THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MUSCLE STRENGTH AND MUSCLE ACTIVITY DURING WALKING WITH POST-JOINT REPLACEMENT FUNCTION FOR PATIENTS WITH END-STAGE KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS

Abstract

Data collected one-week before and one-year post-TKA on 107 participants included walking speed, muscle strength, and EMG activity. Variables examined were knee flexor and extensor muscle strength, and muscle activity patterns representing prolonged activity and overall activity of knee flexor and extensor muscles during walking. This secondary analysis used linear models to determine how much variance pre-TKA values and pre-post TKA changes of the selected variables could explain in post-TKA changes in walking speed, and multivariate models to determine what combination of variables explained the most variance in post-TKA walking speed change. Due to differences between sexes found in previous work assessing pre- and post-TKA biomechanics, this study also conducted a sex-separated analysis using the same statistical methods, to explore differences between male and female TKA recipients. Muscle activity patterns, particularly measures of prolonged activity of knee extensor muscles, explained significant variance in walking speed change for the Study Sample.