Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 27, 2026
Evaluation of Patients' Posture and Gait Profile After Lumbar Fusion Surgery by Video Rasterstereography and Treadmill Gait Analysis
Published on: March 23, 2019
Does total knee arthroplasty change frontal plane knee biomechanics during gait?
Karl F Orishimo1, Ian J Kremenic, Ajit J Deshmukh
1Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma, Lenox Hill Hospital, 100 E 77th Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10075, USA. karl@nismat.org
Background:
Dynamic knee varus angle and adduction moments have been reported to be reduced after TKA. However, it is unclear whether this reduction is maintained long term.
Questions/Purposes:
We therefore asked whether (1) the dynamic knee adduction angle and moment remain reduced 1 year after TKA, (2) if changes in adduction moment are related to static alignment and varus angle during gait 6 months and 1 year after TKA, and (3) if these changes in loading pattern are related to changes in Knee Society scores.
Methods:
We performed gait analysis on 15 patients (17 TKAs) before surgery and 6 months and 1 year after TKA. Weightbearing radiographs were used to assess coronal plane knee alignment.
Results:
TKA corrected static knee alignment from 2.2° (2.5°) varus to 3.5° (2.7°) valgus at 6 months. Peak varus angle during gait was reduced from 9.7° (6.5°) to 3.6° (5.8°) at 6 months and 5.2° (7.6°) at 1 year. Peak adduction moment was reduced to 85% of the preoperative level at 6 months but increased to 94% of the preoperative level at 1 year. We observed a correlation between the increase in dynamic varus angle and increase in adduction moment from the 6-month to 1-year followups.
Conclusions:
TKA improves knee adduction moment at 6 months, but this effect is lost with time (1 year).
Clinical Relevance:
Despite restoration of static knee alignment, knee adduction moment remains high presumably predisposing to medial polyethylene wear as noted by retrieval studies.
