Title

Walking Shoes and Laterally Wedged Orthoses in the Clinical Management of Medial Tibiofemoral Osteoarthritis: A One-year Prospective Controlled Trial

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-2009

Publication Source

The Knee

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine the clinical efficacy of individually prescribed laterally wedged orthoses and walking shoes in the treatment of medial knee osteoarthritis using a prospective, single-blind, block-randomized controlled design.

Sixty-six subjects (29 males, 37 females, mean age 62.4 years, mean BMI 33.0 kg/m2) were block-randomized to a lateral wedge (treatment) or neutral (control) orthotic group. Both groups were issued a standardized walking shoe for use with the orthoses. Primary outcome measures included the pain, stiffness, and functional limitations subscales of the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities index. Secondary outcome measures included the 6-minute walk distance and pain change, and stair negotiation time and pain change.

A significant interaction (p=0.039) favoring the treatment group was observed for pain change during the 6-minute walk. The treatment group demonstrated significant improvements at both 1 month (ppp=0.017). No other interactions were observed. Both groups were improved at each follow-up in the WOMAC subscales for pain (ppppp=0.004), and stair negotiation test pain change (p<0.001).

The results suggest that both neutral and laterally wedged orthoses may be beneficial in the management of medial knee osteoarthritis when used with walking shoes. However, the addition of lateral wedging was associated with early improvements in 6-minute walk test pain change not seen in the control group.

Inclusive pages

136–142

ISBN/ISSN

0968-0160

Comments

Permission documentation on file.

Publisher

Elsevier

Volume

16

Issue

2

Peer Reviewed

yes

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