Effects of Movement Retraining on Knee Loading in Individuals With Knee Osteoarthritis

Change from baseline in knee contact force

This study investigates how well individuals with knee osteoarthritis can learn to alter
 their calf muscle activation using haptic biofeedback while walking and evaluates how these
 changes affect knee loading.
 
 Prior research has utilized musculoskeletal simulations to determine that reducing the
 activation of one of the calf muscles, the gastrocnemius, can have a large impact on reducing
 knee loading. However, this has not been tested in individuals with knee osteoarthritis. In
 this study, participants will be trained to alter the activation of their gastrocnemius
 muscle, by receiving haptic feedback after each step. The feedback will indicate how the
 participant changed their muscle activation relative to baseline. Participants will train for
 up to three sessions, with 30 minutes of walking with feedback in each session. If a
 participant can learn to adjust their muscle activation in the first training session, they
 will be able to complete the second training session. An exploratory third session may be
 conducted to investigate changes in knee loading while using the new walking strategy during
 over-ground walking.
 
 The movement data collected during the training sessions will be used as inputs to computer
 simulations of the musculoskeletal system to determine if walking with the new muscle
 activation strategy reduces knee loading.