Gait Analysis and Falls between Persons with Knee Osteoarthritis and Non-Knee Osteoarthritis

Abstract

Persons with knee osteoarthritis have a twenty-five percent higher risk of falling. It is important to evaluate the change of the walking pattern that leads to inadequate balance. This is a preliminary study with a crosssectional design in 20 subjects men and women aged 50-70 years old. By consecutive sampling, the subjects were divided into 2 groups, non-obesity knee osteoarthritis (NOKO) group, and non obesity non osteoarthritis (NONO) group. TUG test and temporospatial gait analysis without EMG reading were done on each subject. An independent T-test is used to determine the difference of the two groups. NOKO group has differences in temporospatial gait parameters and TUG time, than NONO group. NOKO group have prolonged TUG, smaller step length, smaller stride length and more steps per minute than NONO group, but not statistically significant (p > 0.05). There were differences in Gait Patterns and Fall Risk between Non Obesity Knee OA and Non Obesity Non Knee OA patients.