Article

Obesity has been associated with both the development and progression of knee
osteoarthritis. Being overweight or obese from a young age is likely to decrease
the age of onset for co-morbidities of obesity such as osteoarthritis. However,
research on osteoarthritis has thus far focused on older adults. Therefore, the
purpose of this study was to determine whether young adults who are overweight or
obese exhibit biomechanical risk factors for knee osteoarthritis at either their
preferred walking velocity or at 1m/s, which was slower than the preferred
velocity. Thirty healthy young adults formed three equal groups according to body
mass index. Three dimensional kinetics and kinematics were collected while
participants walked overground at both velocities. Joint moments were normalized
to fat free weight and height. The preferred walking velocity of obese
participants was slower than that of normal weight individuals. There were no
differences in knee flexion excursion, peak knee flexion angle, normalized peak
knee flexion moment or normalized peak knee adduction moment among groups. Obese
participants walked with lower peak knee adduction angle than both overweight and
normal body mass index participants and several shifted towards knee abduction.
All groups had smaller knee flexion excursion, peak knee flexion angle, peak knee
flexion moment and peak knee adduction moment at 1m/s compared to preferred
walking velocity. Overall, young and otherwise healthy overweight and obese
participants have knee biomechanics during gait at preferred and slow walking
velocities that are comparable to normal weight adults.
CI - Copyright (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS