Objective To test the hypothesis that knee cartilage changes over five years are associated with baseline peak knee adduction moment (KAM) and peak knee flexion moment (KFM) during early stance. Design Baseline KAM and KFM were measured in sixteen subjects with medial knee OA. Regional changes in cartilage thickness and changes in medial-to-lateral thickness ratio were quantified using magnetic resonance imaging at baseline and again after five years. Multiple regression was used to determine whether baseline measures of KAM and KFM were associated with cartilage changes over five years. Associations with baseline pain score, Kellgren-Lawrence grade, walking speed, age, gender, and body mass index were tested one-by-one in the presence of KAM and KFM. Results Changes over five years in femoral medial-to-lateral thickness ratio were associated with baseline KAM, KFM, and pain score (R2=0.60, p=0.010), and most significantly with KAM (R2=0.33, p=0.019). Changes in tibial medial-to-lateral thickness ratio were associated with baseline KAM, KFM, and walking speed (R2=0.49, p=0.039), with KFM driving this association (R2=0.40, p=0.009). Changes in medial tibial thickness were associated with baseline KAM, KFM, and walking speed (R2=0.49, p=0.041); KFM also drove this association (R2=0.42, p=0.006). Conclusions The findings that the KAM has a greater influence on femoral cartilage change and the KFM has a greater influence on tibial cartilage change provide new insight into the tibiofemoral variations in cartilage changes associated with walking kinetics. These results suggest that both KAM and KFM should be considered when designing disease interventions as well as when assessing the risk for OA progression.

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Changes in knee mechanics following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) have been implicated as a contributor to the development of premature osteoarthritis (OA). However, changes in ambulatory loading in this population have not been well documented. While the magnitude of the external knee moment vector is a major factor in loading at the knee, there is not a comprehensive understanding of the changes in the individual components of the vector following ACL reconstruction. The purpose of this study was to test for differences in the three components of the external knee moment during walking and stair locomotion between ACLR, contralateral and healthy control knees. Forty-five ACLR and 45 healthy control subjects were tested during walking, stair ascent and descent. ACLR knees had a lower first peak adduction moment than contralateral knees during all three activities. Similarly, additional cases of significant differences between ACLR and contralateral knees consisted of lower peak moments for the ACLR than the contralateral knees. These differences were due to both ACLR and contralateral knees as the ACLR knees indicated lower and the contralateral knees greater peak moments compared to healthy control knees. The results suggest a compensatory change involving greater loading in the contralateral knee, perhaps due to lower loading of the ACLR knee. Further, lower knee moments of the ACLR knee suggest that increased joint loading may not be the initiating factor in the development of OA following ACL reconstruction; but rather previous described kinematic or biological changes might initiate the pathway to knee OA.

The results of this study support the hypothesis that a change in COMP concentration induced by a mechanical stimulus is associated with cartilage thinning at 5 years. Mechanically-induced changes in mechano-sensitive biomarkers should be further explored in the context of stimulus-response models to improve the ability to assess OA progression.