Knee arthritis: shin-worn sensor helps patients walk in a gentler way
A year-long placebo-controlled trial found that a small change in foot angle, cued by vibration, cut pain more than sham training. The method is not yet ready for everyday use.
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Researchers at the University of Utah, Stanford University and New York University have tested sensor-guided gait retraining for knee osteoarthritis. The first randomised, placebo-controlled trial of its kind to last a full year enrolled 68 adults with mild to moderate arthritis on the inner side of the knee, split into two groups of 34. The results were published in The Lancet Rheumatology and were presented again by the university on Oct. 10.
Participants changed their foot angle by 5 or 10 degrees, chosen individually to reduce the load on the knee. After six weekly sessions with a shin-mounted device that gives vibration feedback, they practised the new gait for at least 20 minutes a day. Pain on a 0-10 scale fell by an average of 2.5 points, compared with 1.3 points in the control group using a sham protocol. One MRI measure suggested slower cartilage deterioration; a second showed no difference.
"This intervention could help fill that large treatment gap," said Scott Uhlrich, who co-led the research. The authors note limitations: the sample was small, only mild to moderate arthritis was studied, and delivery outside the lab via smart shoes or smartphones is still experimental. According to the university, changing foot angle without professional assessment is not the same as personalised gait retraining, and an adjustment that helps one person could increase stress on another's knee.
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