Susumu Ota, Takuya Nakamura, Akiko Ando, Atsushi Fukuyama, Atsuya Watanabe and Kazunori Hase
Objective: To investigate the difference in knee joint kinematics and kinetics during gait and T2 mapping values in a healthy female population in their twenties and forties in order to determine the knee motion changes related to early knee OA change.
Methods: Thirty healthy women, 15 in their 20s and 15 in their 40s, participated (average ages 22.1 ± 2.4 and 45.7 ± 2.5 years old, respectively). Knee joint kinematic and kinetic data during gait and T2 measurements of the medial femorotibial joint cartilage using a 3T MR system were assessed.
Results: The first peaks of knee adduction moment (KAM) in women in their 20s and 40s were not significantly different, although the first peaks of knee flexion moment in their 40s (5.7×10-2 ± 1.7×10-2) were significantly greater than the values in their 20s (3.2×10-2 ± 2.6×10-2, P<0.05). T2 values of the femoral superficial cartilage in the 40s (34.0 ± 1.8 msec) were significantly longer than the values in the 20s (32.2 ± 1.4 msec) (P<0.01). The first peak of the knee flexion moment and the T2 values in the 40s were not significantly correlated (r =-0.21).
Conclusion: Although T2 values at the medial superficial femoral cartilage in the 40s were longer than in the 20s, the knee flexion moment was not related to T2 values of knee joint cartilage in the 40s.