SYMMETRICITY AND GENDER DIFFERENCES OF KNEE JOINT ADDUCTION MOMENT

Abstract

Actuality. Gonarthrosis is one of the most insidious degenerative diseases, which has a number of gait biomechanical predictors. Of these, the most studied is the knee joint adduction moment in the support phase, however, there is a lack of research devoted to the search for its reference values among various age and gender groups. Purpose of research. Evaluation of gender and functional body asymmetry effect on peak moments of knee joint adduction in healthy volunteers. Materials and methods. The study was conducted on 38 healthy volunteers (17 men and 21 women) aged 20-45 years old through the motion capture hardware-software complex of the company "Vicon Motion Capture Systems". A comparative assessment was made for the first and second peaks amplitude of the knee joint adduction moment in the support phase. Symmetry was evaluated for both peaks in general, as well as separately for men and women. Gender differences for both peaks were evaluated in total for the right and left lower limbs. Results. The absence of significant intergroup differences in the both peaks amplitude of the knee joint adduction moment between the right and left legs, irrespective of gender (p0.05), was revealed, which demonstrates the symmetry of the adduction forces acting on the knee joint in the support phase. When comparing the both peaks amplitudes of the knee joint adduction moment in men and women, there was absence of significant differences for the first peak (p0.05), but a significantly higher second peak in males (p0.05). Conclusion. The obtained variability aspects of the peak moments of knee joint adduction will find their application in functional diagnostics using the motion capture technology.