Effects of body mass and sex on kinematics and kinetics of the lower extremity during stair ascent and descent in older adults

The association between obesity, knee pain, and gait during stair descent in older adults with knee osteoarthritis

BACKGROUND

Obesity and knee osteoarthritis adversely affect activities of daily living in older adults. Together, the complexities of their interaction on mobility, including stair negotiation, are unresolved. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between obesity, pain, and stair negotiation in older adults with knee osteoarthritis.

METHODS

Older adults with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis and overweight or obesity participated in the study (n = 28; age range = 57.0-78.0 yrs.; body mass index range = 26.6-42.8 kg•m-2). The Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index pain subscale was used to measure knee pain. Measurements included a three-dimensional biomechanical analysis during descent on a set of force plate-instrumented stairs and a timed stair descent test. Pearson's r was used to determine associations between body mass index and pain, stair descent weight-acceptance phase vertical ground reaction force (vGRF) variables and lower extremity joint kinematics and kinetics, and timed stair descent performance.

FINDINGS

Significant correlations existed between body mass index and pain (r = 0.41; p = 0.03), peak vGRF (r = 0.39; p = 0.04), vertical impulse (r = 0.49; p = 0.008), and peak ankle plantar flexor moments (r = 0.50; p = 0.007) in older adults with knee osteoarthritis.

INTERPRETATION

Greater obesity in older adults with knee osteoarthritis was associated with greater knee pain and higher ankle joint loads during stair descent. These results support the recommendations of osteoarthritis treatment guidelines for weight-loss as a first-line of treatment for older adults with obesity and knee osteoarthritis.

Assessment of an IMU-Based Experimental Set-Up for Upper Limb Motion in Obese Subjects

In recent years, wearable systems based on inertial sensors opened new perspectives for functional motor assessment with respect to the gold standard motion capture systems. The aim of this study was to validate an experimental set-up based on 17 body-worn inertial sensors (Awinda, Xsens, The Netherlands), addressing specific body segments with respect to the state-of-the art system (VICON, Oxford Metrics Ltd., Oxford, UK) to assess upper limb kinematics in obese, with respect to healthy subjects. Twenty-three obese and thirty healthy weight individuals were simultaneously acquainted with the two systems across a set of three tasks for upper limbs (i.e., frontal arm rise, lateral arm rise, and reaching). Root Mean Square error (RMSE) was computed to quantify the differences between the measurements provided by the systems in terms of range of motion (ROM), whilst their agreement was assessed via Pearson's correlation coefficient (PCC) and Bland-Altman (BA) plots. In addition, the signal waveforms were compared via one-dimensional statistical parametrical mapping (SPM) based on a paired t-test and a two-way ANOVA was applied on ROMs. The overall results partially confirmed the correlation and the agreement between the two systems, reporting only a moderate correlation for shoulder principal rotation angle in each task (r~0.40) and for elbow/flexion extension in obese subjects (r = 0.66), whilst no correlation was found for most non-principal rotation angles (r < 0.40). Across the performed tasks, an average RMSE of 34° and 26° was reported in obese and healthy controls, respectively. At the current state, the presence of bias limits the applicability of the inertial-based system in clinics; further research is intended in this context.

Test-retest reliability of kinematic and kinetic parameters during dual-task stair walking in the elderly

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the test-retest reliability of kinematics and kinetics during single and dual-task stair walking in the elderly. Methods: Fifteen healthy elderly adults were recruited. Kinematic and kinetic parameters were measured using an infrared motion analysis system (Vicon, Oxford Metrics Ltd., Oxford, United Kingdom) and force platforms (Switzerland, Kistler 9287BA and 9281CA). Participants were tested under single-task and dual-task (serial 3 subtractions or carrying a cup of water) conditions. Each participant completed two sessions on two separate days with a 1-week interval. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), Pearson correlation coefficient (r), and Bland-Altman plot were used to assess the reliability of stair walking. Results: When ascending stairs, the ICC of kinematics and kinetics ranged from fair to excellent (ICC = 0.500-0.979) in the single and dual tasks, except for step length (ICC = 0.394) in the single task. The r value of kinematics and kinetics ranged from 0.704 to 0.999. When descending stairs, the ICC of kinematics and kinetics ranged from good to excellent (ICC = 0.661-0.963), except for min hip moment (ICC = 0.133) and min ankle moment (ICC = 0.057) in the manual task. The r value of kinematics and kinetics ranged from 0.773 to 0.960 in the single and dual tasks. In the Bland-Altman plots, all the zero values and most of the dots fell in the 95% confidence interval, and the mean difference was found to be close to zero for all the parameters during stair walking. Conclusion: These results obtained from this study show the good test-retest reliability of step cadence, step speed, and step width during single- and dual-task stair walking in the elderly, and the poor reliability of step length during ascending stairs. All the kinetic parameters, including min hip moment, max knee moment, and min ankle moment, had good test-retest reliability during single- and dual-task stair walking, but min hip moment and min ankle moment had poor reliability during manual-task descending stair. These results may help researchers in the assessment of biomechanics of dual-task stair walking in the elderly and to interpret the effect of interventions in this population.

Technological Solutions for Human Movement Analysis in Obese Subjects: A Systematic Review

Obesity has a critical impact on musculoskeletal systems, and excessive weight directly affects the ability of subjects to realize movements. It is important to monitor the activities of obese subjects, their functional limitations, and the overall risks related to specific motor tasks. From this perspective, this systematic review identified and summarized the main technologies specifically used to acquire and quantify movements in scientific studies involving obese subjects. The search for articles was carried out on electronic databases, i.e., PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. We included observational studies performed on adult obese subjects whenever reporting quantitative information concerning their movement. The articles must have been written in English, published after 2010, and concerned subjects who were primarily diagnosed with obesity, thus excluding confounding diseases. Marker-based optoelectronic stereophotogrammetric systems resulted to be the most adopted solution for movement analysis focused on obesity; indeed, wearable technologies based on magneto-inertial measurement units (MIMUs) were recently adopted for analyzing obese subjects. Further, these systems are usually integrated with force platforms, so as to have information about the ground reaction forces. However, few studies specifically reported the reliability and limitations of these approaches due to soft tissue artifacts and crosstalk, which turned out to be the most relevant problems to deal with in this context. In this perspective, in spite of their inherent limitations, medical imaging techniques-such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and biplane radiography-should be used to improve the accuracy of biomechanical evaluations in obese people, and to systematically validate less-invasive approaches.

Effect of lateral wedge-shaped orthopedic insole on patients with genu varus: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Background

Genu varus (GV) is a common deformity characterized by leg bending, which seriously threatens human health. At present, there is no definite conclusion to explain the cause of genu varus. The purpose of this study is to systematically review and meta-analysis the effectiveness and scientific basis of the clinical efficacy of customized orthopedic insoles on genu varus and hope to provide a reference for future research in this field.

Methods

The following electronic databases will be searched from inception to January 2022: Pubmed, Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, Weipu, Wanfang Data, and CNKI. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were collected to examine the effect of lateral wedge-shaped orthopedic insole on patients with genu varus. We will consider inclusion, select high-quality articles for data extraction and analysis, and summarize the intervention effect of lateral wedge orthotic insoles on patients with genu varus. Two reviewers will screen titles, abstracts, and full texts independently according to inclusion criteria; Data extraction and risk of bias assessment were performed in the included studies. We will use a hierarchy of recommended assessment, development, and assessment methods to assess the overall certainty of the evidence and report findings accordingly. Endnote X8 will be applied in selecting the study, Review Manager 5.3 will be applied in analyzing and synthesizing.

Results

The results will provide evidence for judging the effect of lateral wedge-shaped orthopedic insole on patients with genu varus.

Conclusion

Our study will provide reliable evidence for the effect of lateral wedge-shaped orthopedic insole on patients with genu varus.

Trail registration

INPLASY registration number: INPLASY202190002 https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=INPLASY202190002.