Knee Joint Moments Can Accurately Predict Medial and Lateral Knee Contact Forces in Patients With Valgus Malalignment

Abstract

Compressive knee joint contact force during walking is thought to be related to initiation and progression of knee osteoarthritis. However, joint loading is often evaluated with surrogate measures, like the external knee adduction moment, due to the complexity of computing joint contact forces. Statistical models have shown promise for predicting joint contact force from easily measured joint moments in individuals with osteoarthritis or joint replacements. This approach may also be effective in young patients with valgus deformities. The purpose of this study was to evaluate how accurately medial and lateral knee joint contact forces could be estimated by linear mixed-effects models during walking for children with and without valgus malalignment. Knee joint moments were strongly correlated (R2 > 0.85, p < 0.001) with both medial and lateral knee joint contact forces. The knee flexion and adduction moments were significant covariates in most of the models, strengthening the understanding of the contribution of both moments to medial and lateral knee joint contact force. In the future, these models could be used to predict knee joint contact forces using joint moments from motion capture software, obviating the need for time-consuming musculoskeletal simulations.