The Association Between Functional Gait Recovery and Pain Reduction in Musculoskeletal Pain.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Orthopedics
• Rehabilitation Science

Background:

• Musculoskeletal pain, particularly in the knee and lower back, severely impacts physical function.
• Altered gait patterns are frequently linked to pain, forming a detrimental feedback loop.
• Understanding the gait-pain relationship is vital for effective treatment and progress monitoring.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the longitudinal association between improvements in functional gait and reductions in musculoskeletal pain.
• To explore this relationship in patients experiencing knee or lower back pain.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective cohort analysis of patients from December 2023 to April 2025.
• Pain assessed using the Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS) for walking-evoked and overall pain.
• Objective gait parameters (velocity, step length, single-support time) measured via a smartphone application.
• Multivariable regression models adjusted for confounders analyzed gait improvement and pain reduction.

Main Results:

• Significant improvements in both pain and gait parameters were observed.
• Increased gait velocity and step length were significantly associated with greater reductions in walking-evoked pain (p < 0.05).
• A similar, though weaker, association was found for general pain; stronger associations were noted in patients with moderate to severe baseline pain.

Conclusions:

• A moderate-to-high association exists between functional gait recovery and reduced musculoskeletal pain.
• The stronger link for task-specific pain validates gait analysis as a direct measure of functional improvement.
• Objective gait metrics, especially via smartphone apps, offer valuable outcome measures for clinical settings.