The Relationship Between Muscle Capacity Utilization During Gait and Pain in People With Symptomatic Knee Osteoarthritis
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Date
2020-09-29
Authors
Tung, Emma Victoria
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of Waterloo
Abstract
Muscle capacity refers to an individual’s ability to utilize their muscle strength and power in order to efficiently and effectively complete physical activities (Brady & Straight, 2014). Muscle capacity is associated with an individual’s physical function (Brady & Straight, 2014), as it incorporates the utilization of skeletal mass during physical tasks (Woods et al., 2011). In fact, age-related declines in both muscle strength and power have been observed to influence changes in physical activity (Doherty et al., 1993; Newman et al., 2006; Woods et al., 2011). Muscle capacity plays an important role in maintaining an individual’s health and wellbeing during aging.
This study explored the relationship between pain and muscle capacity utilization during walking in older adults with knee osteoarthritis (OA). A convenience sample of 23 participants (15 females and eight males) with symptomatic knee OA completed this study [age 67 (±8) years, body mass index 29.7 (±3.9) kg/m2, gait speed 1.25 (±0.25) m/s]. Muscle capacity utilization was measured by calculating the ratio of the external peak knee flexion moment measured using gait analysis, to the maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) of the quadriceps measured on a dynamometer. This ratio reflects the proportion of maximal knee extensor capacity that was used during level walking. Pain was measured using the Knee Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS), a self-report questionnaire used for evaluating knee pain for people with OA. A higher KOOS score indicates less pain, whereas a lower KOOS score indicates more severe pain.
A series of multiple linear regressions were used to determine the relationship between pain and muscle capacity utilization, after adjusting for age, sex, body mass index (BMI), and gait speed as covariates. Results showed that there was no relationship between pain and muscle capacity utilization (p>0.05). However, female participants demonstrated lower MVIC (p<0.001) compared to males. Accordingly, a trend was observed such that females required a greater muscle capacity utilization to complete gait compared to males.
In conclusion, muscle capacity utilization was not associated with pain during walking in people with knee OA. Although the results of this study are insignificant, future work should further explore sex differences using a greater sample size and activities of daily living (ADLs).
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Keywords
knee osteoarthritis, osteoarthritis, pain, KOOS, muscle capacity, strength, relative effort