Abstract:
Objective: Patients suffering from mild to moderate knee osteoarthritis may be treated with unloader knee orthoses or laterally wedged insoles. The aim of this study was to identify and compare the effects of two orthoses in these patients. Methods: 56 patients with medial compartment knee OA were evaluated when wearing an unloader knee orthosis and insoles with a 6° lateral wedge which were randomly assigned. Testing was performed at baseline and after 6 months of use with the two types of orthoses. The KOOS score was used to assess outcomes in this study. A paired T test was used for comparing base line and the 6th month post interventions KOOS sub scale score. An independent T test was used for analyzing the efficacy between the two orthoses. Results: Each of the interventions improved all parameters compared to the baseline condition (P= 0.000). However, in comparing the effect between these orthoses, we did not find significant differences in activities of daily living (P=0.871), or sports and recreational activities (P=0.351). The pain and symptoms (P= 0.000) were, however, significantly different between the two interventions. Conclusion: The unloader knee orthoses were more effective than lateral wedge insoles in reducing pain and symptoms.
Machine summary:
Iranian Rehabilitation Journal, Vol. 10, No. 16, October 2012 Original Article The Effects of Unloader Knee Orthosis and Lateral Wedge Insole in Patients with Mild and Moderate Knee Osteoarthritis (OA) Mokhtar Arazpour, PhD.
; Fatemeh Zarezadeh1,2; Monireh Ahmadi Bani University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Science, Tehran, Iran Objective: Patients suffering from mild to moderate knee osteoarthritis may be treated with unloader knee orthoses or laterally wedged insoles.
However, few objective comparative studies exist which have compared knee or thoses to lateral wedged insoles by studying their effect on clinical parameters such as pain, daily living activities, recreational and sport functions and quality of life.
The aim of this study was therefore to identify and compare the effects of lateral wedge insoles to that of custom moulded unloader knee orthoses on the pain, daily living activities, recreational and sport function and quality of life in symptomatic individuals with medial compartment knee osteoarthritis.
When considering symptoms and the value of the quality of life KOOS sub-scales, the lateral wedge insoles were more effective than the knee unloader orthoses.
Whilst we found significant differences between both interventions in pain, symptoms and quality of life KOOS sub-scales, Van raaij et al (21) conversely found no significant differences in pain and function WOMAC sub-scales between lateral wedged insoles and knee braces in patients with medial compartment knee OA.
However, in improving quality of life, lateral wedges showed that they were a suitable alternative to knee unloader orthoses for conservative treatment of the medial compartment knee osteoarthritis patients.