Downhill walking gait pattern discriminates between types of knee arthroplasty: improved physiological knee functionality in UKA versus TKA

Purpose

To determine whether downhill walking gait pattern discriminates between different types of knee arthroplasty.

Methods

Nineteen unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) and fourteen total knee arthroplasty (TKA) patients who were well matched demographically and with high Oxford knee scores (OKS) for their operation type were evaluated at a minimum 1 year after their operation with downhill gait analysis. Nineteen healthy young subjects were used as controls. Downhill gait analysis was carried out on an instrumented treadmill that was ramped at the rear to produce a declination of 7°. All subjects after a period of habituation were tested for preferred and top downhill walking speed with associated ground reaction and temporospatial measurements.

Results

The UKA group had higher mean OKS (44.8 ± 2.9 vs 41.9 ± 4.7, p = 0.03) as predicted. The UKA group walked downhill 15 % faster than the TKA group (1.75 ± 0.14 vs 1.52 ± 0.13 m/s, p < 0.0001) despite having the same cadence (134.9 ± 8.0 vs 133.9 ± 9.6 steps/min). This 15 % difference in speed appeared largely due to a 15 % increase in stride length (173 ± 14 vs 150 ± 17 cm, p = 0.0007) and normal weight acceptance, both of which were similar to the controls.

Conclusion

Using an instrumented treadmill to test a commonly performed task, stride length when walking downhill highlights the functional differences between arthroplasty groups. Near normal restoration of physiological gait pattern was found in unicompartmentals as compared to total knee replacements.

Level of evidence

Retrospective comparative study, Level III.