The effects of the rotating-hinge total knee replacement on gait and stairstepping

We studied 7 younger and 5 older patients who had rotating-hinge total knee replacements, 10 patients who had semiconstrained total knee replacements, and 8 younger and 11 older healthy control subjects to determine the effec ts of the rotating-hinge device on gait and stair stepping. The younger pat ients with the rotating-hinge device had few significant differences from t he younger control subjects during gait or stair stepping. The older patien ts with the rotating-hinge device had several significant differences from both the older control subjects and subjects with the semiconstrained devic e during gait and stair stepping. Nevertheless, the proportions of older pa tients with the 2 devices who were able to perform the step-on activity for the highest step were the same.