Therapeutic significance of insoles in patients with knee osteoarthritis

- OBJECTIVE: The effects of in-soles on managing knee osteoarthritis (KOA) symptoms remain controversial. This system-atic review provides insights into the thera-peutic effects and outcomes of insole use in older adults with KOA. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The PubMed database was reviewed according to the Pre-ferred Reporting Items for Systematic Re-views and Meta-analyses (PRISMA). The ar-ticles' titles, abstracts, and eligibility per the inclusion criteria were screened for rele-vance. Duplicated articles were removed, and full-text articles were retrieved for further as-sessment, in accordance with the eligibility criteria. The included articles have been an-alyzed for general information, participants, and relevant findings, such as painful symp-toms, loading rate, and external knee adduc-tion moment (EKAM). RESULTS: The initial search identified 335 ar-ticles. Nine studies, including seven random-ized controlled trials, one cross-sectional study, and one cohort study, were included for review per the eligibility criteria. There were 639 KOA patients, of which the majority were female, di-agnosed with Kellgren-Lawrence grades 2-3, with a mean age of 54.5 years. The lateral wedge insole helped reducing EKAM and loading rates in patients with KOA. We detetced no signifi-cant reduction in pain following the use of lat-eral wedge insoles. However, lateral wedge in-soles combined with customized arch support showed significant improvements in pain and physical function in KOA patients. CONCLUSIONS: Lateral wedge insoles with arch support significantly improved pain and physical function in patients with KOA. Other in-soles did not provide significant positive out-comes regarding pain reduction or joint deterio-ration in KOA patients.

Automated summary

This systematic review examined the therapeutic effects and outcomes of insole use in older adults with knee osteoarthritis (KOA). The study found that lateral wedge insoles with customized arch support significantly improved pain and physical function in KOA patients, while other insoles did not provide significant positive outcomes regarding pain reduction or joint deterioration.