Walking with Different Insoles Changes Lower-Limb Biomechanics Globally in Patients with Medial Knee Osteoarthritis

Using insoles to modify walking biomechanics is of keen interest for the treatment of medial-compartment knee osteoarthritis. So far, insole interventions have focused on reducing the peak of the knee adduction moment (pKAM) and have led to inconsistent clinical outcomes. This study aimed to evaluate the changes in other gait variables related to knee osteoarthritis when patients walk with different insoles to provide insights into the necessity to enlarge the biomechanical analyses to other variables. Walking trials were recorded for 10 patients in four insole conditions. Changes among conditions were computed for six gait variables, including the pKAM. The associations between the changes in pKAM and the changes in the other variables were also assessed individually. Walking with different insoles had noticeable effects on the six gait variables, with high heterogeneity among patients. For all variables, at least 36.67% of the changes were of medium-to-large effect size. The associations with the changes in pKAM varied among variables and patients. In conclusion, this study showed that varying the insole could globally influence ambulatory biomechanics and that limiting measurement to the pKAM could lead to an important loss of information. Beyond the consideration of additional gait variables, this study also encourages personalized interventions to address inter-patient variability.

Automated summary

Using insoles to modify walking biomechanics for knee osteoarthritis treatment has been highly researched. However, current insole interventions mainly focus on reducing the peak of the knee adduction moment (pKAM) and have inconsistent clinical outcomes. This study evaluated the effects of different insoles on various gait variables related to knee osteoarthritis and emphasized the importance of considering multiple variables instead of solely focusing on pKAM. The results showed that different insoles had significant effects on gait variables with high variability among patients, and personalized interventions are recommended to address inter-patient variability.