Out Of Lab Stair Mechanics Differ Between Adults With And Without Knee Osteoarthritis

Purpose: Knee osteoarthritis (OA) affects more than 19% of Americans over the age of 45 and reduces their ability to perform many activities of daily living. Stairs are a challenging daily task for those with knee OA, likely due to muscle weakness and increased joint stiffness. Stair performance has been associated with disease progression in patients with knee OA. Evaluation of stair navigation has been limited to time measures (e.g., time to climb a flight of stairs) or controlled in-laboratory settings with few stairs. Identifying how individuals with knee OA navigate stairs during daily life may better inform disease progression and intervention effectiveness. Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) may allow us to evaluate mechanics during stair navigation in real-world settings. The purposes of this project were to (1) create a workflow for examining stair navigation outside the laboratory using IMUs and (2) compare stair navigation between individuals with knee OA and healthy older adults.