Mechanical effects of medial and lateral wedged orthoses during running

Abstract

Objective: The aim of the current investigation was to examine the effects of orthoses with 5° medial and lateral wedges on knee joint kinetics during the stance phase of running.

Design: Repeated measures.

Setting: Laboratory.

Participants: Twelve recreational runners.

Outcome measurements: Twelve male participants ran over a force platform at 4.0 m/s in three different conditions (medial orthotic, lateral orthotic and no-orthotic). Lower limb kinematics were collected using an 8-camera motion capture system allowing knee kinetics to be quantified using a musculoskeletal modelling approach. Differences in knee joint kinetics between orthotic conditions were examined using one-way repeated measures ANOVA.

Results: The results showed that peak patellofemoral force was significantly increased in the medial (31.81 N/kg) and lateral (31.29 N/kg) wedged orthoses, in comparison to the no-orthotic (29.61 N/kg) condition. In addition, the peak knee adduction moment was significantly increased in the medial (1.10 Nm/kg) orthoses, in comparison to the lateral (0.87 Nm/kg) condition.

Conclusions: The results from this study indicate that lateral orthoses may be effective in attenuating runners risk from medial tibiofemoral compartment OA, but that wedged orthoses may enhance their risk from patellofemoral pain.

Keywords: Biomechanics; Joint moments; Knee; Orthoses; Running.