GAIT ANALYSIS STUDY ON PATIENTS WITH VARUS OSTEOARTHROSIS OF THE KNEE

Biomechanical changes that occur after high tibial osteotomy (HTO) was investigated in 30 patients with osteoarthrosis (OA) of the knee and 11 age-matched normal subjects. Of the 37 knees with varus OA evaluate d, 21 were analyzed before and after surgery (average follow-up evalua tion, two years). The mean age of the patient group was 58.2 years. Cl inical assessment was based on the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) knee scoring system. Full-length weight-bearing radiograms were taken for the measurement of the mechanical axis of the lower limb. Results from clinical assessment showed that 90% of the patients had good or e xcellent postoperative clinical results, as opposed to 9.5% before sur gery. An overall improvement in the gait parameters was evident in the group evaluated after surgery, although control levels were not attai ned. Further analysis based on moments about the knee showed that 57% of the surgically treated knees with good or excellent clinical result s had abnormal load distribution. This may lead to deterioration in th e future, and further surgery may be required. The abnormal loading wa s also reflected in the ground-reaction force vector diagram. Therefor e, the force vector diagram can be used as a quick screening method to detect abnormal joint loading.