Does osteoarthritis further compromise the postural stability of women with osteoporosis?

BACKGROUND: It is known that women with osteoporosis display only slight deficits in postural control. However, a condition that often co-exists with OP is osteoarthritis (OA), which has been shown to significantly compromise balance. To establish reasonable inclusion criteria for balance assessment of women with OP and investigate if specific treatment regimens are necessary for those subjects, it is important to evaluate the differences in postural control and postural strategies between the two groups. MATERIAL AND METHOD: We compared postural sway in quiet standing measured by the parameters of the center-of-pressure (COP) signals, recorded on a force plate, of 30 women with osteoporosis and 27 women with coexisting mild osteoarthritis. RESULTS: Our results indicated that the latter subjects had higher COP sway in the sagittal compared with the frontal plane, while the former subjects had similar sway in both planes. Subjects with both conditions relied more on vision to preserve postural stability compared with subjects with osteoporosis alone, and they also appeared to compensate further with a higher frequency of their body oscillations. CONCLUSIONS: 1. Even mild symptoms of osteoarthritis may affect balance and misrepresent the observed postural behavior in stabilographic studies. 2. The indications for the treatment regimens of.