Dynamic stability during stair negotiation after total knee arthroplasty

Sokratis Komaris*, Salvatore Tedesco, Brendan O'Flynn, Cheral Govind, Jon Clarke, Philip Riches

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Background: The assessment of dynamic stability is crucial for the prevention of falls in the elderly and people with functional impairments. Evidence that total knee arthroplasty improves balance in patients with severe osteoarthritis is scarce and no information exists about how the surgery affects dynamic stability during stair negotiation. Methods: This study aims to investigate if patients before and one year after surgery are less stable compared to asymptomatic controls. Seventeen control and twenty-seven patient participants with end-stage knee osteoarthritis that were scheduled to undergo unilateral total knee arthroplasty were recruited in this study. Participants' assessment was carried out by means of marker-based optical full-body motion capture with force platforms. The extrapolated Centre of mass and the margin of stability metrics were used to examine dynamic stability during stair ascent and descent. Findings: Patient participants, during both pre-operative and post-operative assessments, were equally balanced to the asymptomatic controls during stair gait (p >. 188). Additionally, the patients' overall stability did not improve significantly one year after arthroplasty surgery (p >. 252). Interpretation: Even if pain from arthritis and fear of falling is decreased following surgery, our results indicate that stability in stair walking in not affected by osteoarthritis and total knee arthroplasty. Clinical trial registration number: NCT02422251.

Original languageEnglish
Article number105410
Number of pages6
JournalClinical Biomechanics
Volume87
Early online date10 Jun 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2021

Bibliographical note

© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Funding Information:
Aspects of this publication have emanated from research conducted with the financial support of Science Foundation Ireland under Grant numbers 12/RC/2289-P2 (INSIGHT) and 13/RC/2077-CONNECT which are co-funded under the European Regional Development Fund. The authors gratefully acknowledge the Golden Jubilee National Hospital, Clydebank, Scotland for the patient recruitment.

Keywords

  • Balance
  • Falls
  • Gait
  • Locomotion
  • Postural control
  • Stair navigation

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