Symmetry and gender differences of the knee joint adduction moment

Background. Gonarthrosis is one of the most insidious degenerative diseases, which has a number of gait biomechanical predictors. Of these, the most studied is the knee joint adduction moment in the support phase, however, there is a lack of research devoted to its reference values among various age and gender groups.

Aim. Evaluation of the gender and functional body asymmetry effect on the peak moments of knee joint adduction in healthy volunteers. Methods. The study was conducted on 38 healthy volunteers (17 men and 21 women) aged 20–45 years using a «Vicon Motion Capture Systems» motion capture hardware-software complex by Vicon (United Kingdom). A comparative assessment was made for the first and second peaks’ amplitude of the knee joint adduction moment in the support phase. The symmetry was evaluated for both peaks in general, as well as separately for men and women. The gender differences for both peaks were evaluated in total for the right and left lower limbs.

Results. The absence of significant intergroup differences in the amplitude of both peaks of the knee joint adduction moment between the right and left legs, irrespectively of gender (p>0.05), was revealed, which demonstrates the symmetry of the adduction forces acting on the knee joint in the support phase. When comparing the amplitudes of both peaks of the knee joint adduction moment in men and women, significant differences were absent for the first peak (p>0.05), but a significantly higher second peak was observed in males (p<0.05).

Conclusion. The obtained variability aspects of the peak moments of knee joint adduction will find their application in the functional diagnostics using the motion capture technology.