Effects of an 8-week cadence gait training program on knee loading in individuals following ACL reconstruction

Abstract:
While normalization of gait is a primary goal of early rehabilitation, between limb asymmetries in knee extensor moment can persist 6-24 months later and previous literature assessing gait interventions is limited. The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of subject-specific cadence gait training program on knee loading mechanics following ACLr. Nine individuals completed an 8-week cadence training program (20min, 3x/week; Table1) and nine sex- and surgery-matched individuals served as controls. All eighteen participants received standard physical therapy and were tested at 1 and 3 months post-op. Kinematic and kinetic data were collected during walking at a self-selected speed. Repeated measures ANOVAs were used for comparisons; significance α≤0.05. Main effects of limb and time were observed: knee ROM (kROM;p<0.001;p=0.044;Fig.1) and knee extensor moment (kEXT;p=0.003;p=0.002) in the cadence and control groups, respectively. No main effects of group for kROM (p=0.136) or kEXT (p=0.229) were found. A trend toward a significant group x time x limb interaction was observed in kEXT (p=0.092), but not kROM (p=0.412). Post-hoc analyses of kEXT (Fig.2) revealed a significant time x limb interaction for the cadence group (p=0.053) but not the control group (p=0.884). In the cadence group, the time x limb interaction was driven by a 131% increase in kEXT in the surgical limb versus a 42% increase in the non-surgical limb between T1 and T2. Consistent with previous findings, these pilot data show promising results as the cadence intervention resulted in improvements in sagittal plane knee loading compared to controls.
Listed In: Biomechanics, Gait, Orthopedic Research, Physical Therapy, Sports Science,
Tagged In: ACL reconstruction, gait training, Rehabilitation
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