Abstract
Gait modification has recently received attention as a noninvasive method to treat knee osteoarthritis (OA). This study is aimed to show if hip joint forces during walking could be reduced by a slight gait modification. Gait trials were performed on a healthy male (age: 22 years; weight: 59.7 kg; height: 165 cm). Joint kinematics and ground reaction forces and torques were recorded simultaneously. The subject had gait retraining during in which they were asked to alter their stride width by increasing abduction angles without changing any other kinematics. The subject walked 10 trials for each gait pattern (i.e., normal walking and abducted walking). A total of 20 trials were performed (n=10). Mean walking speeds and strides were 1.34 m/s, 1.59 m for normal walk and 1.33 m/s, 1.56 m for abducted walk respectively. These are not statistically different (p>0.05). The external hip adduction moment was reduced from 3.59 to 1.81 (%Body Weight*Height) (p<0.01). Given the results of this study, the gait retraining may be an acceptable, noninvasive option for the treatment of patients with hip OA.
