A COMPARISON OF ACTIVE HIP AND KNEE JOINT ROM DURING TREADMILL WALKING AND DEEP WATER RUNNING

Abstract

Osteoarthritis (OA) affects millions of older adults and has a major impact on their quality life. The challenge is to find exercise modalities in which the individual can participate without increasing the pain associated with OA. Generally, walking is the activity of choice due to its low impact status; however, deep water running (DWR) is becoming increasingly popular as a no impact activity that also has the benefits of resistance from the water. PURPOSE: To determine the knee and hip joint range of motion (ROM) during treadmill (TRM) walking and DWR in older adults with and without lower extremity OA. METHODS Sagittal video (60Hz) was taken during a TRM walking session and a DWR session to determine knee and hip active ROM in 7 arthritic (AR) (59.6 ± 8.7 years) and 8 non-arthritic (NA) (55.6 ± 3.5 years) older adults. Ten strides were collected for each subject and session. The data were digitized using the PEAK Motus motion analysis system. Minimum and maximum knee and hip angles were determined for each stride and the joint ROM was then computed. RESULTS No significant differences (p >0.05) were found between AR and NA groups within exercise modality and joint ROM. In comparison to TRM walking, DWR did elicit significantly greater knee (62.5 ± 8.33 vs. 108.3 ± 17.55 degrees) and hip (33.5 ± 7.38 vs. 69.8 ± 14.94 degrees) ROM (p <0.05). CONCLUSION It was determined that DWR may be more beneficial in maintaining active joint ROM in the older adult than TRM walking regardless of arthritic status.