23 , this finding could be interpreted as follows: the 6° lateral wedge seems to have a range of effectiveness where it successfully reduces the varus moments in OA patients. Although wearing A 6° lateral wedge reduced the varus moment significantly, it was unable to reduce it to normative levels.…”

Effect of Knee Compression on Kinetic Variables During Vertical Jumps

“…In contrast, promising results on the influence of compression garments have been shown. Elastic knee sleeves improved knee motions with decreased knee adduction angle and peak knee adduction (Schween et al, 2015), and silicone web braces reduced knee valgus and internal rotation angles (Hanzlikova et al, 2016). Zampporri and Aguinaldo (2017) evaluated the influence of compression tights on knee motion.…”

Effects of knee sleeves on coordination of lower-limb segments in healthy adults during level walking and one-leg hopping

“…We hypothesized that a knee sleeve might alter joint or segment coordination based on the influences of a knee sleeve on the functional capacity and performance associated with the joint or segment kinematics (Bryk et al, 2011; Collins et al, 2014; Mortaza et al, 2012; Schween, Gehring & Gollhofer, 2015). However, to the best of our knowledge, no study has focused on the effects of using knee sleeves on joint or segment coordination.…”