The Association Between Walking Biomechanics and Compartmental Femoral Cartilage Deformation

Undergraduate: Daniel Farrell

Faculty Advisor: Brian Pietrosimone
Department: Exercise & Sport Science

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The objective of this research is to determine the association between walking biomechanics and compartmental femoral cartilage area deformation using ultrasonography. Thirty-eight healthy participants with no history of lower-extremity injury volunteered for this study. Medial and Lateral femoral cartilage area was assessed with ultrasound before and after a treadmill protocol (i.e. approximately 5,000 steps). Cartilage deformation was calculated as a percent change from before to the walking protocol for both femoral compartments. Peak vertical ground reaction force magnitude (vGRF) and loading rate (vGRF-LR) were determined in our motion capture laboratory. Pearson product moment correlations were used to determine the association between femoral cartilage deformation (i.e. medial and lateral) and walking biomechanics (i.e vGRF and vGRF-LR). Greater medial femoral cartilage deformation was significantly associated with lesser vGRF-LR (r=0.404, p=0.012), but not with peak vGRF. Lateral femoral cartilage deformation was not significantly associated with peak vGRF or VGRF-LR. These findings indicate that rate of loading, rather than overall magnitude of load, is related to medial femoral cartilage deformation. More research is needed to determine if the cartilage in individuals following acute knee injuries responds differently than the cartilage of healthy individuals.