Movement of the knee in osteoarthritis

We used electrogoniometers to measure the range of movement (ROM) of the knee during various activities, comparing 50 patients with osteoarthritis of the knee (OA) with 20 healthy age- and sex-matched subjects. The minimum and maximum joint angles and the ranges of excursion of the patient and control groups were tested for significant differences, using an unrelated Student's t-test with pooled variance. Knee flexion in patients with OA was significantly reduced during all activities (p < 0.05), but differences in knee extension were not significant except when patients negotiated stairs. We believe that this reduction in ROM is caused by inhibition due to pain when load-bearing. Static non-load-bearing measurements of the ROM poorly reflected the functional ROM, with a coefficient of determination (r2) of 0.59 in the patient group and 0.60 in the control group. Electrogoniometry of the ROM of the knee provides a reliable, accurate and objective measurement of knee function.