Subjects with medial and lateral tibiofemoral articular cartilage defects do not alter compartmental loading during walking
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Van Rossom, Sam
Khatib, Nidal
Holt, Cathy
Van Assche, Dieter
Jonkers, Ilse
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Background
Healthy cartilage is essential for optimal joint function. Although, articular cartilage defects are highly prevalent in the active population and hamper joint function, the effect of articular cartilage defects on knee loading is not yet documented. Therefore, the present study compared knee contact forces and pressures between patients with tibiofemoral cartilage defects and healthy controls. Potentially this provides additional insights in movement adaptations and the role of altered loading in the progression from defect towards OA.
Methods
Experimental gait data collected in 15 patients with isolated cartilage defects (8 medial involvement, 7 lateral-involvement) and 19 healthy asymptomatic controls was processed using a musculoskeletal model to calculate contact forces and pressures. Differences between two patient groups and controls were evaluated using Kruskal-Wallis tests and individually compared using Mann-Whitney-U tests (alpha <0.05).
Findings
The patients with lateral involvement walked significantly slower compared to the healthy controls. No movement adaptations to decrease the loading on the injured condyle were observed. Additionally, the location of loading was not significantly affected.
Interpretation
The current results suggest that isolated cartilage defects do not induce significant changes in the knee joint loading distribution. Consequently, the involved condyle will capture a physiological loading magnitude that should however be distributed over the cartilage surrounding the defect. This may cause local degenerative changes in the cartilage and in combination with inflammatory responses, might play a key role in the progression from articular cartilage defect to a more severe OA phenotype.
Healthy cartilage is essential for optimal joint function. Although, articular cartilage defects are highly prevalent in the active population and hamper joint function, the effect of articular cartilage defects on knee loading is not yet documented. Therefore, the present study compared knee contact forces and pressures between patients with tibiofemoral cartilage defects and healthy controls. Potentially this provides additional insights in movement adaptations and the role of altered loading in the progression from defect towards OA.
Methods
Experimental gait data collected in 15 patients with isolated cartilage defects (8 medial involvement, 7 lateral-involvement) and 19 healthy asymptomatic controls was processed using a musculoskeletal model to calculate contact forces and pressures. Differences between two patient groups and controls were evaluated using Kruskal-Wallis tests and individually compared using Mann-Whitney-U tests (alpha <0.05).
Findings
The patients with lateral involvement walked significantly slower compared to the healthy controls. No movement adaptations to decrease the loading on the injured condyle were observed. Additionally, the location of loading was not significantly affected.
Interpretation
The current results suggest that isolated cartilage defects do not induce significant changes in the knee joint loading distribution. Consequently, the involved condyle will capture a physiological loading magnitude that should however be distributed over the cartilage surrounding the defect. This may cause local degenerative changes in the cartilage and in combination with inflammatory responses, might play a key role in the progression from articular cartilage defect to a more severe OA phenotype.
Date Issued
2018-12
Date Acceptance
2018-10-11
Citation
Clinical Biomechanics, 2018, 60, pp.149-156
ISSN
0268-0033
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Start Page
149
End Page
156
Journal / Book Title
Clinical Biomechanics
Volume
60
Copyright Statement
© 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY-NC-ND/4.0/).
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY-NC-ND/4.0/).
Identifier
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0268003318303620?via%3Dihub
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2018-10-13